Trend alert: dark lipstick

Didn't we predict it?

Just a few weeks back, we mused that we may soon see the return of early 90s trends like dark lipstick and now, one of the key makeup trends for the fall 2009 season is ... dark, vampy lipstick.

Celebs like Kelly Rowland and Amerie were seen sporting dark, wine coloured lipstick at New York Fashion Week last week and Vogue magazine's September 2009 issue highlights the trend in an article and it is also featured on some models in their editorials.

And now dark lipstick has the fashionista/islandista stamp of approval - Rihanna has rocked the look two days in a row.

So go and dig out your dark lipstick and if you don't have it, go out and buy it!

Hot Islandista style

Islandista Rihanna and Selita Ebanks hit the scene in recent days looking as hot as a Caribbean summer!

First Rihanna was at the London premier of Inglourious Basterds in a black Alexander McQueen jumpsuit. Now we are not real big on a lot of jumpsuits/playsuits out there - too many folks wear them badly and end up looking like either a mechanic or a baby with a disturbingly sexy onesie.

But of course Ri-ri rocked it out... with mounds of pearls, a dramatic pompadour, lace gloves ruby red lipstick and attituuuuude gyal!

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You better WORK! - Islandista models making moves

Islandista models Jourdan Dunn and Arlenis Sosa seem to be taking RuPaul's legendary advice to heart - "you better WORK!"

And work they are, both figuratively and literally.

In the last month, the two have racked up four major ad campaigns for boldface names - Calvin Klein, Yves Saint Laurent, Lancome and Maybelline.

First Jourdan was featured in an ad for YSL's La Nuit de L'homme fragrance, seductively sniffing the actor Vincent Cassel.



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Then she was featured in the ad for Calvin Klein's CK fragrance.

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Arlenis, who is the face of Lancome, shot some more ads for the brand as well. See them below.

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And thennnnn, this pic popped up this week of Jourdan on the set of the shoot for her upcoming ad campaign for Maybelline.

Fantastic. I am so heartened to see the next generation of islandista models getting some serious all-round work. It is one thing to rule the runways as Jourdan has been doing but everyone knows the real money and security is in the ad campaigns.

Shontelle hits the road with Beyonce

Go Shonnie, go! Pushhh iiiit!

That's how we're feeling here on islandista at the news that one of our own, singer Shontelle is on tour with the biggest female artist in the world right now - Beyonce.



Yep, she is opening for Bey/Sasha Fierce for the whole UK leg of the 'I Am' tour. Her dates are as follows:

Islandista we love: Pat McGrath

I first read about her in the fall 2007 issue of US Vogue. Even though finding articles among allll the ads that packed out that humongous edition  was a chore (840 pages! It hurt my wrists just to hold it up) I had to delve into it to find out who was the person that Vogue declared to be "the most powerful woman in beauty."

Imagine my surprise when I saw this round-faced, unassuming brown lady - Pat McGrath, hailed by Vogue as being "in a class by herself... literally a star".


(photo credit: New York Magazine, courtesy Pat McGrath)

The beauty industry has often ignored or not been empathetic to the needs of brown women over the years so it was surprising to me that one of us would have risen to the top.  Not only that, she is an islandista - her mother Jean McGrath is described by Vogue as a "single mother from Jamaica who is a Jehovah's Witness obsessed with fashion and makeup."

Pat says she took her example from her mother, who was often compelled by lack of choice to mix her own make-up.

"Obviously, there weren't that many colours for us at the time, so Mother made her own, mixing powders together."

Vogue noticeably doesn't say who 'us' is but islandistas, we know, don't we? We've been there, done that, especially when we've lived in places that were outside of the northern urban mainstream and didn't have many products for brown folk in the stores. Pat grew up in Northampton in the UK - need we say more?

She started out in the flamboyant British club scene of the 1980s, where individuality and outrageous looks ruled the day and actually got her first break when she met the fashion editor of Blitz magazine while out at the WAG Club in soho one night.

Not being a trained make-up artist worked to her advantage as she has admitted, saying:

"I broke every rule because I didn’t know what the rules were. And that’s how you learn and come up with new things."

And how... McGrath became known for her out-there collaborations with John Galliano at Christian Dior and for her wide range of influences from club culture to Japanese Kabuki theatre. Check out one of her fantastical creations below.


(photo credit: Time Style & Design/Christopher Moore Ltd.)
She has become a close partner of top-level photographer Stephen Meisel and is the global creative-design director for Procter & Gamble's cosmetics which includes brands such as Cover Girl and Max Factor.

This has put her in an even stronger position to determine the direction of fashion. For instance, at least two seasons before the trend for bright colours (especially eye shadows) that has now swept the globe, Pat was on it and convinced Max Factor to include a small section of pop-out-at-you green, blue and yellow eye shadow to their collection.

 No wonder Vogue declared McGrath to be "at the tip-top of fashion's power pyramid, the one makeup artist who belongs to the tiny elite of designers, photographers, stylists and image-makers who actually determine how fashion will look."