Island folk at White House Correspondents Dinner

The biggest night on the Washington D.C. social calendar (outside of the inaugurations of course!) came off on Saturday - the annual White House Correspondents' Dinner.

US First Lady Michelle Obama looked gorrrrrgeous in a fire-red Prabal Gurung dress! [picapp align="center" wrap="false" link="term=Michelle+Obama+2010&iid=8677340" src="9/0/e/7/US_President_Obama_303e.JPG?adImageId=12736560&imageId=8677340" width="380" height="251" /]

A few big up island folk were in attendance too, like former Secretary of State Colin Powell and D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty and his lovely Jamaican-Brit wife Michelle. Check out the pics of the political fabulousness below!

[picapp align="center" wrap="false" link="term=white+house+correspondents+dinner&iid=8677361" src="3/7/0/f/US_President_Obama_7df7.JPG?adImageId=12736542&imageId=8677361" width="380" height="405" /]

[picapp align="center" wrap="false" link="term=adrian+fenty&iid=8677761" src="d/6/7/f/2010_White_House_f054.jpg?adImageId=12736568&imageId=8677761" width="380" height="570" /]

The Marleys meet the Obamas

The First Family of Reggae met the First Family of the United States recently.

Matriarch Rita Marley, her son Ziggy Marley and assorted little Marleys visited the White House recently and snapped a pic and got autographs from President Barack Obama and his First Lady Michelle. Check the pics below.

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Dreadlocks in the White House? Loving it!

Michelle Obama in Europe - fashion hits and misses

The ever-fabulous First Lady of the US, Michelle Obama is in Europe with her husband right now on his first major foreign tour.

Thus far there has been a G-20 summit, a meeting with the Queen and there is still a NATO summit and a US-EU summit to go before the whirlwind trip is over.

There is the matter of a global economic crisis to solve (G-20 leaders decided to give a trilli to the IMF as part of the solution), the Afghan war and Gitmo detainees to discuss and North Korea is huffing and puffing and threatening to shoot off a missile in the midst of all of this.

But the prospect that has really captured the attention of fashionistas the world over and had them slavering is... what will Michelle wear?

This question has quickly been followed by fevered speculation over what will be worn when Michelle meets the other glamazon First Lady - supermodel Carla Bruni-Sarkozy of France.

The thought of it has had fashionistas dizzy with excitement for the last few days and the moment finally arrived today when the two met in France. Both ladies stuck to their favourites - Mrs. O to a patterned, black and raspberry Thakoon coat and dress and Mrs. B to cool grey Dior.

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I was a bit relieved when I saw Michelle in the dress and saw how lovely it was because I really did not care much for the coat.

Jeneil rocks NY Fashion week & Michelle's bare arms

Islandista Jeneil Williams has been making some serious moves in the world of fashion recently. Besides being in the now-legendary all-black edition of Italian Vogue last summer (along with fellow islandistas Naomi Campbell, Jourdan Dunn and Arlenis Sosa) and being the face of the campaign for the Bluetooth 'Jawbone', she tore up New York Fashion Week, opening three shows and walking in several others.



[caption id="attachment_735" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Dark and lovely: Jamaican Jeneil Williams opened for the Zero + Maria Cornejo show at NYFW. (photo credit: style.com)"][/caption]



 She opened for Diesel, Zero + Maria Cornejo (a favourite of US First Lady Michelle Obama) and Richard Chai.

 She also walked for Elise Overland, Vena Cava, Ideen, Juan Carlos Obando, Don de Verb and the Project Runway finals, which is always a major NYFW event.

In other news (sorta) people are getting all hysterical because Michelle Obama has (gasp!) been wearing sleeveless dresses. She wore a gorgeous deep purple Narciso Rodriguez dress for her husband's first address to Congress which prompted several hissy fits among fashion arbiters who deemed it 'inappropriate' for the occasion. Huh?

[caption id="attachment_730" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Scandal them, Mrs.O!"][/caption]

 They became even more hysterical when the First Lady followed that up with a series of other sleeveless looks in short order, including a White House concert for Stevie Wonder, a People Magazine cover and a White House dinner.

Then she really flipped them the bird when she wore a sleeveless black Michael Kors shift for her official White House portrait photo. Quelle horreur!

Her friend, White House social secretary Desiree Rogers even had to wade into the debate, telling the Washington Post that Mrs. Obama's feeling on it is:

 If I want to wear no sleeves to hear my husband speak, that's what I'm going to do."

Wha, alright then - damn right!

This debate is frankly ridiculous to me. None of the tut-tutters can pinpoint exactly what is so scandalous and inappropriate about Michelle's bare arms. Have arms become an erogenous zone? Not unless we are in Taliban-era Afghanistan. Some have muttered about it still being winter but she's been wearing the outfits INSIDE! It's not like she's out shovelling snow in a shift dress.

This is really pissing me off because I could easily see this being a debate in the Caribbean, where despite our penchant for Carnival and dancehall bashment outfits, we are also deeply conservative about dress. Workplaces in the Caribbean that allow people to wear sleeveless outfits are probably the exception, not the rule, despite the fact that we live in a TROPICAL CLIMATE all.year.round! When it's 32 degrees celcius outside in August, wearing a shift should not be a matter for HR to get their knickers in knot about - it's not even a damn fashion statement then, it's just practical!

Whew. Had to get that rant out there.

However, amidst the ridiculousness, she's also had her defenders, including Letitia Baldridge, social secretary to former First Lady Jackie Kennedy (who also had a thing for sleeveless dresses) and Harper's Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey who succintly pointed out that critics are no doubt somewhat envious that Michelle can pull off the bare arms look so elegantly. Shoot, I'm about half her age and I'm a bit envious - my arms don't look like the First Lady's. But I ent gine hate. In fact, I am rooting for Michelle's bare arms statement - if the First Lady of the United States can get people to get over their phobia of bare arms, maybe the time will come when I won't have to swelter in a jacket or long-sleeved shirt in August and September.

First Lady picks Jason Wu, Isabel Toledo

Absolutely exhausted (in a great, elated cried with joy a lot way)  islandistas so this will be a short post.

First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama continued to buck the trend by going for little known designer Jason Wu for her inaugural gown and we say to her - well done!

Her inaugural gown is a fluffy cream coloured confection with a cold shoulder bodice which shows off her great arms and shoulders. It has a long train which caused a few problems for the President at the Home States Ball - she had to keep lifting it away from his feet but that may be because the President, bless him, dances like he's feeling his white roots.

For the inauguration ceremony itself she went with a sparkly gold sheath dress and coat by Isabel Toledo and showed her penchant for mixing high fashion with the high street as the Brits would say by rocking it with green J.Crew gloves. She finished it off with green Jimmy Choos.

[caption id="attachment_536" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Photo credit: Associated Press"][/caption]

Mrs. Obama has been making some under the radar designers very happy with her fashion choices ever since the campaign. Some hardly seem to believe their luck.

When asked in December if he thought he would design Mrs. Obama's inaugural ball, Wu reportedly said:

"Oh, that's a long shot!"

Toledo was equally awe-struck when she was interviewed on Inauguration Day, saying:

"There is nothing that comes close to this moment."

 

[caption id="attachment_537" align="aligncenter" width="255" caption="Photo credit: Associated Press"][/caption]

3 Grammy noms for Rihanna plus so much more...

We're just bursting full of news and suss for you today islandistas... might take two posts to get it all in!

First to the good news. Islandista Rihanna has been nominated for three Grammy awards. In a star-studded nomination ceremony/concert held during prime time last night, she picked up nominations for Best Dance Recording for Disturbia, Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for If I Never See Your Face Again and a video category (clueless me, I didn't even know the Grammies had vid categories) for Best Long Form Music Video for Good Girl Gone Bad Live. So there... who says Rihanna can't perform live?

Well... we have after seeing some of her performances in the past... but the Recording Academy disagrees.

Now to some (kinda) bad news - Rihanna and her boyfriend Chris Brown are being sued by a paparazzo Luis Santana, who was allegedly roughed up by their bodyguards in St Petersburg, Florida, a few weeks back. He's suing both of them, plus the nightclub it happened outside of. He says the heavies roughed him up and smashed his camera and he's suing them for $1 million. Ouch... the pics he posted of his bruises look pretty painful too...

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In some good news, top designers are falling all over themselves to produce a dress for US First Lady Michelle Obama. We have seen them and many are simply gorrrrgeous!

We especially love the sketches by Diane von Fustenberg, Christian Lacroix and Badgley Mischka. You can see all the sketches here at Women's Wear Daily.

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[caption id="attachment_426" align="aligncenter" width="361" caption="Christian Lacroix"][/caption]










[caption id="attachment_424" align="alignnone" width="361" caption="Badgley Mischka"][/caption]

And in suss... folks have been asking what these Jamaican entertainers really about though, since Elephant Man's performance in Barbados a few weeks back. It's one thing to be a tight-pants sporting, pointy-shoe wearing, hair-dyed character. You can argue that it part of the persona. However it is pretty incongruous with all the rampany homophobia that Jamaican artistes like Ele love to spew - which he did of course, at the event.

But it is reaaaaally funny when this same homosexual-bashing artiste RUNS a set of cute female dancers off of the stage -not once, but twice! And then to make matters more interesting, he calls up a set of skinny-pants wearing yutes from down in the crowd to come on stage with him and then he big dem up straight and is really, really into dancing with them.


What Ele really going on with? How you acting so homophobic and then you run cute girls and bring up a set of men around you? Me thinks he (and other JA dancehall artistes) doth protest too much... how ironic!

Bits & Pieces: Riri stage sickness, Estelle's EMA dress

We're only just (barely!) coming down off of our Obama high and turning our attention to other pressing issues... like some good, old fashioned suss!

We were so consumed that we actually missed a few things in the last few days - like Rihanna's nearly collapsing at a show in Sydney, Australia and MTV's European Music Awards where islandista by descent Estelle wore a 'love it or hate it' but definitely bold dress for her performance with Kanye West.

Rihanna fell ill at a show in Sydney while performing Umbrella with her boyfriend Chris Brown as the finale of the show.

Apparently, the heat at the venue, a too-tight corset that left her breathless and whizzing around in the air in a harness before she landed to perform, left her in a state. She can be seen leaning over and holding her stomach before scurrying off stage. Chris finished performing the song without her (like a professional) and then ran off to check up on her.

The youtube video is below.



Thankfully, all's well that ends well. Spokesperson Amanda Silverman told media:

"It was very hot at the venue, so after Rihanna's set was over, she went off stage and needed to sit down, catch her breath and have some water. She is perfectly healthy and will be at her show tomorrow."

Next thing... the MTV's European Music Awards. Grenadian-descended islandista Estelle wore a dress that you may well either love or hate.

[caption id="attachment_351" align="aligncenter" width="414" caption="Estelle performing at MTV"][/caption]

 

(photo credit: theybf.com)

At first glance I HATED it, thought it looked ridiculous but on second glance, it is kind of futuristic chic. Still... triangular hips?! Look how Kanye had to struggle to get his arms around this ... structure.



So what do you think islandistas? Hot or flop? Here's one more shot of it to help you make up your minds.



And speaking of dresses that have people torn, not everyone has had my enthusiastic response to Michelle Obama's victory night dress. Again, it seems to be a love it or hate it. A lot of islandistas I've talked to haa-aa-aa-ted it, a feeling that has been repeated ad nauseum in the blogosphere. Folks have been hollering about it all week.

 I wasn't wild about it but I rather liked it, particularly the ombre design, which is already making its mark as the print (?) for next season. I also kind of liked the wrap around section on the waist, though I thought it could have been cut a little closer to emphasise Michelle's great shape, cos de woman got real form, no lie.

Perhaps I like it because I've seen the original on which it is based and it's hot. I see what Michelle was trying to do...



(photo credit: Associated Press via the New York Times)

See? Doesn't that make you kind of go 'ohhhh... I see where she was going?' Thing is, she had some adjustments made to the dress that kind of detracted from the hotness in an effort to be more demure. She took up the neckline for one and got the sheer hemline made opaque and then added the cardigan, which then threw off the criss-cross under the ribs. I think she could have risked at leaving the neckline as a v-neck - Michelle isn't terribly busty anyway so it would not have looked indecent. And instead of a cardigan, maybe she could have had it made with sheer sleeves instead that would have been part of the dress, instead of fighting against the dress.

Still, the fact that we are talking about this at all is an encouraging sign for fashion in the White House. I know no-one can remember a damn thing Laura Bush has worn, whereas Michelle has already inspired  women to run out to to buy the black and white Donna Ricco dress she wore on The View.

And at the end of the day, shoot, Pres. elect Obama looked pretty damn enamoured of her in the dress.

... And ladies, we know that is the second-most important opinion that counts doesn't it? The first being our own.

The next First Lady...

We here at Islandista are overjoyed.

There is simply no other way to put it. Of course we were invested in this US election and Barack Obama's candidacy. Even for islandistas who do not live in the US, we all understood the importance of this election and this candidacy, the need to lift the malaise that has hung over the US and hence by extension, the world for the last few years. We needed hope and crazy, dizzy optimism.

And we got it. Barack Obama is the President-elect of the United States.

Let us be honest. This election was followed by Caribbean people like none other. And it has a lot to do with the fact that Barack Obama is black - just like the majority of the people living in the Caribbean islands. We have always shared in the hopes, struggles and pain of our black brethren and sistren all over the world, from the United States to South Africa. We were all in this too and this victory felt like ours. I know many of us shed tears last night.

But now islandistas, let us turn to the issue that fascinates and delights us - a black woman is going to be the next First Lady of the United States. She will move into that fabled position held by such icons as Jacqueline Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt and Hilary Clinton. A black woman - who is just like us. Someone who we can totally relate to, with her lower-middle class background, her assertiveness and earthiness, her black woman's hips and black woman's strength. We look at Michelle Obama and we see ourselves, our mothers, our sisters, friends, aunts and colleagues. Strong, incredible black women.

And most beautifully, we can see how loved she is by her husband. And we LOVE, love, love it, don't we?

Because, again let's face it. Many prominent and successful black men 'trade in' when they move on up. The black wife may be good for the starter wife but not for the trophy wife. But Michelle Obama is not just Barack's rock, she is his trophy and he holds her up proudly. I will never forget hearing a snippet of an interview he did on BET with Jeff Johnson and when asked about his wife, noted:

"Well first off, I don't know if you noticed but ... my wife is fine."

I loved that - that rumble of whole-hearted appreciation for his woman. I love that the affection and attraction and appreciation the Obamas have for each other is so palpable. With so many political couples, they seem so stiff and staged - the Clintons readily pop to mind. With the Obamas, you see all these little signs of their love and affection - when Michelle hugs him tightly from behind or Barack taps her on her hip or the fist bump heard round the world. The picture above just sums up the love and affection they seem to have for each other that you don't usually see with couples in public life.

And islandistas, isn't it a joy to see this? We know the state of male-female relations in the black community, especially on this side of the Atlantic where our families and relationships have been riven by historical social injustices. Black women are less likely to be married than women of any other race. Even when our men don't trade us in, we are often not loved and honoured as we should be. Which is another reason why we love the Obamas.

Kim McClarin put it well on The Root months ago, explaining why President-elect Obama's wife makes us as black women love him more:

"What I am saying is that in America it is not often we see the wife of a successful black man who looks like Michelle, and that seeing her beside him is, for some of us, almost as transforming a moment as seeing him where he is. ... More importantly, Michelle Obama seems to take his open adoration of her in stride, as if it were simply nothing more than she deserved. Concept!

Exactly.

And of course, it doesn't hurt that she's fierce. Like the banded red and black Narciso Rodriguez ombre dress she wore last night for Barack's acceptance speech. Not quite as hot as the purple Mario Pinto she wore when Barack passed the magic number of delegates to win the primaries, but hot nonetheless. That is why she has been all up in folks' best dressed lists for the last two years. And we hear she is going to bring it for the Inauguration and is already in discussion with black designer Cassandra Bromefield to design her dress. Hotness and promoting black design talent? We loves it.

The extra-fly future First Lady Obama

So Barack Obama finally won the Democratic presidential nomination last night - and I'm thrilled! Like many others in the Caribbean, this is one US presidential race I have been following avidly and I think we all feel a bit invested in his historic campaign and proud of what he has accomplished and what it symbolises, especially for us on this side of the Atlantic Ocean who are haunted by the legacy of slavery.

But can we focus for just a second... on the fly, fabulous and fierce Mrs. Michelle Obama? She has always been striking, graceful and elegant but she outdid herself with the nomination dress last night.

A vibrant royal purple shift with a slightly edgy studded (? I think) black patent leather belt, it complemented Michelle perfectly. It showed off her great trim shape (apparently she gets up at 4:30 several mornings a week to exercise ... I feel like such a slob) and fantastic arms.

Someone on a Caribbean message board even commented that the dress was symbolic, since Barack often speaks of there being "no red states and blue states but the United States". Red and blue makes purple ... hey it's not my theory, I'm just reporting what was said!

Apparently Mrs. Obama's style go-to woman is Chicago designer Maria Pinto who must be getting a fair bit of interest these days, judging by the responses of many other commentors I've seen online. 

More pics of the dress below with close-ups so you can see the detail on the belt.

(photo credit:Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America)

(photo credit:AP Photo/Chris Carlson)