French Connection: Chillin' with Catherine (Malandrino) Plus a Les Nubians Performance (sorta)!

Hey, hey, hey! I had a "fashionable" evening Friday and I’m still kinda gitty about it. My coworker Eddy and I went to a party at Catherine Malandrino’s boutique in NYC’s Meatpacking district. I've crushed on Malandrino here before and nothing has changed. I still adore her ultra-feminine frocks with intricate details. So when Eddy asked me to join her for Friday night's event, I was all in. It worked out perfectly too since I had a birthday shindig to attend that was also downtown but didn't start until 10pm.

Not that I needed another excuse to pine over the clothes at the Catherine Malandrino boutique, but in addition to free booze, there was scheduled to be a perfermance by Celia Faussart of Les Nubians. Remember them? Very talented chicks that stayed somewhat below the radar in the States but the idea of hearing Celia sing in an intimate setting with live musicians was even more reason to go. She did her thing too and has a great band. The saxophone player can really blow!


Celia after her performance. Aren't we feeling the flowers in her hair?

Well, Eddy and I had a ball. Her fiance joined us and was sweet enough to take the pics you see below. Lola Ogunnaike was also in the house. That's her with Eddy on the right. After the perforamce we chatted with Celia and learned that she's raising her kids in Brooklyn, USA now and appreciates living in NYC since she doesn't drive. She assured us that she and her sister haven't broken up but rather are taking an unofficial hiatus.

We also met Catherine that night. She's cool as a fan. I was practically stuttering while telling her how much I admire her work. Very humble and gracious she was. She's such a talented designer and I've been a fan ever since she held her Spring 2002 runway show at Harlem's Apollo Theater. Yep, she made all those hoity-toity buyers and editors trek to 125th Street to view her collection. HA! She also chills with Mary J. Blige on a regular. Gotta love it. Trust me, I'm privy to a whole lotta PR gimmicks and folks exploiting culture of the African Diaspora solely for their own financial gain but I really believe Catherine is sincere and what you see is what you get.

Now if I could just afford to get her clothes at retail... LOL!


(L to R:) Me, Celia and Eddy cheesin' for the camera.

(L to R:) Me, Celia, Catherine and Eddy

Beats, Rhymes and Fashion: Q-Tip, H&M and Realizing That NYC Still Rocks!

Thursday night. It was one of those times I am a little more thankful for living in NY and working in media. While I am a proud native New Yorker, I have a growing love/hate relationship with The Big Apple (the working/middle-class here is shrinking fast!) and I’ve already expressed my complicated feelings about my full-time gig here on PPT. But Thursday night made even a semi-jaded homebody like me cheese from ear-to-ear and remember once again how great this (dirty, overpriced, crowded) city is.

Around 6:20pm, my girl Big C asks me if I want to roll with her to a Q-Tip taping for VH1 Soul. WHAT?!?! I’m all about it even after she firmly tells me we have to get there by 7:30pm. Love Tip and the opportunity to hear him spit in an intimate setting is more than enough to make me hustle and finish up my work before we catch a taxi down to 26th Street. On our way there, I remember an email my friend Mija forwarded me about the H&M fiesta for Comme des Garcons. We plan to check that out afterwards. Then C also recalls a "little shindig at Bergdorf Goodman" that we can roll through too if we have enough time. Fashion parties usually have good gift bags. (The next day I read that the "little shindig" was actually the launch of Le Metier De Beaute cosmetics hosted by L.A. Reid. Ha!)

So C and I arrive to the VH1 taping about 15 minutes before Tip hits the stage. The show was dope. He gave the performance his all and while I steadily tapped my foot to his new joints (the upcoming album drops on Nov. 4th by the way) I kinda lost it when he did the classics. Check the Rhime (Q-Borough STAND UP), Award Tour (the soundtrack to my senior year of high school), Vibrant Thing (my first girlfriend getaway to MIA) - I, along with the rest of the place, was two-stepping like it was nineteen ninety something again. Margeaux Watson was there too and also covered the show on her new EW blog. Good, good times.

Before we made our way to the H&M function, one of C’s colleagues tells us about Stephen Hill’s birthday party later on that night. Dang, there is a lot of stuff going on in the city tonight I think to myself. Apparently Stephen’s bday festivities are always loads of fun and he often sings (yes, he sings) for his guests. We continue as planned though and make our way to the H&M party. For reasons I don’t care to go into, I end up doing H&M solo. I wasn’t by myself very long however; soon I see some familiar faces and start chatting up folks. The small but well edited collection is primarily black and white and is very true to Comme des Garcons. I see a couple of pieces I would consider buying but personally the line is nothing to blog much about.

Mr. Allen has styled Selita Ebanks and Takashi Murakami.


Veteran fashion scribe Lynn was a sweetheart and happily posed for my camera phone.

But seeing legendary fashion journalist Lynn Yaeger (that’s her above) and fabu stylist Alexander Allen (he’s sporting the sick Louis Vuitton gear) in the spot? Always worth blogging about. Lynn has been covering fashion for The Village Voice and other publications for over 20 years and never bites her tongue. Digs her. A lot. I bump into Alex pretty regularly but what made my encounter with him Thursday night special was the wisdom he so willingly shared with me. And it had nothing to do with fashion or styling and everything to do with gumption and faith. Thanks again Alex!

After H&M I decided to call it a night and headed to mi casa. Honestly, the H&M gift bag was just eh. And for the folks that hang out at "industry" parties all the time, this is probably the norm (or maybe even lame) but I haven’t really party hopped like this in a minute. For me, getting to hear a member of one of my all-time favorite groups perform and checking out an affordable new clothing line while catching up with genuine folks at a fashion industry party is a beautiful rarity.

All of this and I was still home by 11:30pm in time get a little phone QT in with Mr. TK before bed. Life is good.

Below are my favorite pieces from the Comme des Garcons for H&M Collection which is scheduled to arrive in stores early November.