Last night in Los Angeles stars from the music industry filed into the Staples Center for the yearly popularity fete. Having given up on the awards portion of these shows long ago, the red carpet is usually my main event. Of course this year I was among the many anticipating Jennifer Hudson’s Whitney Houston tribute. It was the aural (and emotional) highlight of the evening, while visual treats came in the form of several beautiful black gowns on the red carpet.

Rihanna (in custom Giorgio Armani) and Alicia Keys (in Alexandre Vauthier Couture) wore two of my favorite looks of the evening – both wearing sleek & sexy black dresses with slick gold accessories. Notably, they also both wore the same shoes: Unbout Illusion from Christian Louboutin’s Spring 2012 collection. Though the black version seen on the music stars isn’t readily available, a neon yellow pair is currently retailing for $795 at Neiman Marcus online.

Now if you appreciate fashion for the momentary eyegasm that it is, you might not bat an eye at that last statment. For years, that was my stance. But the more I grow in by sartorial beliefs, the more repulsed I am at the thought of spending those kind of resources on a pair of plastic shoes. Yes, PLASTIC. Those sexy and expensive pumps are made, largely, of PVC – a.k.a. Polyvinyl chloride, a.k.a. prime phthalate vehicle. I’m all for investing in good clothing and accessories, but I expect that the pricetag reflect the craftmanship and materials. In this case, it looks like it’s mostly the name your buying. No thanks.

For more Grammys 2012 Fashion, please visit BeatStylist.com

Incredibly, it’s been a year since the greatest entertainer of all time left this Earth & those of us that are die-hard fans are still reeling from the loss. It was selfish of us to want to keep him here, to be poked at, prodded, and ridiculed by the same public that raised him to his pedestal. Thankfully, he left a legacy that will ring on into eternity. And Michael Jackson left us more than music. He was a fashion visionary that was always dressed and never costumed, but rather stayed true to that singular and stellar rhythm that beat in him and through him. We love you, Michael!

Who’s Bad? by eighty jane featuring Alexander McQueen

Jamon! by eighty jane featuring Old Navy t shirts

Annie, Are You O.K.? by eighty jane featuring Dries Van Noten shoes

Smooth. by eighty jane featuring Marc by Marc Jacobs shoes

Human Nature by eighty jane featuring Marc by Marc Jacobs pants

photos: scrapyourtrip.com, IvanMIchellePerezEnciso @ Photobucket.com, ilkerugur.wordpress.com

It’s spring! And like Bambi, and all other creatures living with their hearts wipe open, I am utterly twitterpated. My new love: The Temper Trap. They are a rock band, but like all of my favorite bands, I’m reluctant to slide them into a simple genre. The BBC called them “Sun-bleached surf-pop from down under” – which I think is wayyy off. Their MySpace page slots them in A’cappella / Other / Melodramatic Popular Song categories – which maybe doesn’t hit the mark either, but better describes the inability to pin these guys down (or else just the band’s sense of humor).

It was a fantastic show at The Loft – well attended, but not stampede stuffed. I, of course, was up near the front of the stage amongst some really young (it seemed) fans and having a blast. The moment was made all the better by the fact that leader singer Dougy Mandagi has great style (on this night, anyhow). Unfortunately, my super-amateur photography skills were not enough to adequately capture the look very well on camera. The missing details: rolled short sleeve (very 50s), a feather print shirt with chest exposed (very 70s), a small gold crucifix pendant, a braided leather belt. The exposed chest, BTW was very appropriate to Dougy’s vocal style, which reminds me of that Bee Gees falsetto that so characterized the disco era.

Inspired Style: Dougy of TheTemper Trap – LIVE in Atlanta by eighty jane featuring Low Luv by Erin Wasson necklaces

Apparently the Melbourne band was introduced to the States by way of a movie called “500 Days of Summer.” I’ve never seen it, and have barely even heard of it (proud Hollywood hater, here). The break out song was “Sweet Disposition” – played unplugged and mellow in the video below.

It’s a nice song, but not nearly as amazing as some of the other songs on their debut album Conditions. One of my favorites is “Resurrection.”

Buy Conditions on

See my wishlist *fingers crossed* – What would you buy if you won?

Music – 3 stars. The song is fun and does make you want to dance, but I don’t hear a classic – especially not by Janet Jackson standards.

Fashion – 5. Janet and her dancers put Todd Lynn’s Spring 2010 collection to perfect use. Few other collections combine the sharp-edged futuristic feel with that ease of movement. There was just one blip:

I don’t understand how this look fits into the story of the video and the other costumes. If this video were a photoshoot, that look would be cut.

Video – 4. The video immediately reminded me of “Scream” – the only music video Janet ever did with her late brother Michael. This is on the one hand to the video’s credit since the song pays tribute to MJ’s “Dont’ Stop ‘Till You Get Enough.” On the other hand, however, it makes me think Janet has stalled again and her music hasn’t evolved. But 4/5 means I’m optimistic.

Click for a larger view of my faves from Todd Lynn Spring 2010:

Gossip singer Beth Ditto was spotted in Paris recently with designer Jean Charles de Castelbajac. (aka JCDC). Besides having terrific style, Ditto is one of my rockstar heroes with a kick ass voice. Check her and the band out in “Heavy Cross” from their Album Music for Men.

Former bandmates Beyonce Knowles and Michelle Williams shared a red carpet Friday, while arriving at Billboard’s 4th Annual Women in Music event. While Beyonce, who was named Woman of the Year, she was completely outshone in the style category by Michelle Williams, who has been raising her SQ (style quotient) a good deal lately. Her look is so elegant – the simple black dress with that amazing necklace.

Incredibly, US Harper’s Bazaar landed the first interview with Janet Jackson since the tragic death of her older brother Michael. Janet’s looking good on the cover and I can’t help but hope that she might be able to turn a colossal lemon into the sweetest lemonade. That is, can she flip the frenzy over her brother’s death is an genuine comeback? Is that selfish? I know it is – but I can’t help it! There has GOT to be a wealth of unpublished MJ music that she could record. Sigh…

The last time Janet saw Michael was on May 14, two days before her 43rd birthday. It was a family celebration, the Jackson kids were running around, and she and her big brother hung out, ate Thai food, and tormented each other. “We had so much fun that day,” she says, her soft voice almost inaudible. “We kept calling each other after and saying how great it was.”

Janet left soon after to start work on Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too. She was on set in Atlanta when she got the call that Michael had died. She immediately returned to L.A., plunging headlong into a private family grief served up to a ravenous public. Of course, one of the most moving images from the memorial service was of Michael’s daughter, Paris, who stepped up to the microphone and said, “Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine” before grabbing her aunt Janet for support. “I was really proud,” Janet recalls. “People said to me that Michael’s daughter speaking really gave them a sense of how he was as a father, in her words. Paris is incredibly smart; they are all so smart. She’s a sweet girl. The kids are doing well. They’re with all their cousins; that family love will keep them going.”

After the service, Janet and sisters La Toya and Rebbie went to speak to the fans. Janet, who said a brief and quiet thank-you, was greeted with thunderous applause. “I don’t remember that at all,” she says. “I really didn’t want to say anything. I left that night to go back to Atlanta to film.”

Work has always been a tonic for Janet. Today she is sitting in a bunkerlike recording studio in Hollywood, writing songs for a new album, due out next spring. Nickelodeon is on the TV (perhaps the only network not doing Michael 24/7), incense is burning, and she is trying to discourage her French bulldog, Bullwinkle, a birthday gift from brother Jermaine, from nibbling at her towering Azzedine Alaïa lizard sandals.

“I’ve been doing okay,” she says. “Work helps focus all of that energy on something that is of value to you.” She’s just back from vacation, a princely three days on a beach. “It was the first time I had to myself since Michael passed, the first time I could get away since all of that.”

Janet doesn’t like talking much, so it’s not hard to understand why people applaud when she opens her mouth. While she is the baby of the Jackson family, she is, in many ways, its nexus. “I have no clue why,” she says, “but maybe sometimes when there’s someone you don’t hear from, it’s the person you want to hear from the most.”

The article sneaks in a bit of fashion, too:

Janet’s smile is magnificent. “People have actually said that I should get it insured, but I never liked my smile until about six or seven years ago. I thought it was too wide, that it looked like the Joker! So sometimes I wouldn’t smile too wide and would just kind of grin.”

Even though Janet has her trademarks — that smile being one of them — her style is evolving. Currently on the curvier side, she is exploring her love for the 1940s: “I love shoulder pads, a nipped waist.” Today she’s in harem pants by Ellie Mae Byars of Mizzae, a denim jacket, and armfuls of black bracelets by Claudia Tate. “Since I was 16, I used to shop at Maxfield in L.A. I loved Thierry Mugler, Gaultier…” Now Janet is a fan of Roland Mouret and Alexander McQueen, and she sheepishly admits she just had a room built for her shoes: “Louboutin, YSL, Alaïa, and Giuseppe Zanotti.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Harper’s Bazaar’s October issue on stands Sept 22nd