WARDROBE: Maybe skulls aren't completely dunzo

Apparently skulls aren't as irrelevant as we thought. Some poor soul just paid $100 million for Damien Hirst's cheeky, diamond-encrusted high-art version of one.

SOUNDS: On today's playlist

All week, we've been obsessively listening to practically every artist signed to Sonar Kollektiv, the Berlin-based indie record label. Georg Levin is the city's answer to Robin Thicke.

"Live in Wahoolia," by Georg Levin (click song titles to listen)

PALETTE: The advertising world's giant recognizes black

More beauty advertising dollars will be spent on reaching the black and latino audience thanks to a new initiative at Proctor & Gamble called "My Black Is Beautiful," started by Najoh Tita Reid, the company's somewhat new multicultural marketing director. The promotion will go head-to-head with Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty," which makes this the first time we've ever seen two major corporations compete for the ethnic woman consumer. The move also reflects a larger dialogue about race happening in the advertising world according to AdAge. Now we're just waiting for the conversation to penetrate the fashion advertising world.

HAPPENINGS: Um, no Miss South Carolina. It's not the Iraqi and South African children who are most in need of a better education.

Let's hope Miss Teen USA candidate Miss South Carolina at least scored higher in the swimsuit category.

LIFE: Channel surfing: Stream of consciousness: Unproductivity: You told Harpo to beat me

I should be at the Nokia Theater watching Mos Def, Common, Erykah Badu and Talib Kweli perform at Black August. But a pile of deadlines has me chained to my laptop, on my couch, in front of the TV. Only, I'm not getting any work done at all. Instead, I'm watching "The Color Purple." God, I forgot how much I love that movie. And Alice Walker. And Oprah. I got these weird chills as soon as she came marching through that field of corn towards Whoopi with that black eye. The Academy robbed that cast of an Oscar. And so I've wasted three hours of work time I can never get back. The "Big Love" season finale comes on at 9pm...

WARDROBE: And pouf, it's gone

Both New York magazine, and the New York Times declared the tent dress trend officially played out this week. Along with that goes the death of the pouf, babydoll, bubble and pretty much any other silhouette that moves away from the body and makes one resemble a woman in her fifth month of pregnancy. The whole poofy thing is being replaced by sharper, cleaner lines that accentuate the woman's figure. It all makes us marvel at how the lifespan of a trend is growing increasingly and increasingly shorter. We're sure that's thanks in no small part to the Internet making it so easy for women to identify and emulate what the popular looks are immediately after a collection is shown on the runway. We can't help but wonder how long fall's most obvious trends (all Marc Jacobs-fueled by the way) will last.

























The trend: wide-leg pants
We give it: one year




















The trend: hats
We give it: three months



























The trend: lace-up Oxford pumps
We give it: six months


























The trend: Origami-inspired lines
We give it: ten months

SOUNDS: On today's playlist

"To Build A Home," by The Cinematic Orchestra (click song title to listen)

WARDROBE: The best fashion week invitation ever

New York Fashion Week is a mere 13 days away and the invitations are already rolling in. Most of them are expensive, designy bits of card stock and plastic that will get lost in a pile on our desk and end up in the trash once the collections end. (Thank you Behnaz Sarafpour for having the good sense to only send digital invitations in an effort to reduce paper waste.) But by far, the best invitation we've gotten up to date is a Snoopy Snow Cone machine for the MetLife show dedicated to the Peanuts gang. Granted, the idea of a Snoopy-themed runway show is way cheesy. But we give their show producers props for 1) sending us something we'd actually hold on to 2) giving us soft, warm memories of childhood summer days spent getting brain freeze in the back yard.

SOUNDS: On today's playlist

"Valley of Love," by JDavey (click song title to listen)

WARDROBE: The Prada sale is coming! How fast is your Internet connection?

The Prada and Miu Miu sample starts next Tuesday, and it's more organized than most. Sign up for an appointment by visiting www.pradasamplesale.com anytime this week.

August 21 - August 23
9am to 7pm
57th and Madison, The Fuller Building, 2nd Floor
Prada & Miu Miu F/W 2006, P/C 2007, S/S 2007
Credit cards only (no cash or checks accepted)

LIFE: Summer reading: What's really making our handbags so heavy

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's "Half of a Yellow Sun" stuck with us in such a significant way after we finished reading it, we're now immersed in an Africa literary moment. So we picked up her debut novel, "Purple Hibiscus," ("Yellow" is her second), which, so far, seems to offer a compelling allegory of the affects of colonialism through a teenage girl's observations of her abusive father's hold on her family. "What is the What," by Dave Eggers, meanwhile, has managed to grab us in a chokehold and freak us out from the very first line. It's also opening our eyes to the differences in the way Africans and African-Americans perceive each other.

SOUNDS: On today's playlist

"Mistaken," by Mark de Clive-Lowe (click song title to listen)

"Mother of the Future," by Bembe Segue

WARDROBE: Backstage with Yerba Buena

The Afro-latin/Afro-beat band made more than a few wardrobe changes before taking the stage at their free concert on the Hudson River. Our favorite was lead singer Cucu Diamnates' ensemble by Threeasfour. Her husband/producer, Andres Levin, and guest vocalist, Celia of Les Nubians were a close second and third.

LIFE: On our to-do list today

The Martin Luther King Concert Series Presents An Evening with Lauryn Hill
7:30 pm
Wingate Field, Winthrop Street between Brooklyn and Kingston avenues
(718) 469-1912

The Fugees reunion may definitely be on hold, but Lauryn Hill is still touring and planning to record an album. Lord knows how long it will take for her next release to see the light of day, but fingers crossed she'll mix in some new material with the old hits tonight. And considering that the weather forecast includes evening thunderstorms, we hope tonight's free concert won't involve several hours worth of waiting for the show to begin.

SOUNDS: On today's playlist

"Let It Go," by Keyshia Cole (mostly because we love everything that Missy Elliott touches - click song title to listen)

SOUNDS: A lot changes in ten years

Around the office today, we've been talking a lot about the following Lauryn Hill interview and what a stark contrast it is from the Lauryn we first met over a decade ago. She seems incredibly serious, somewhat melancholy and definitely guarded and distrustful (even the layers and layers of make-up she's been wearing these days look like some sort of barrier), which makes us kind of sad. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly led to the transition with all of the folklore surrounding here: shady religious leaders, relationship drama, lawsuits, bandmate beef, etc. We're still ride-or-die fans though (of the music, not all that foundation.) Despite all of the talk about her canceled concerts, two of us saw her perform a small, intimate two hour-long set this past winter and it's one of the best live music experiences we've ever had.

WARDROBE: Even in death, it still lives

For the most part, we're completely over the skull trend, which has managed to stay in our consciousness a good twelve months longer than it should have, with the exception of two things.

1) Damien Hirst's $99 million platinum and diamond-encrusted skull, which he financed himself. It's such a ridiculous joke, you can't help but give the artist a nod of props.
2) The white chocolate palm-sized skulls that jeweler Meredith Kahn of Made Her Think gave her guests as wedding treats at her reception. The chocolate was tasty and the gift looked a thousand times cooler than traditional wedding trifles.

Outside of those previous mentions, we're completely behind Jack Spade's No Mas tote bag ($165) which attempts to put a nail in the skull and bones coffin for good. It remains to be seen whether or not Spade's retail campaign will work. The Libertines capsule collection for Target, among several other fall lines, has got skulls all over the place.

WARDROBE: If you were a member of the CVFF selection committee

We've received quite a few emails from you and, so far, Erin Fetherston is the frontrunner in our little CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund poll. Here's what one pro-Erin reader has to say, "Her clothes command that 'where'd you get that?' attention (without veering into clownville) that separates the must-haves from the 'eh's. Plus, they can be worn lots of different ways which is important to me since I'm not at the point yet where I can regularly drop hundreds of dollars on single items."