Liberty’s Scarf Styling Video: Film one, the halter top.

It’s a Turban, It’s a Dress: It’s a Scarf (NY Times)
“For so long, fashion was about the ‘it’ bag and the ‘it’ shoe. [But] it’s definitely about an ‘it’ scarf now’… In kaleidoscopic colors and patterns — tribal motifs, overblown peonies, cheetah spots, abstract skulls and awning stripes — they’re eye candy for a new generation.”

Luxury groups struggle to find artisans (Reuters)
“While many admired the elegance of the dress in which Kate Middleton married Britain’s Prince William last month, too few youngsters are interested in learning the skills required to make such garments… many brands struggle to keep up with demand for the lack of qualified artisans.”

A social network for socialist China’s lonely super-wealthy (FT)
“P1.CN, an invitation-only social network for urban affluent Chinese, has attracted 1.2m members. And its success seems to lie in a concept that reflects a class society… Prospective members must have a monthly income of at least Rmb8,000 – according to luxury market researchers, the threshold for an upper middle class lifestyle.”

Brazil on way to driving luxury growth, execs say (Reuters)
“Many luxury groups long refrained from building a big business in the country, deterred by Brazil’s high import duties, complex bureaucracy and lack of retail space. But in the course of the past few year years… [lured by] the rising purchasing power of the country’s middle class.”

It’s Pink, It’s For Men, It’s British, It’s Here (Scene Asia)

“British shirt maker Thomas Pink is the brand of choice for young accountants and lawyers in London. The company… has been peddling its British style to Chinese men since 2005… Chief executive Jonathan Heilbron sat down with WSJ’s Jason Chow to talk about men’s shirts, their customers and why British luxury brands are so popular in China.”

The Alexander McQueen exhibit has been such a smashing success (as evidenced by the massive lines trailing out of the Costume Institute at all hours every day) that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has decided to change the closing date from July 31 to August 7. They will also open the exhibit on Mondays, when the rest of the museum is closed, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for visitors willing to pay an extra $50 fee. [WWD]

Read more posts by Charlotte Cowles

Filed Under: r.i.p. mcqueen, alexander mcqueen, costume institute, metropolitan museum, sarah burton

This morning, the Today show and Good Morning America began their annual nods to summer by ... having people sing outside. Today booked Rihanna while GMA got Lady Gaga, resulting in a necessary morning-show face-off of red-haired dancing ladies wearing panties!

So, sartorially speaking, which red-haired diva WON?

While you think on this, we're heading out a little early for the long weekend. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled blogging on Tuesday. Happy (SUMMER) day drinking!

Read more posts by Amy Odell

Filed Under: look of the day, good morning america, lady gaga, rihanna, today show

• In the last fiscal year, Burberry’s profits more than doubled. [WWD]

• But Polo Ralph Lauren’s profits dropped by 31 percent. [WSJ]

• Justin Bieber reportedly spent $25,000 on a jeweled pendant of Stewie from Family Guy. [OK]

• Tyra has a new Fa-Fa-Fa-Fashion, this time with a discussion on shapewear. [TypeF]

• Simon Doonan told the graduating class of FIT to make sure they have at least one drag queen friend at all times, as “they’re very life-affirming.” [Racked]

• Kim Kardashian’s engagement ring is 20.5 carats. [BrideFinds]

• The costume designs in Pedro Almodóvar's new film, The Skin I Live In, are courtesy of Jean Paul Gaultier. [Blackbook]

• Here’s a slideshow of unretouched model Polaroids, including shots of Natalia Vodianova and Raquel Zimmermann. [Vogue UK]

• Chanel is launching a new line of bags called Chanel Boy. [Fashionologie]

• Apartment porn: a tour of the home of Aylin Beyce, who heads up the collaboration design team at Levi’s. [Refinery29]

• Here’s a handy guide so you can check if you’re wearing a dress or not. [Buzzfeed]

• Kate Moss has bought a new home in North London for over $11 million. [Daily Mail UK]

• Gucci is launching a line of ecofriendly eyewear. [WWD]

• High-end fashion houses are struggling to fill artisanal positions because not enough young people are interested in learning the necessary skill sets. [Reuters]

• Jewelry designer Pamela Love breaks down a day’s schedule for Elle magazine. [Elle]

• E-commerce sites are increasingly partnering with big-name stylists. [WSJ]

Filed Under: loose threads, aylin beyce, burberry, chanel, gucci, jean paul gaultier, justin bieber, kate moss, kim kardashian, model tracker, pamela love, pedro almodovar, polo ralph lauren, put a ring on it, simon doonan, tyra banks

Something I never considered: Malice’s new religious standpoint might affect the coke raps the public has grown to know the Clipse for and make him change his moniker to something less “malicious”.

Full story over @ RubyHornet.

Currently in progress.

The US president survived needy Europeans, unseasonably high winds and a high-risk table-tennis match

Considering that American presidents have been crossing the Atlantic to rescue ungrateful Europeans for almost a century now, Michelle and Barack Obama showed admirable forbearance in the face of all the pomp, circumstance and table-tennis balls that cash-strapped Britain could hurl at them.

It's not as if the US is omnipotent or awash with funds itself any more. But those Europeans always have their hands out. They cut their own armed forces but expect Washington to provide more hardware to sort out Gaddafi. They mess up their own currency and look to IMF funds to sort out the mess.

David Cameron is hoping Obama will endorse his own cuts strategy. He has already lured him into a high-risk table-tennis match. Even in his ancestral home of Moneygall, County Offaly, the president didn't get any change when he paid cash for the Guinness.

Irish rain and Icelandic ash had forced the 1,500-strong White House party to take refuge in London 12 hours early. At the official start of their state visit the president and his wife were now obliged to cope with a show of unseasonably cold wind, sweeping across the Buckingham Palace lawn as if it was the tail-end of the Missouri tornado. The Queen was sensibly dressed, as usual, for the ritual Guard of Honour, but poor Michelle Obama had clearly been told the British were enjoying a warm spring this year.

As her husband inspected the 101 members of the 1st battalion of the Scots Guards ("is this all the armed forces they've got left?") she clung to the billowing skirt of her summer dress as if Dominique Strauss-Kahn had been spotted in the bushes.

In practical terms, this was the lightest of the Obamas' six-day European foray. They enjoyed a leisurely start at Winfield House – the US ambassador's private garden is central London's biggest after HMQ's and ambassador Louis Susman is an old Chicago pal. But business before pleasure. Who should arrive in their Roller to break up the schmooze, but Prince Charles and Camilla – who had been planning to greet Obama and his wife at Stansted, had volcanic ash not intervened on the flightplan.

Obama took the precaution of talking to White House reporters (an essential component of the imperial travelling court) about the devastating tornado in Joplin, Missouri. The couple then left for the palace in "The Beast," the president's armour-plated limo – it can withstand a direct hit by a missile or Sarah Palin – and their 15-car convoy, modest by Washington standards, slipped through London, assisted by the 5,000 Met police officers earning overtime.

The combination of Britain's hereditary monarch and America's elected version is enough to make otherwise sane TV reporters quite light-headed. All day they assured their viewers that the Obamas – who came up the hard way and have good reason to be cool towards Britain, as most of the 43 previous presidents did not – already feel London is a second home. On the strength of two or three meetings their strong mutual affection for the Queen, 85, and her consort, 89, is an established TV fact.

What do they talk about? The countryside, gardening and clothes, according to one report. There may even be a germ of truth in it, for they are all gracious people, even the Duke on his best behaviour. "Nice to see you, sir," said the president after clasping the Queen in a prolonged double handshake. No hugs from Mrs Obama on this occasion.

In any case, there was an extra attraction. The Obamas may be relative newcomers to palace life, but the former Kate Middleton still needs help finding the loos. So up she popped in the stately 1844 room, the new Duchess of Cambridge newly-returned from honeymoon with her spouse. People addressed as "Duke" in Chicago are usually jazzmen, but Prince William is a helicopter pilot. They talked privately for 20 minutes, a gaffe-free debut unless the tabloids had the room wired. But Kate was seen to touch her tummy. That will do for the media pack.

The day's stately progress proceeded to plan, albeit with added wind and looming ash: the Guard of Honour with the band playing The Star Spangled Banner (it celebrates a defeat for the British in the war of 1812), lunch and a quick tour of the Royal Collection, escorted by the boss herself.

Poring over details of the loss the 13 American colonies ("America is lost" noted George III) Obama dismissed it as "a temporary blip in the relationship". Brits are neurotically sensitive about the "special relationship," so there must have been relief all round. Out of intensive care until the next imagined snub.

Appropriate gifts were exchanged – including copies of Queen Victoria's lively letters to successive presidents – without the kind of incident that almost led to war when Gordon Brown gave the president all Britain's gold reserves and in return was given DVDs and a family meal voucher for McDonalds. Prince Charles got some seeds to talk to. Spot on!

David Cameron had briefly to be fitted in, so did Ed Miliband. But what with the trip to Westminster Abbey – laying a wreath on the tomb of the unknown warrior is de rigueur for state visits – they started running late. In his reflective moment as the choir sang, did Obama have time to recall that Harry Truman, the first US president his royal host had met, was once a frontline soldier in that war?

Obama (he's got a lot on his mind) signed the visitors book "May 24, 2008." Undeterred the crowds outside called "we love you, we love you," in sharp contrast to the jeers which hounded George W Bush in 2003. Those Europeans prefer Democrats to cowboys.

Cameron further slowed progress by shipping his visitor off to the Globe Academy (opened by Ed Balls in 2008) in Southwark, surely not to cramp Miliband's moment? No, even Tory posh boys are aware of the Obama CV which makes them keener than ever to trumpet social mobility, not one of the Queen's strongest suits.

They risked being photographed playing table tennis, normally a no-win situation for politicians, even if the host gallantly loses on purpose. This time the pair cunningly played pupils and high-fived their best shots. Handy material for the election file, a win-win after all for the "essential relationship."

No table tennis for Miliband, but he had his meeting in the end, searching for some reflected Obama optimism to share. After that a quick shower for the visitors in Buck House's Belgian Suite – named after Africa's most notorious colonialist regime – and that state dinner. What could possibly go wrong? In the Europe of 2011, anything.

Read More

Are we sick of Rush Limbaugh yet? We might be! Crains reported yesterday that the April Arbitron report showed the conservative movement's most powerful mouthpiece -- and Sean Hannity, his much-dumber distant rival -- slumping in the ratings after the midterms:

Oh...and NOW you gonna crack on my flip phone? B*tch please, you still on a 3G!! Beyonce called, she's finna upgrade my sh*t. Who's gonna captain save you, ho?

I’m fairly certain that over the course of civilization, men and women have been figuring out and perfecting ways to piss off their boothangs at an alarming clip. From locking a man out of cave by pushing the boulder in front of the entrance early to forgetting to turn the crank on the car for a woman…pisstivity is an art form. I’m even convinced that many of us do it on purpose. I don’t even have a boothang right now but I just pissed off my boy’s boothang to keep my skills in tact. She had it coming though…how you gonna come up in my motherlovin’ establishment, eat my food, drink my wine, and then tell me Baby Boy is the worst thing to happen to the Black community since the Civil Rights Movement?

Just rude. Especially since the obvious truth is that Black people are the worst thing to happen to the Black community since the Civil Rights Movement.

Word.Life.

Nowadays, with so many means of interacting with people we probably shouldn’t interact with, we end up with lots of boothangs and love interests that we normally wouldn’t have had when IM was a carrier pigeon. Between Al Gore’s offspring, smartphones, and iPads, we communicate differently now. We BBM, we Facebook, we chat and text. Hell we spend more time talking without speaking to one another you’d think we were all extras in a Charlie Chaplin movie. And with this new fangled technology swoon comes  new and improved ways to get your point across and piss off your boothang. This is actually a talent and a skill. I’ve been impressed with some people’s ability to really get under the skin of their boopieces. Now for those needing some help in this department, fret not, VSB is here to show you how we do this son.

(By the way, I can neither confirm nor deny whether or not I have or will ever do any of these things. I will. Thank you and good night.)

1. Sending somebody to voicemail

Nothing illicits a ”no this motherf*cker did not” faster than hearing the voicemail greeting after the first ring. It’s just disrespectful. This works especially well if you rush your boothang off the phone and they call back. Ring. Voicemail. Death threats. Indictments. 6 foot, 7 foot, 8 foot PUNCH!

2. Changing your Gchat status from green to red or going invisible and pretending you’re not there

I don’t even adhere to people’s status lights anymore. Red is merely an indicator that you just want to talk to me and not everybody else. But if you want to piss somebody off, be mid convo and just go to busy…and don’t respond back. Or just log off altogether if you’re really gully. This especially works at pissing off women. Women do not like to be ignored, but being both ignored AND “hung up” on? She’s gonna attempt to lay hands on you later, fellas. Bob and weave, nicca. Bob and weave.

3. Take forever to respond to a text…then when they ask, tell them that you got it…via text…or blame it on your service provider

Some of you all are just impatient f*cks in general so too long could be 10 minutes, never mind that I’m enjoying a lovely stroll under a shade tree filled grove of love. Again, being ignored pisses folks off. I’ve found that women tend to be less inclined to ignore because it doesn’t really jive with their natural tendency towards creation of immediate chaos, whereas men’s defense mechanism is to supaman dat ho, then ignore her if that doesn’t work. Either way, I’ve been told that I have a tendency to do this. Tend deez. It’s AT&T’s fault.

4. Respond to a long ass email with a one word response

This is a personal favorite of mine. I’m king of taking your 2,000 word emotional spillage intended to tell me about myself, and responding back with “cool.”

Actually even that’s too much, I rarely give them the satisfaction of the extra “.”

5. Turning your phone off

Mostly because it’s just a blatant disregard for my innate desire at that moment to get some sh*t off my chest. You did it on purpose, you chanticleer!

6. Not responding to a BBM when it’s obvious that you already read it

Kind of self-explanatory here but, that has to BURN the person on the other end. I had a BB for two weeks and I specifically did that once just to see how long it would take to get a phone call…which I sent to voicemail. They emailed me and I said, “cool”. Yeah, that ended unamicably.

7. Facebook status change to: it’s complicated

Only for the truly gully, but some of you really spend too much time on Facebook. Stop it. But if you want to piss off your boothang on some Mexico versus France let’s prepare for Cinco De Mayo sh*t, just change your relationship status and watch what happens.

Those are but a few of the potential possibilities. Good people of VSB, laissez les bontemps rouler.

Educate the uneducated. Piss on you. R. Kelly.

What’s another new age way to piss off your boothang??

-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka TANGLE JIG P aka MR. I PEED YOUR HONOR, BUT NOT ON NOBODY aka GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL HE A 3

If you haven’t purchased the paperback or the $9.99 Kindle version of “Your Degrees Wont Keep You Warm at Night: The Very Smart Brothas Guide to Dating, Mating, andFighting Crime” yet, what the hell is stopping you? (No, seriously.)

We’d like to thank all of you for coming through and nominating us for FIVE(fif’) Black Weblog Awards. We’re on the final ballot for Best Humor Blog, Best Writing in a Blog, Best Sex & Relationships Blog, Best Group Blog, and Blog of the Year. Please go vote for us here.

Related posts:

1. nevermind: five surefire ways to scare her away
2. Sh*t I Hate Mondays
3. five great ways to charm a man