(“Life”-By Snyp0r–www.deviantart.com)

(Inspired by an Anais Nin quote from “Henry and June”: “I want to bite into life, and to be torn by it.”)

 How can loneliness spread like a disease over every limb…
rotting my heart with visions of yearning…
flickering across the focus I fought so hard to regain…
Stepping backwards when I should be stepping forward…
I realize now…
that my heart often speaks too loudly for me.

Because I felt the most feminine when you told me I was beautiful…
Felt the most intelligent…
the most brave…
and it pained me that my confidence lay in your arms…

So I broke free from my obsession with you…
opened my soul to the universe…
and raced against the golden streaks of all my possibilities.

Yet…
here I am..
alone at sunset…
longing for an intimacy I no longer have…

I don’t want you…

I want the emotions to bead across my brow
like the sweat of love making…
Want to feel the thrusts of a passion so intense…
My body quakes in orgasm….
I want silent…quiet…soft….
sucking…fucking…kissing…
holding…
touching…
feeling.

I want the power of a caress to make me a better woman.
Conversation that lilts me to a drunken stupor…
inebriated with wisdom and beauty.
To see things as if the world was a kaleidoscope…
colors tossed and images intensified…
Oceans that cover me in ecstasy.

To feel every facet…
every nook and cranny…
every bit and piece of life…
because I am holding someone.

I don’t want you…

I want Life…
to crush me with it’s colors…
I want to live again…

This is the cover for Madonna’s latest single “Celebration”…I love the Warhol quality and the old-school like Madonna image (‘cuz you know as much as I adore her…she looks nothing like that anymore…LOL)… very very cool artwork. 

(“Astral Soul” -By Valse de Ombres–www.deviantart.com)

(Inspired by Alexandria Standi’s weekly prompt of: Gray)

I gave in to you.

Your colors pale in comparison to my heart.

“I love fashion and art and how it has become my life. It’s about taking risk and not letting anything get in the way. My clothing is a vision and my art is an emotion I’m trying to show the world. I will never stop pushing the envelope. I feel there is no resting point in the field of fashion and art. Make your dreams a reality and inspire the world.”-Ivan Orama

Born and raised on Long Island, NY, Artist/Designer Ivan Orama started working as a graphic designer at the young age of 16, and would soon work for numerous media firms until the age of 19, when he would land a job at a national magazine coordinating photo shoots, constructing layouts, and creating a fashion section for the magazine.

Wanting to embark on a new chapter in his life, Orama took his vision to New York City, resigning from the magazine position after two years.  He obtained positions at both GIANT magazine and Kai Kuhne Clothing as an intern.  Despite the financial struggles of internship, Orama took it all in stride and stayed focused on his goal. He credits GIANT magazine with teaching him structure and simplification in his designs and Kai Kuhne with exposing him to the intricate world of high-end fashion, all concepts and ideas that could only lead to his success in the fashion industry.

At Kai Kunhe, Orama learned about all the facets of their business structure and put in many late night hours to learn about technique, layouts for high-end fashion shows, program designing, promotional materials, and model fittings. All of these things helped hone the creativity and drive of Orama’s ultimate goal of creating his own line and after dedicating eight months of being a key member on the Kai Kunhe team, he decided to move forward with his dream.

He began by creating a website to display weekly shirt designs and by January 2009, Orama held his first team meeting, consisting of 20 members. This team would go on to help make Ivan Orama Clothing a distinct brand name when a couple months after that first meeting the very first Ivan Orama fashion show took place in New York City. Now, Orama is gearing up for the biggest show he has done to date and expects it to be an experience no one will forget. He promises that through his work, he will show the world that life is about taking risk and struggling to accomplish your highest dream. His dreams are still what guide him and in his own words “are worth more than words could explain….nothing can stand in the way of my vision.”

Check his line out @ www.IvanOrama.com

Here are some prime pieces in his collection:

SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS!!!!!!!

Lily Allen is definitely not my favorite anything, but these photos she did for Chanel are uber cute. Check them out!

BTW… AREN’T THOSE PURSES TO DIE FOR??!!!

(“Beauty is more than Flesh” by Thaaw- www.deviantart.com)

“I am honey and salt, fire and water, air and ice…still believing in the beauty of my own contradictions.”

Lady Gaga is possibly the most 80′s of this generations 1980′s comeback. Her unique mesh of Madonna-esque controversy, Cyndi Lauper-esque daring fashion sense…. throw in some glam rock and 1960′s mod… and you have Lady Gaga… fearless pop star. Check shorty out in Maxim’s July 2009 Music issue. F**king ILL!

I am a HUGE fan of efortless style and if there is anyone out there who doesn’t need to even apply the word “try” to her style…it’s Zoe Kravitz, daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, and whom I adore. Peep the pics below and see if you don’t agree!

BTW! Check out her new band Elevator Fight **she is the lead singer**on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Elevator-Fight/85182010347

(Flier created by Derek-Anthony Santiago of ImageCultura- www.imagecultura.com)

 Performed at the Poetry in Pink fundraiser event on July 19, 2009, created to help raise funds for my Breast Cancer walk team, Maggie’s Latin Angels,I wrote this poem with thoughts of what my mother must have went through upon knowing she had breast cancer and it made me think of what decisions I would make if it ever came to the point where I, myself, was diagnosed . I want to personally thank all the participants and guests that joined me on this empowering day. It was an honor and a blessing to share this experience with you all.  Looking forward to Poetry in Pink 2010…*wink*

The mood shifts…
and I see myself in cold, sterile blue light…
exposed…
beaten and torn with emotions beyond my control…
My own body has become my enemy…
my flesh my soul’s rival…

Overcome, overwhelmed
with a fear of missing one millisecond
of an existence I so often took for granted…
I hear remnants of my carefree past in my eardrums…
wishing I had more seconds, more minutes, more days, more years….
more time.

Fear and uncertainty cloak me in gray scraps…
I will never be the woman I once was.

Holding my breasts with open palms covered in tears…
I notice every vein, every gland, every stroke of color…
what woman am I without the things that marked my entrance into femininity?

What did I do?
What CAN I do to save me from myself?
What grain or flora could I have gathered?
What saving elixir could I have imbibed to avoid tempting the fates
who invoke such fears in my heart?
Shuddering in frightened anticipation…
of scalpel on flesh…
of death sprinkling a final sleep over my eyelids…
I pray.

Pray that He heals every celll and fiber in me..
Pray that one moment can last another life time…
Pray my own vanities will melt off with the promise of a new day…

So I plant my feet firmly in the ground and await the storms…
defiant…
For I cannot give in to the disease of defeat…
I cannot embrace the dark when I have so often been shown the light…

I will fight to reclaim my body as my own…
Fight for the flesh that throbs with my pulse…

I cannot give into death when I have fallen so deeply in love with life.

Take them off.

Found info on this French film as I was googling about Chanel and again when Common blogged about it. The film is basically a depiction of life before the fame, describing Coco’s obscure beginnings before the rise to fame in the fashion world. French actress Audrey Tatou, looks phenomenal as Coco Chanel. Look at the resemblance in the below photos! Uncanny, right?

Me and my girls are highly anticipating this film, being released in the US in the Fall of 2009. Can NOT wait! I will be rocking some Chanel-inspired looks. Think French! LoL.

Coco Chanel Vs. Audrey Tatou

Craaaazyy similar, right?

(“Fuck you” By Feuerschildkroete- www.deviantart.com)

Come across a lot of intentionally cruel people in my life. I have been hurt and betrayed. It fucking sucks. Pain is not a good feeling…never will be. But I have survived it, albeit with a few occasional pangs of humiliation in my gut.

But thinking about these pains I have had in my life makes me pose this question? Why are there people in this world who enjoy laughing at other people? Does it make you feel better to shit on someone else? Does it soothe your own frustrations to point and laugh at someone else’s? And when did sarcasm ever become charming, ladies? *smh*

I have turned a new leaf in my life… and do I still make mistakes? Oh hell yeah. I fall over my feet and stick them in my mouth constantly. Lord knows I can laugh at myself. I have done some mean things in my past, which has all come back to me tenfold. I consider myself a genuine and kind person…who oftentimes is her own worst enemy.

I am not perfection… nor have I ever claimed to be.

But one thing I warn to all of those who attempt to big themselves up by stepping on others. It will haunt you. Trust me…whatever wrongs I have committed to another, has always come back to haunt me. I don’t wish that for you at all. I actually hope that you are a decent hearted person deep down. But to claim a clean soul and be so blackened by your own desire to amuse yourself with the pain, rejection,or embarassment  you see on someone’s face… I wish you the best of luck , all…. because Karma? it’s coming for ya!

By the way, dear… take another look at the picture above! I offer those words as well!

(“Inner Light” By Vibratum–www.deviantart.com)

Flourishing in my own scintillation,
I light my world with my own strength,
saving tears for moments of my heartbreak,
My soul is reborn in the lessons learned.

Your untruths were the epiphanies of my heart’s existence,
a mirror for a love too big to digest…
it remained lodged in my soul…
my entire being axphyxiating on what I desired for us…
Until I finally purged you from my mind.

I breathed anew…
The tears dried and the pace of my heartbeat slowed…
The storm had passed and I was refreshed.

Black anger fringes on the periphery…
Yet my soul remains golden…
My horizons expanding with each new day…
My heart was my own rival…
But my determined soul overcame…
and what I was once addicted to…
is now a repellant…

Alone…
I face my own future…
Fearless!

“All is fair in love
Love’s a crazy game
Two people vow to stay
In love as one they say
But all is changed with time
The future no one can see
The road you leave behind
Ahead lies mystery
But all is fair in love
I had to go away
A writer takes his pen
To write the words again
That all in love is fair”

I was actually just put on to famed Art Nouveau painter, Mucha, by my friend Erika Dickstein. I had always seen reproductions and such but never quite knew the name of the artist or seen the extensive work he completed. Amazingly feminine and ethereal, very neo-classical reminiscent… the best part of the female forms Mucha depicted in his art? They were all thick voluptuous women! Peep the work below!

Channing Tatum , star of the upcoming live action “GI Joe” action flick, is divine in the latest issue of GQ…check out the flicks and *drool* Shit…I did…LOL

“I’m a student. There’s no real way [we do anything]. I’ll never say I do it this way or I do it that way because I’m always learning new ways of doing it.”

“Oh and when we, woo, stopped the hands of time
You set my soul on fire, my one desire
Was to love you and think of you with pride
And keep you satisfied, oh baby oh baby
We could not bear the mental strain
Leave you, I never meant to
Now you see how much you hurt me…”

” If you do not breathe through your writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write because our culture has no use for it.”

(“Fetal” – By RebekahModeling–www.deviantart.com)

Wishing and hoping for some release…
Standing in the piles of bitter memories once sweet…
Where do I look to once the dust settles…
Too tired to fight for something that was never there…

Jaded heart with no hopes of softening…
The dagger remains deep in my chest…
Your reflection flickers across the blade…
and I plunge it further into my soul…
with hopes of putting myself out of my own misery.

I see no light in the sun…
Blackened with my own anguish…
Trying so hard to give up this obsession…

More broken with each wistful remembrance…
Every thought of promises gone askew…
Asking God to forgive me for wanting your pain…
as solace to my own….

Wanting to find a crystal clarity..
to this distorted image of what I used to be….
Rough walls surround me…
Held up by the rubble of my own suffering….
Angry tears flood the room…
Damaged….
I lay…
Smelling your skin on mine…
Defeated and numb…..

Dawn Richard, formerly of the pop group Danity Kane, has changed her style and her grind. Currently a part of P.Diddy’s new group Dirty Money, Dawn poses for the latest issue of Honey Magazine and talks candidly.

The photos are fierce and while some say she is trying to be too Rihanna-esque, I think, with her pop rock mentality, she’s going to take her name far and in a completely different direction. 

The fact that her middle name is my name… well damn…that makes me like her even more.

)

“The best thing a woman can do is love herself. Love yourself, ladies. No matter what skin you’re in, no matter what eye color, nationality. Whatever you are love who you are. And it’s okay to be different, its okay to be the same, whatever you are just be the best you can be. And if anyone else is hating it’s because you’re doing it right. So continue to love yourself. Once you love yourself, everyone else around you will love you. And those who don’t, don’t need to be on your train anyway.”

-Dawn Angelique Richard

(“Subconsciente_Tentacular”-By Javier G Pacheco–www.deviantart.com)

I imagine the light falls on your face in silk and chiffon rays
of soft, gold radiance….
I want to breathe in the cottony sweet of your precious beauty…
Want to hold you in arms of clover…
Bless you with the milk and honey of Jehovah…
and the ambrosia of Aphrodite.

I call your name so loudly it echoes through time
and even the pharaohs foretold my love for you.
Sweet brown-skinned god of my surreal existence on this Earth….
I wish to wrap my arms around you…
as if my embrace ….
was the orbit of the planets around the solar being that is you.
You lit my world with fire and now my vision is blurred with a new need…
to have you in every form….
To swallow your flames and combust with the very thought of you.

Yet I feel the faint wisps of a dream…
The intensity of our first contact a mirage…
an oasis of longings….
And you sweep through my heart as a shooting star…
Scintillating, brilliant and carefree….
When the skies are our only distance apart…

Too far to touch…
and too close to leave…
I wait for our night to come…

So for now….
only flickers of light infused in your skin…
and images intangible…
traced in the words you write….
Kisses sent through the air…
in hopes of landing on the pillows of your lips….
Embraces tossed to the sky…
Feel me through the distance and hold me in your dreams…

The miles between us mean nothing.

“Silver threads and golden needles cannot mend this heart of mine
And I’ll never drown my sorrow in the warm glow of your wine.
You can’t buy my love with money, for I never was that kind,
Silver threads and golden needles cannot mend this heart of mine.”

I have to admit, I am not a fan of the show “Gossip Girl,” but I do love this Anna Sui collection that was inspired by the fashions the young ladies wear in the show… my fave?  The uber-chic faux leather jacket. The collection is slated to hit 250 select Target stores and Target.com from September 13 through October 17.

In honor of her birthday today, (she was born July 6th, 1907), I decided to post a quote from one of my favorite artists. Enjoy.

“Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”
Frida Kahlo