Gucci recently launched their latest women’s fragrance GUCCI GUILTY. The eau de toilette is a warm yet striking oriental floral perfume named after the 1980′s Barbra Streisand song Guilty. It is said the brand’s designer Frida Giannini  admits to being a huge fan of the icon. The fragrance’s see-through gold and glass bottle displays Gucci’s interlocking ‘G’, which is also reminiscent of the 1976 Streisand film A Star is Born. What do you think?

Written by Sonny Marcell

In an age where commercial music is flooded with autotune, synthesizers and computer manufactured instruments , one group remains faithful to the basics. Lead singer, Jason Kay (also known as Jay Kay), surmises their process when creating an album:  “If it doesn’t sound good with just a keyboard and a voice or a guitar and a voice, drop it.”

Keeping a low profile in the U.S.  and enduring several personnel changes since their Grammy Award winning run in 1997, Jay Kay (vocals), Derrick McKenzie (drums), Rob Harris (guitar), Sola Akingbola (percussion), Matt Johnson (piano) , and Paul Turner (bass), better known as Jamiroquai, will release their eighth studio album this fall. Over half a million fans of the group on Facebook have anticipated the release for months. Their last two studio efforts, including 2006’s High Times: Singles 1992-2000, an anthology of their top singles in the eight year span, debuted in the top five on UK charts, but failed to break into the top 100 in the United States.

Newly signed to Universal Records, Jamiroquai is looking optimistically to the future. After a long and strained relationship with Sony, the men are moving in a more soulful direction with the new album. Jamiroquai will record the album live and will include more horns and strings, similar to the style of their first three albums.

The group garnered regional appeal in the UK in 1992 with their first single, “When You Gonna Learn.” The moderate success of this single landed Kay an eight-album deal with Sony BMG Music. Their first album was released a year later, but their sophomore release The Return of the Space Cowboy solidified Jamiroquai as a UK musical phenomenon. Their unique fusion of jazz, funk, and acid jazz propelled the group into international superstardom in 1996, with their third release Travelling Without Moving. “Virtual Insanity” and “Cosmic Girl”, top singles on the album, were instant hits with audiences.  The music video for “Virtual Insanity” won four MTV Music Video awards, including the coveted Best Video and Breakthrough Video awards. Their complex innovation and organic sound appealed to audiences frustrated with a seemingly robotic and indistinguished music industry.

In the decades since their refreshing debut, Jamiroquai continued to release albums and performed all over the world, including Barcelona,  Moscow, Arganda del Rey, and the United States, and they recorded a live session at the famed Abbey Road Studios.  To date, the group has sold more than 35 million albums in the pop, rock, electonica, and jazz genres.

Front man Jay Kay is easily mistaken as a solo artist rather than the band’s front man, because of his involvement with each aspect of Jamiroquai, from the way the band is marketed to the band’s membership. He writes most of the songs and receives the bulk of attention from the media. Case in point, Jay Kay is the only bandmate featured in the inventive and widely popular music video for 1996’s “Virtual Insanity”. Kay says that the videos for the new album will mimic that of a short film and that flashing squares will be excluded from the shoot.

For more information on Jamiroquai’s album, set for release this November, visit their website:www.jamiroquai.com.

Check out the video clip and full audio version for the album’s first single , “White Knuckle Ride” below!

What do you think?

Written by Ra’Kenna J.

Photographed by Mert & Marcus and styled by Carine Roitfeld, Lara Stone stars in Vogue Paris March 2008. Lara is styled in pieces from Ralph Lauren, Salvatore Ferragamo, Yves Saint Laurent, Stella McCartney, along with others. Miss Stone is currently ranked as the number one model in the world; even in 2008 she displays star quality. Let us know what you think?

Written by Sonny Marcell

Over the past few years, H&M has collaborated with some of the largest high-end clothing designers. Earlier today, H&M made an offical announcement that their latest collaboration would be with French fashion house Lavin. According to H&M, Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz and menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijve will design a multi-faceted collection for both men and women. The collection will be released on November 23rd, 2010, however, it will be unveiled on November 2nd. Check out the video below of Alber Elbaz, Lanvin’s creative director, discuss the partnership with H&M. what do you think?

Sir Isaac Newton believed that the universe could not have been born out of chaos; God must have created it.  Now, Britain’s most notable physicist, Stephen Hawking, aims to prove that theory incorrect.  “There is no place for God in theories on the creation of the Universe,” he has said.

In “The Grand Design”, a book he’s co-authored with American physicist Leonard Mlodinow, Hawking explores his new idea.  He’d formerly argued that the belief in an almighty power and science were not mutually exclusive.  Now, he’s convinced that the Big Bang was an inevitable result of the laws of physics: “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something,” he states.

Referring to the 1992 discovery of a planet which orbited a star that was not our Sun, he said: “That makes the coincidences of our planetary conditions, the single Sun, the lucky combination of Earth-Sun distance and solar mass, far less remarkable, and far less compelling as evidence that the Earth was carefully designed just to please us human beings.”   He continues: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing.

In his earlier bestseller, A Brief History of Time, Hawking did not dispute God’s role in the making of the Universe. “If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason, for then we should know the mind of God,” he said.  His new book, The Grand Design, tells a different story.  Partially serialized in the Times, the book is already turning heads.  It will be released on September 9^th.  What do you think?

Written by Ashley Ellis

Director Chris Milk, who’s known for the music videos he’s directed for a variety of artists from Gnarls Barkley to U2 (and for the Punk’d prank on Kanye West on the “Jesus Walks” set) and the Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire have collaborated with Google on a new musical experience project, “The Wilderness Downtown”.

Built for Google’s Chrome browser, “The Wilderness Downtown” uses Google Maps, HTML5, an integrated drawing tool, and several web browser windows that move simultaneously around the screen to take the user on a journey through the streets that they grew up in.  The experience is set to “We Used to Wait”, Arcade Fire’s new single off of ‘The Suburbs’.  “The Wilderness Downtown” is an example of the increasing ways in which trans media storytelling is developing.  What do you think?

Written by Ashley Ellis

In a thirty-two page spread, Natalie Keyser, Dempsey Stewart and Ruby-Jean Wilson star in Valley of the Dolls photographed by Simon Upton. Harper’s Bazar Singapore goes to Wolgan Valley, Australia for a colorful editorial styled by Kenneth Goh. This editorial displays pieces from the likes of Yves Saint Laurent, Lanvin, Issey Miyake, Prada, Moschino, Hermes, Chanel, Versace, along with many others. Which one is your favorite? Let us know what you think!

Written By Sonny Marcell

Richard Saja’s artwork will appear on Ked’s latest partnership with clothing retailer Opening Ceremony. For the collaboration, Saja uses traditional French art form with a modern twist that can be seen on four styles of the Camp Oxford. The collection is apart of the Keds vault, and will be released during September’s ‘Fashion Night Out’ as part of Opening Ceremony’s France collection. Check out the collection above, and as always, let us know what you think?

While one third of the US Senate is up for reelection in November, Republicans and Democrats are already facing off for control of Congress.  President Obama recently lashed out at Republicans in the Senate for attempting to thwart a bill, which would attempt to assist small businesses.

“Unfortunately [the bill] has been languishing in the Senate for four months, held up by a partisan minority that won’t even let it go to a vote. That makes no sense,” said the president.

According to President Obama, the bill would “pay for itself” and not increase the budget deficit that is everyone’s concern.  In the same breath, he mentioned other possibilities that could help the economy, most of which alluded to more stimulus spending.

“My economic team is hard at work identifying additional measures that could make a difference in both promoting growth and hiring in the short term and increasing our economy’s competitiveness in the long term,” he said.  What do you think?

Written by Ashley Ellis

The 48th New York Film Festival will be held from September 24- October 10. Hosted by The Film Society of Lincoln Center, the 17-day event showcases the world’s best cinema from up and coming directors and distinguished filmmakers.

Among the relatively newer directors to American audiences is Abdellatif Kechiche.  Most memorable perhaps for his starring role as Ashade in the 2005 American Film Institute’s official selection “Sorry, Haters”, Kechiche will debut “Black Venus” for the first time in North America.  The film tells the unforgettable life of née Saartjie Baartman, an enslaved woman from Cape Town who was displayed as sexual side-show attraction in 19th-century Europe.  The film has been dubbed one of the most “riveting” of the festival.

Among the other screenings is David Fincher’s “The Social Network,” a detailed portrayal of the sudden rise and fall of the founders of Facebook. Comparably, veteran actor and filmmaker Clint Eastwood will premier “Hereafter”, which examines the interconnecting experiences of three people dealing with the death of a loved one. Written by Peter Morgan   (“The Queen”, “Frost/Nixon”), “Hereafter” follows an American psychic played by Matt Damon, a French journalist played by Cécile de France, and a London schoolboy played by Frankie and George McLaren as they begin to cope with their respective losses. Filmed in the breath-taking locales of France, Hawaii, San Francisco, and England, “Hereafter” should captivate audiences with its aesthetic prowess and emotional drive. The film will close out the festival on 0ctober 10th.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center, founded in 1969, celebrates cinema worldwide by exposing new filmmakers to new audiences. In the same way, the organization continues to promote new works from applauded directors. Recognized as one of the foremost international performing arts center, The Film Society of Lincoln Center operates on a 363-day season that premieres new films to more than 200,000 filmmakers from diverse cultural, economic, religious, and societal backgrounds.

Tickets will be on sale for this year’s festival beginning Sunday, September 12, 2010 at FilmLinc.com.  What do you think?

Written by Ra’Kenna J.