Tag: Not a Good Look
How Do Offensive Ads Get Made In the First Place?
There’s a cycle that happens in the advertising world. It goes a little something like this. Company goes to ad agency to create a new ad campaign intended to speak to the African American demographic. Ad agency comes up with something that runs the risk of offending the target audience. Ad gets released into the [...]
Blog Sister Love!
Every week I’m going to highlight my favorite posts from around the blogosphere, to keep you bellas up to date on what’s happening in hair, beauty, fashion and more! Hair This weekend I had the honor of speaking at a special natural hair meetup here in Chicago. Put together by the dynamic makeup artist and [...]
Yet Another School Hair Controversy
Our hair is unique. Our hair is beautiful. Our hair requires the use of products that give it moisture and nourishment. And yes, some of those products have fragrances that are remarkable. But it seems to me that a certain teacher at Seattle’s Thurgood Marshall Elementary School is overreacting in a troubling way right now, [...]
Tiger Woods – So. Over. It.
I should have never turned on the TV this morning. All the news channels were reporting on, had to do with the upcoming Tiger Woods press conference — you can read the highlights here. And now that it’s over, all the news channels are reporting on STILL has to do with the Tiger Woods press [...]
Vanity Fair: The Beauty of Low Expectations
The current “Vanity Fair is racist!” brouhaha involving the shades-of-alabaster cover of their Young Hollywood has been covered quite well by a variety of other blogs and websites: From Jezebel: “What does “Young Hollywood” look like? According to Vanity Fair, it’s pretty, thin, female and white.” From USA Today: “Where are any women of color? [...]
Bad Move, VH1
Once upon a time, not that long ago – VH1 was my favorite channel. This was in the heyday of Best Week Ever — Saturday mornings I’d eagerly put VH1 on to see what embarrassing media events would be clowned by the rotating cast of comedians and semi-celebs. Now VH1 is more likely to be [...]
Dear Aretha…
It’s me again, Afrobella! I love you. Hopefully you know this by now. Your music has been the soundtrack to my life and your voice has lifted me in my darkest hours. Having said that, I’d love to remind you of the offer I made in my last open letter to you. We need to [...]
Dear Old Navy
I’m gonna need you to quit playing games with my heart. As a plus size fashionista, I’ve respected your hustle for a while now. For years you’ve produced a steady and reliable line of plus size essentials. Tees, jeans, on-trend blouses. I’ve been there as a purchaser when you respected my demographic and sold plus [...]
Sammy Sosa, Stop
When I saw the photos of Sammy Sosa that have been circulating online, one dancehall classic came immediately to mind. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c5-J59it7Q There’s a few more photos on Huffington Post that show the sharp difference in his pigmentation. The story Mr. Sosa is sticking to is that a skin rejuvenation procedure has made his skin appear [...]
Allo, Blackface
Can I just tell you how much I loved the debate on that Louis Vuitton afro post of last week? Sometimes I do respond with an automatic side-eye where maybe I should try to be more open in my approach. I tried to tread lightly and just put the question out there to the universe, [...]
Farewell, Prescriptives – Love You Forever
Being the generally optimistic person that I am, I want to believe that makeup options for women of color are becoming better and better. There are more and more upcoming boutique brands catering to our skin’s unique needs, and even the mainstream brands have expanded their color palettes over the years. Then you get news [...]
Today’s Physical Challenge
My friend Jenny has an awesome apartment, and when we come to New York City, we stay with her. It’s cute, compact, comfortable, and smack in the middle of Greenwich Village. I love it. But here’s the rub — Jenny’s apartment is a steep 6th floor walkup. No elevator, not even a rinkydink service lift. [...]
As An “Island Woman…”
Just like most of everyone (at least everyone on Twitter last night), I watched the Grammys and was astounded at the news about Chris Brown and Rihanna. I believe I first heard it from Necole Bitchie or Concrete Loop, can’t recall which. In no time flat it was confirmed by the likes of People Magazine, [...]
More Of The Same
Bellas and fellas, so much has been said about the sad state of black talent in Hollywood, but I started to feel faint prickles of hope again, now that Obama’s president and this year two African American actresses are vying for Oscars. But every time I feel like Hollywood has taken two steps forward in [...]
Good Riddance To a Bad Idea
Courtesy of The Black Snob, I learned that Ty’s controversial Sasha and Malia dolls are being pulled from the shelves. If you visit Ty’s website, the dolls show up at the bottom of the page with a big red stamp next to them that says “retired.” About time if you ask me. As someone with [...]
