Though it’s usually fashion designers who help other names in the entertainment industry earn the spotlight, it’s the stylemakers' turn to shine this week at the 2010 CFDA Fashion Awards ceremony, better known as the Oscars of the fashion industry. The biggest names and greatest clothing and accessories will be on hand at New York City’s Lincoln Center, when Council of Fashion Designers of America, an association of more than 350 of the country’s foremost designers, presents six significant awards and a plethora of other honors. The competition, as usual, is stiff, but Alexander Wang and Marc Jacobs are leading the pack with two nominations each. They’ll compete against each other and Donna Karan in the Womenswear Designer of the Year category and Wang challenges jewelers Eddie Borgo and Dana Lorenz for the Swarovski Award for Accessory Design, devoted to up-and-comers. Jacobs is going head-to-head with Alexis Bittar and the brains behind Proenza Schouler for Accessory Designer of the Year. Tom Ford is also nominated for Menswear Designer of the Year and the two young men who’ve designed for the First Lady Michelle Obama—Prabal Gurung and Jason Wu—are competing for the Swarovski Award for Womenswear. It may be difficult to determine who will come out on top, but it’s certain they’ll all look good going into the battle.
The
CFDA Fashion Awards are on Monday, June 7 in New York
One of the most exciting shows on Broadway this season is leading the pack at this week’s Tony Awards with an impressive 11 nominations. And even if you can’t get to New York to see
Fela!, which tells the story of Fela Kuti, a gifted Nigerian musician and an incredible human rights activist, this week, you can hear it when the soundtrack hits stores. His remarkable energy reverberates in his Afrobeat rhythms that have reinvigorated the stage and inspired the global music community, arranged and performed for the Broadway show by the Brooklyn-based Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. “This is
music that gets into your bloodstream, setting off vibrations you’ll live with for days to come,” The New York Times said. “That the beat goes on, insistently and persuasively, makes
Fela! nigh impossible to resist.”
The soundtrack for Fela! comes out on Tuesday, June 8
Definitely, what the world needs right now is another book about vampires. There just aren't enough! Ha, ha, I am being sarcastic, of course, because at this point there are
thousands of books about vampires—funny books, sexy books, books for teenagers, books for old people, probably books for dogs, about dog vampires, or something. And look! Here is another one! Justin Cronin just made himself incredibly rich selling a trilogy of books about, you know, the v-word, and probably, everyone will read it, just because. The New York Times had an article about Cronin and his upcoming trilogy,
The Passage last week, and it is hard to remember anything about the book except that people are paying almost $4 million for it. What is it about? Oh, who knows. Violent vampire sex, probably. Hooray.
Justin Cronin's The Passage
comes out Tuesday, June 8.
She tried girl-on-girl seduction, an “explicit” warning, hip-hop collaborations, and a Gaga-inspired makeover, but seemingly turn-of-the-century pop princess Christina Aguilera is still not making a comeback. Three years after her third album
Back to Basics, Aguilera is turning tricks with her latest effort
Bionic and accompanying first S&M video for
Not Myself Tonight and second single with rapper Nicki Minaj, “Woohoo.” Now a married, mother of one, the former “Genie in a Bottle” songstress still has the pipes and not necessarily the pizzazz and personality to make a comeback. Despite a valiant marketing effort, the hype surrounding her performance at Sunday’s MTV Movie Awards isn’t exactly off the charts and ratings thus far, from
Slant and the
Financial Times, have been less than stellar. But the 29-year-old with an undeniably powerful voice is giving the industry and haters the metaphorical middle finger. “There's some rebellion to it,” she told Reuters of
Bionic. “But there's no proving element to me. At this point in my career, I'm over any and all weird comparisons or negativity… I'm in it for the long haul, and a decade later in my career, I have
nothing to prove.” Point taken.
Christina Aguilera’s Bionic
comes out on Tuesday, June 8
Henry Roth—the
other great Roth author, or "Roth-er"—has been dead for 15 years. But that won't stop him from publishing one of the best novels of the year! Roth's
An American Type, edited from lengthy leftover manuscripts, features his character Ira Stigman—said to be an alter-ego to the Jewish immigrant author—taking a road trip across the country and meeting his wife, a stand-in for Roth's wife Muriel. Roth's
Call It Sleep is one of
those books, that a lot of people read in high school or college, and if A
n American Type is half as good, it'll be an excellent read.
Henry Roth's An American Type
comes out Tuesday, June 8.
Ariel Pink is one of the weirdest dudes in Los Angeles, which is saying a lot. But he's also one of the most talented—which is also saying a lot. The lo-fi garage-rock guru has been around for a while, and each album he's released has seemed like the one that would really let him "hit it big," so to speak. But his newest, with his band the Haunted Graffiti, does more than put him in a position to "hit it big"—it also marks him as the real deal; a one-of-a-kind amazing talent. The single, "Round and Round," is only just a taste of the dubby, distant madness of the sound; the rest of the album is equally fun, beautiful, and most importantly, weird. Just like its creator.
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti releases Before Today
on Tuesday, June 8.
She’s the first real housewife in Bravo history to earn her own show and Bethenny Frankel is certainly ready for her close up. The
possibly former star of
The Real Housewives of New York has her own spinoff series premiering on Bravo this week and it’s no longer about Hooter girls and turtle time—it’s all bridal and babies. Pegged a “docu-series,” the show follows Frankel as she prepares to get married for the first time to Jason Hoppy and soon thereafter, have her first child. Considering she’s known as the sanest, square-jawed voice of reason—a superlative to be taken with a grain of salt when dealing with costars Jill Zarin, Kelly Bensimon, Coutness LuAnn de Lesseps, and Sonja Morgan—the show should be relatively drama free. “It's just a complete departure,” Frankel told New York Magazine. “It's hilarious; it's emotional; it's dramatic without having to be mean or have huge arguments. It's like a reality sitcom.
It's totally me and it shows the intricacies of my life. It's way more micro.”
Bethenny Getting Married premieres on Bravo on Thursday, June 10 at 10 p.m. EST
The United States of America doesn't really care about soccer usually, except for various 10-year-olds and their parents, immigrants from countries that
do care, and small pockets of die-hard MLS fans. But the World Cup is beginning to be an exception. How can you not love soccer during what's arguably the biggest global event of 2010? It's like how everyone pretends to care about swimming during the Summer Olympics. Just give us a country to root for, and we'll go for it!
The FIFA World Cup begins Friday, June 11.
The curtain goes up this week on the musicals and dramas that dominated Broadway when Sean Hayes hosts the 2010 Tony Awards from New York’s Radio City Music Hall. The actor, who made his debut on the Great White Way in
Promises, Promises this year, has big shoes to fill after Neil Patrick Harris brought in the ceremony’s highest ratings in three years in 2009. But with performances from
Glee’s Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison and the inspiration for
American Idiot, Green Day, expectations are certainly high. Plus, there is an unprecedentedly high number of Hollywood A-listers nominated this year—from Denzel Washington for
Fences to Scarlett Johansson for
A View from the Bridge to Alfred Molina for
Red, to Kelsey Grammer for
La Cage aux Folles, this year’s ceremony is gearing up to look more like the Oscars than the Tonys. And if we’re comparing—the
Hurt Locker and
Avatar of the battle comes down to
Fela!, the Jay-Z, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith-produced, dance-filled musical, and the revival of
La Cage aux Folles, which each have a solid 11 nominations. Tune in to see who comes out on top.
The Tony Awards air live on CBS on Sunday, June 13 at 8 p.m. EST
