ECSTATIC FRESHNESS

Street Etiquette put together this familiar and inspirational video shot by F.E. Castleberry of Unabashedly Prep showcasing the history behind Ivy league fashion.  The style, character, education and art infused with this piece speaks volumes.  Check it out.

‘The Black Ivy serves as a tribute to the first black colleges that paved the way for our generation and created a common ground for hardworking, like-minded individuals. What the original Black Ivy league did for folks many years ago is what we strive to do today with individuals that inspire, motivate and spark the creativity of beings around them.’

Ecstatic Freshness Admin Group

For the last two years or so, I’ve become a huge fan of the work that Creative Control has put out and even a bigger fan of their methods in doing so.  If you’re not familiar with them, you’re certainly familiar with their work.  For the record Creative Control is the brainchild of directors Coodie Simmons and Chike Ozah.  They are the producers, directors and distributors of cutting-edge online content, based upon the fundamental idea of maintaining creative control over all content and production from programming to advertising.  Along with coverage of cutting edge fashion, music, and art. The creative gallery space known as DD172 is where much of the creativity is born.  With the help and mentorship of Damon Dash these brothas are creating their own lane, by their own rules and we here at EF will continue to support their movement.  Anyway, November’s Children takes you inside the minds of these two and their journey and future goals, hit the jump to take a look at them explaining all of this, Read more…

The modern man should be just as concerned about his appearance as his female counterpart. Gone are the days when it was considered macho for men to have rough-@ss skin to match their personalities. Women aren’t impressed with bad complexions in men; just as men don’t check for women with bad skin.  Read more…

First, let me say we do pay attention to our readers and some of the things, places and people they’d like to see EF cover.  This post is for a few faithful female readers of this blog/site, plus I thought it was a good interview and their gripes suggestions about some Trey Songz footage.  We do listen, so here you go…

…I’m still not ready to give the dude “The King of R&B” label yet (no hate).

Bryceness – Mr. Not-So-Nice Guy

Public School has released its spring 2010 lookbook, and it features the usual dark detailing that we all love. Rugged leather jackets anchor the collection, and the sense of anonymity and toughness is kept throughout the line as we also see some impressive knitwear and t-shirts. The collection is a line that’s definitely going to be in demand as the jackets will keep you warm as winter falls away and the lighter pieces will keep you from sweating as summer shows up. Great stuff from this New York City-based brand. Read more…

Being that there has been a bit of a void in our lives since the folding of King Magazine, I suppose they wanted to give off some glimmer of hope that they might be possibly returning.  So they have released “The Women of King” edition to satisfy our need for glossy, exotic pictures of beautiful women of color…hmmmmmmm.  As you can see, the covergirl for this edition is the oh-so-lovely Rosa Acosta (who is no stranger around here).  This is sure to be a true collector’s item and hot seller when it hits the shelves soon. Read more…

This post is going to be a little different today.  From time to time we have opinions on certain situations that go on in the world and just want to write on it if inspiration is sparked.  Well, the spark has been ignited.

Let me preface this entry by saying that I do think the notion of the single, successful and lonely black woman epidemic is an issue, because I’ve witnessed this personally.  Being that I’m a black male and to some extent feel the need to be a bit of a black male advocate at times, I’m always curious to read and view issues as it relates to the black community and the ongoing divide between black men and black women.

Helena Andrews has pretty much set the blog world in an uproar over the Washington Post article: Successful, Black and Lonely, (please read it if you haven’t) which in my opinion covers only one side of the coin that I’ll have to expound on in another entry one day.  First, let me say that I commend Ms. Andrews on her accomplishments, her beauty, her tangible fruits of labor and diligence…but who is she beyond that? 

I’m not here to judge her or place blame on the litany of complaints she has of finding and sustaining a relationship with someone who is “equally yoked” (or not) to her standards.  What I do think about is the repercussions of an article, book and possible movie that seems like it will center around the constant berate of men, in this case black men. That’s only going to widen the divide between us as men and women. 

My question is, where’s the accountability on her part?  Does she not bare any?  Our choices are the blueprints of our lives and we all make bad choices at one time or another, but at the end of the day…we made the choices (cornrolls, winter boo…really?).  Is there an imbalance at the core of the matter in which she states?  Yes, but maybe there are other issues at hand that she’s not taking into consideration…or maybe she just doesn’t want to.

I came across some great and not-so-great dialogue on her story and the ”Successful, Black and Lonely” issue on some other blogs I frequent and came across a guy with a great view on Ms. Andrews, women like her and their issues, that kind of summed up what a lot of men were trying to relate to women who found themselves in the same predicament.

Take a look…

Does he have valid points?  Do I?  Or is Helena Andrews speaking for the majority of today’s black woman?

…it’s just my thoughts.

AkShone – The Tennessee Volunteer