Subscribers to any Condé Nast magazine will find some extra fun in their mailboxes this month in the form of the publishing company’s fifth annual Fashion Rocks supplement.

The magazine features articles and photo spreads chronicling the decades-long affair between fashion and pop music. Just think back to trendsetters like Aretha Franklin with her Capri pants and big hoop earrings, and you realize that rock stars have been setting fashion trends for generations.

Fashion Rocks takes a look at the history of that affair with a piece juxtaposing pictures of the 1960s girl group The Ronettes (and Amy Winehouse) with a bee-hived Chanel model at a pre-fall collection show. The piece also includes photos of M.I.A., Santogold, Joanna Newsom, Jenny Lewis and a vintage Debbie Harry next to contemporary couture-clad beauties modeling the very same styles those artists made popular.

Check out this gorgeous glamour shot of Beyoncé rocking an Armani suit. … continue reading

Avril Lavigne is a threat to the youth of Malaysia. The 23-year-old pop singer is so smoking hot that members of a Malaysian Islamic opposition party do not want any of their impressionable youth seeing her in concert. Lavigne will have to shake her moneymaker in front of some other country’s young pliable minds because this opposition party isn’t having any of it. The Malaysian conservative group is convinced that her moves are “too sexy” for their teenagers, and they believe her August performance must be stopped.

The group appealed to the Malaysian Ministry of Culture, Arts, and Heritage to cancel the concert and the Ministry agreed. "It is not timely. It's not in the good spirit of our National Day. If we go ahead with the concert, it is contrary to what we are preparing for," said a senior official from the Ministry. Apparently, National Day is a countrywide day set aside to prepare against the evils of wristbands and tube socks.

Malaysia has a history of strict guidelines, which have led many female performers to cancel their shows. The Malaysian government’s rules require that all female performers wear conservative clothing that do not bear any “obscene” images. Additionally, all clothing must cover you from the chest to the knee. (Why am I getting flashbacks of "dress-down days" at my Catholic elementary school?) Beyonce moved her scheduled concert to Indonesia as a result of these mandates, and Christina Aguilera opted to not perform there at all. Gwen Stefani decided to perform, agreeing to cover up her trademark washboard stomach. She called her decision to wear a bit more clothing on stage “a major sacrifice” (and I will add, a terrible loss to that nation). … continue reading

Take a look at Beyoncé. Does she look, um, different to you?

Yeah, something is not quite right. Something like, oh I don't know, the fact that her skin is a good two to three shades lighter than it appears in real life. Last week Beyoncé Knowles' new L'Oréal Paris ads for hair coloring have caused quite a controversy over the apparent lightening of her skin.

Of course L'Oréal spokespeople denied the claim, saying: “We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles. It is categorically untrue that L'Oréal Paris altered Ms. Knowles' features or skin-tone in the campaign for Feria's hair color.” Beyoncé's endorsement deal with L'Oréal started in 2001. … continue reading

Filming commenced this month, the first images are out, and here's the proof; Beyoncé really is playing Etta James in the upcoming Cadillac Records. This film is not a biopic of James (though that's not a bad idea), but a chronicle of the fortunes of Chicago record label Chess Records and its musicians. The cast includes Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess and Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters.

So here's a look at Beyoncé and the original.

And here's the first image off the set.

Even though this is not a biopic, the casting, you can imagine, is a topic for fairly ugly debate (even NPR had a blogger roundtable partially devoted to it). I do wonder about the wisdom of the role as a career move, at least for the negative press it's generating, including the inevitable references to the supposed Beyoncé/Jennifer Hudson rivalry following Hudson's Oscar win for Dreamgirls. And much (annoying) speculation about whether Beyoncé will be gaining weight or wearing prosthetics to look more like James. Can I take this moment to say that the young Etta James was no Twiggy, but she was certainly not fat? … continue reading

It seems Aretha Franklin, often called the Queen of Soul, is not pleased that Beyoncé called Tina Turner the "queen"on the Grammy Awards broadcast.

"I am not sure of whose toes I may have stepped on or whose ego I may have bruised between the Grammy writers and Beyoncé," Franklin said in a statement issued by her publicist. "However, I dismissed it as a cheap shot for controversy."

Franklin apparently ended the statement with "love to Beyoncé anyway."

Sheesh, Aretha. It was an intro, not a review. And Beyoncé is a huge fan of Tina, so she was bound to praise her.

Plus, Beyoncé didn't refer to Tina as the Queen of Soul, specifically. She just said, "give it up for the queen."

And I'm happy to give it up, whatever it is, because I thought Tina's performance was incredible. She can still hit those high notes and do the moves — at 68 years old! Wow. … continue reading

So, if you watched last night’s telecast of the 50th Grammy Awards, you probably have some questions. Questions like, who is that guy, and why did he steal Amy Winehouse’s Grammy for Best Album of the Year? Or how is it that the Beatles won only four Grammys when they were together, while Fergie already has three? Or did Amy really thank her husband as “my Blake incarcerated” in her acceptance speech? Yes, yes she did. So without further ado, here are some of your most burning (though hopefully not itching) Grammy questions revealed.

Q: How it is it that the most electrifying performer in the room wasn’t even in the room?

A: Visa problems kept The Winehouse 5,500 miles away in London, but she still electrified via satellite with a performance that was equal parts raw, campy, sassy and defiant. Plus, she brought the one thing the somewhat stodgy awards affair sorely lacked — the air of unpredictability. God bless you, Amy Winehouse. Now get back to rehab and get better. … continue reading

I keep coming across lists I can't really improve on, so I'm just going to list them. In a list. Of lists. (A few of these are via Pop Candy, which is always a good source for lists and, well, just about everything else.)

1. 10 Star Wars toys that unintentionally look like other celebrities

When I was a kid, I often complained that my Princess Leia action figure just wasn't made right — it kept toppling over. And it annoyed me that her gun was so flimsy and useless, especially compared to Chewbacca's giant over-the-arm weapon. But at least the '70s toy version of Leia didn't look like Christian Bale:

And then there's Mon Mothma and Laura Bush:

The list includes other frighteningly spot-on comparisons, like Han Solo/Josh Brolin and Yak Face/Robert De Niro.

2. 13 movies worth preserving

EW.com readers recently named the films they'd like to add to the National Film Registry. I agree with Raising Arizona and The Women — and with the reader who submitted the latter and said, "I can't believe it's not already there." … continue reading

Not many of us even have idols anymore. And for those of us who do still respect our elders and their accomplishments and try to emulate all that is positive about our idols, we don't always get to meet them. And even if we do meet them, we don't usually get to honor them in any public way. And even if we do get to honor them in a public way, they don't come out of retirement to express their appreciation of our worship. So that's why the announcement that Beyoncé Knowles and Tina Turner will duet at the upcoming Grammy Awards presentation made me one "Proud Mary." Well, my name is not Mary, but I am proud. OK, not proud, but excited!

Beyoncé has made it clear that she grew up adoring Tina Turner. Here's her 2005 Kennedy Center tribute performance (please, feel free to ignore all political figures seated next to Tina): … continue reading

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, Beyoncé's little sister, Solange Knowles, released a debut album on the same label as her sister.

Solo Star was moderately successful, but didn't exactly pave a road to stardom. So, Solange got married, had a son and wrote songs for women like Destiny's Child, Michelle Williams, Kelly Rowland — and Beyoncé. … continue reading

I may finally be too old for a stocking, but there’s one holiday tradition I continue to love, and that’s the airing of classic musicals on television. For a long time now, I’ve been of the opinion that lesbians need to reclaim musicals from gay men — not least because there is such a plethora of gorgeous, talented women in film musical history.

While a list of all my favorite female performances would probably take all day, here in chronological order are ten that I’m hoping to see over the vacation:

1. Ginger Rogers in Shall We Dance (1937)

I love all the Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire collaborations, so it’s hard to select just one.

But Shall We Dance has one of my favorite Ginger Rogers moments, as the camera dwells in close-up on her listening face as Fred Astaire sings "They Can’t Take That Away From Me." While the song is beautiful, it’s Ginger’s subtly despairing response that really strikes at the heart. (She would go on to win an Oscar for Best Actress, for the non-musical film Kitty Foyle, in 1940).

2. Rosemary Clooney in White Christmas (1954)

This very, very silly seasonal musical is mostly notable for the gay undertones brought by Danny Kaye’s performance (no, really — watch it again). … continue reading

As one of the celebrities spreading their scents worldwide, Beyoncé launched the Emporio Armani Diamonds fragrance back in August.

Described as "a gourmand floral, featuring top notes of lychee and raspberry; middle notes of rose, freesia and lily of the valley, and a base of vetiver, cedar wood, patchouli and vanilla," this airborne toxic event scent should be available everywhere this month. Fine. Some people like perfume — to each her own. It just makes me sneeze. (And I prefer the natural fragrance of female skin anyway ... but that's another subject. Ahem.)

What interests me more than the perfume is the video advertising spot, featuring Beyoncé singing "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."

… continue reading

I just read the best diva-related news I've come across in a long time. The original Dreamgirls — Sheryl Lee Ralph, Loretta Devine and Jennifer Holliday — will reunite for the 17th Annual DIVAS Simply Singing! benefit on Oct. 6 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.

Right now I'm checking airfares to Los Angeles.

And here they were in 1981.

The AOL Black Voices Blog has all of the details, but the basics are that Sheryl Lee Ralph — the original Deena (think Beyonce in the movie) in the Broadway production of Dreamgirls — founded the Diva Foundation in 1990 and established DIVAS Simply Singing! to honor the friends she had lost to AIDS/HIV. This year's show will benefit the Women Alive Coalition and establish DIVAS as "the longest consecutive running musical AIDS benefit in Los Angeles." … continue reading

Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson and Paula Abdul … do you really want to smell like these people? Me, not so much, since I can honestly say I’ve never wanted to smell like a nervous breakdown, jail, desperation or crazy. But, apparently, a lot of people do want to dab on a little eau de paparazzi princess, since new star scents keep popping up everywhere.

Now, I’m not really a perfume fan, period. The first thing I do when I open one of those big, glossy magazines is rip out all the smelly samples. And of course, using celebrities to hawk fancy fragrances is nothing new either. I’ve always admired those elegant Trésor ads featuring Isabella Rosellini and now Kate Winslet. But having stars sell their own signature scents, well that’s a horse of a different color. … continue reading

As Time magazine points out, MTV isn't anyone's primary source of music videos these days. But the Video Music Awards still have a home on the channel. This year's nominees include Beyoncé (seven nominations), Rihanna (five nominations) and Amy Winehouse (three nominations). Those three are nominated for Female Artist of the Year, along with Fergie and Nelly Furtado.

The Best New Artist nominees include Winehouse, Lily Allen and Carrie Underwood. Meanwhile, Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" is nominated for Monster Single of the Year, which seems perfectly appropriate to me, especially in the sense of City-Eating, Village-Decimating, Brain-Sucking Single of the Year.

If Rihanna wins, she'll match her Moonman statuette:

Beyoncé's slew of nominations include four for "Beautiful Liar," her duet with Shakira. I still don't really know what the "Liar" part is about, but the "Beautiful" is clear.

And here's Amy Winehouse in the "Rehab" video, which is nominated for Video of the Year. Yes, yes, yes. … continue reading

Right off the bat, let me disclose that my taste in love songs is not always conventional; the song that consistently moves me to tears is "Commitment" from the musical 1776. (Picture John and Abigail Adams expressing their love by sending each other saltpeter and pins. It's very moving. Really.) But my idiosyncratic tastes aside, when I think of love songs, I think emotional, a little girly, occasionally bombastic. (Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" immediately comes to mind.) So when I saw that Entertainment Weekly had compiled a list of the 25 Best Love Songs Ever, I expected a little girl power. However, it seems that songs become more "swoon-worthy" when they pass a bobbing Adam's apple on the way out. A full 78% of the songs on the list were recorded by men.

Women do occupy a few prominent spots. Most notably, Aretha Franklin comes in at spot number four with her version of "(You Make Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

Certainly no reasonable person could object to this placement. Also in the top 10 is Whitney Houston's version of "I Will Always Love You." … continue reading