Jay IDK is now just IDK and he is sounding A-OK on “Porno,” the standout track on his new album, Is He Real. The track opens with IDK’s sweet singing voice, calling to mind a less-angsty Frank Ocean, then drops into a bumping beat that you’ll bounce to happily as he and Pusha T and J.I.D rattle off clever lyrics about their attractions to the wrong people and what society thinks of sex. If that doesn’t get you out of your seat, wait for their nod to the Spice Girls. Critics say IDK biting off too much in the album, taking on themes too big (God) and falling short on the skill to tackle them (he seems to think he’s Kendrick or Kanye). But everyone seems to agree that this track shines. Turn it up and enter the weekend.
It is once again fashion week, and once again time to interpret what things *mean* in the world according to choices made by very fancy people. So far the big S/S 2020 story is of Tom Ford, a designer with an extraordinarily luxury reputation who set this year’s show on a subway platform. (Yes, the subway, the thing you take if you can bear to share space with *the public.*) And what floated down the runway was, yes, luxury, but luxury-of-the-people: jersey tee shirts (ok, jersey-silk blend); elastic waistbands running amok on just-plain silk; and even—gasp—denim. It’s a time for rich people to pretend not to be rich, it seems; to understate their Tom Ford. Does that make the rest of us feel better?
Rihanna… did not stage her show on the subway. Queen Rih chose the Barclays Center for the Savage x Fenty show and, by all reports, used it to the fullest. More spectacle than fashion event, it programmed performances by DJ Khaled, Halsey, Migos, Big Sean, ASAP Ferg, and Tierra Whack, and the Hadids, 21 Savage, Normani and Joan Smalls all walked the runway. And naturally, they revealed some sick new underclothes on a beautiful range of bodies. But that’s all hearsay since phones were banned at the show. If you want proof that it really happened, it’s coming at you in the form of an Amazon special later this month which, by the way, they’re submitting to the Emmys. It’s all very Homecoming, of course, and the phone ban is the best part. Remember how fashion week is supposed to be useless now that everyone can broadcast it instantaneously via social media? Leave it to Fenty to reclaim the future.
Perhaps at this point you’d like something… accessible? Happy to oblige: the best-best-best streetwear brand Only NY dropped their latest collection last night and it’s all available ~online~. This one features some sick color blocks and corduroys as well as v handy outerwear. You will have to be quick on the click— they’re releasing limited quantities in four different installations (the remaining three are at noon on the next three Thursdays), but if you miss out on those, their summer collection is on sale, too. NYC DOT, here we come.
