Michael Jackson's new Style Acolyte, Rihanna

There's a tiny, almost imperceptible, groundswell that's happening around the (reigning?) King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Last month he crawled out of the wood works to announce his upcoming major U.K. concert tour; a signal, if any, that he still has a 'crotch-grab' or two in him.

Then, the style blogosphere recently perked up for a sec., when he was photographed sporting an extremely fashion-forward Balmain abstract/rib-caged print Tee. It's obvious that the Balmain look was informed by Jackson's costumes, but I had no idea that he even knew about the design house and their works!

And almost 25+ years after he debuted his Jheri-curled 'do and Sgt. Pepper-esqe leather jackets, he's got a new acolyte, bowing at the Jacko altar: None other than Punky Princess, Rihanna! From the snappy jacket to the new wet-n-wild hairstyle, Rihanna could pass for a Wacko-Jackso stand-in, don't you think?

Rihanna stars in Gucci's "A Tattooed Heart" Campaign for Unicef

Rihanna is working her fashion muscle for all it's worth, these days. The 20 year old Bajan star is teaming up with the Italian power-house, Gucci, to help promote its "Tattooed Heart" limited edition collection, created in support of the children's charity UNICEF.

Modeling down to her tippy toes in a striking white maillot and adorned with pieces from the exclusive line, Ms. Fenty brings the campaign to life as she dangles - circus acrobat style - off a suspended hoop.

I admire the young thing... Ever stylish and daring with her fashion choices, Rihanna has sucessfully used clothing and the escapism that fashion & style provides to create a new, edgy personna for herself - the mini-Beyonce days of If it's lovin'that you want are definitely long gone...

Every top international fashion mag lauds her personal style; we even listed her across at My Caribbean Gateway on our MyCG's 10 Most Stylish 08 list. The lady is on point, and this Gucci campaign just underlines a well known fact. Find out more about the Gucci for Unicef campign here.

L.M.N. Harris.

Rihanna! From Barbados to Cosmopolitan Mag.

Well blow me down! If you had told me a year and a half ago that the fashion glitterati and international media would have embraced Rihanna, I would have said 'mabye'... Now I've got to say that it's a reality. Here she is on the latest cover of the ever popular Cosmopolitan Magazine, vamping it up rather suggestively in a yellow Versace dress. Rihanna seems to be quite the media darling these days, being followed by papparazzi, appearing in international magazine features & blurbs, walking the runway for top Fashion designers like DSquared, and putting in her two cents on the new looks by designers. At the Matthew Williamsons show, these were her words "I love the clothes! I want to grab the models, strip them of all their clothes and keep them for myself!" Anyways, well done, Ms Fenty. I had almost written you off as an almost-star, after you came to Trinidad for 06's Bmobile concert and couldn't even get the crowd to boo you. You've made a believer of me, after all...

Keep it up, Chica.

L.M.N. Harris