Dโusse and Armand de Brignac presentedย Rihanna’s Met Gala After-Party atย Up&Downย in the Meatpacking District.ย
This season Style360ย celebrated itsย tenthย anniversary. TheKnockturnal.comย was invitedย the cover theย event, whichย came to anย end on Sept.ย 11.
ย Entrepreneur,ย philanthropist,ย andย fashionistaย herself,ย Angela Simmons took part 
inย this 2014 season of NYFW to showcase 3 up-and-coming designers in her Style 360 fashion show Angela Simmons Presents โBack to Basics.”
The star-studded event drew quite the crowd over to Manhattanโs West Side, where the daughter of legendary Hip Hop pioneer Reverend Run, presented the 2015 Spring/Summer collections for independent designers: Muehleder, Smith II, and Big Park. Each designer provided their own flare of chic and fabulous with basics such as tops, skirts, pants, dresses and jackets; bold colors, prints, leather, and zippers, all of which will all be sold on Angelaโs e-commerce site, AngelaIAM.com.
The show opened with 3 ballerinas and a violinist whom took their marks on the runway prior to the first model, and closed with big sister Vanessa and new baby in tote โ super cute. Celebrity guests included: Tyson Beckford, Erica Campbell of Mary Mary, Atlanta Exes: Monyetta Shaw and Tameka Raymond, and Ariane Davis of Love & Hip Hop; not to mention, her famous family sitting front row in support of it all.
Dressed in a black and white Big Park jacket with some shorts and thigh high boots, Angela was gracious enough to share a few words on this seasonโs presentation, โIโm really big on giving independent designers a platform that they can use. After seeking these three designers out, I just put on a show, putting them all in one and then BOOM!โ She also went on to disclose a little bit about her own up-and- coming endeavor of creating her own line, which is in the works now, so look out.
A-List Communications produced Style360. Sponsors supporting this season included Cointreau, LโAlpina Water, Hello naturally friendly oral care, Carefree, Olivia Garden hair care tools,ย Shimmer Jewelry Tattoos, Beanitos and Scarlet & Gold print shop, NYX Fusions Moscato by Nicki Minaj and Mona Scott-Young, Bottega Rose sparkling. All fashion shows were styled with Not Your Motherโs hair care products by lead stylist Michele Carrillo. James Vincent was the makeup artist with the official makeup partners, Mehron Cosmetics and Alcone Company. STYLE360โs official hotel partner was the Row NYC.
Fatigues to Fabulous wonderfully kicked off this 2014 New York Fashion Week season with “Salute the Runway” on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014, with many thanks to sponsors Little Black Dress Wines and Shout, where some very special women graced the fashion stage.
World-renowned journalist, executive producer and narrator, Katie Couric together with Stephanie Soechtig (director) and Laurie David (executive producer) all attended the New York premiere of their new documentary “Fed Up” onย May 6, 2014. They brought many influencers to the MoMA. The evening was presented by Aloha.
Itโs been almost 30 years since the obesity epidemic started in this country, and if Americans continue on this path, we may just eat ourselves to death. “Fed Up” is more than just a film, but a movement with a powerful message. The film goes beyond the conversation of the effects of fast food, but weighs heavily in on the actual miscreants behind the contagion, and how the food industry has knowingly used these secret weapons to manipulate what we eat for private profit and special interests.
Ninety-two minutes of video diaries, interviews and some undisclosed legislative doctrines was enough to enlist a brilliant army, and remove every sugary, starched, and processed food item out of your pantry. Sugar is equated to a drug six times more addictive than cocaine, a poison to the liver, and a major ingredient to most American food regimens. We have been bamboozled, misled, taken for complete imbeciles. The film says that instead of strategizing on how to handle issues overseas, we ought to be planning the war against our own food industry right here in the US.
With kids as a target, this generation of Americans will face more sicknesses and die younger than our parents, while the food industry just gets richer and richer. There is a whole business behind the fattening of America, even down to the marketing of diet products, theย funding of food health research programs by these corporations, and a product placement system in line to entice further bad eating behaviors.
Notables who attended last night’s screening included Jodi Applegate, Jon Cryer, Yaya Dacosta, Claire Danes, Shep Gordon, Adrien Grenier, Dorothy Hamilton, Bridget Moynahan, Arizona Muse, Norah OโDonnell, Suze Orman, Chuck Scarborough, Mary Alice Stephenson, Susan Ungaro and Naomi Wolf. Afterwards guests headed to Venus over Manhattan for a sugar free supper. The menu was inspired by Laurie Davidโs cookbook entitled “The Family Cooks.”
Catering was done by Mary Giuliani Catering & Events. Light bites included chicken sausage with caramelized onions on cheesy grit cakes, black bean burgers topped with guacamole with wweet potato fries, miso-glazed black cod lettuce wraps, whole grain quesadillas with crunchy cabbage, quinoa cakes with green Goddess aioli, salmon cakes with cucumber yogurt sauce, kale sesame seed salad summer rolls and for dessert guests enjoyed mini oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and mini almond cake.
In theaters this Friday May 9, “Fed Up” is an important source to uncovering the facts surrounding our food intake. Tell a friend to tell a friend until the truth is bigger than this widespread.
Paul Rodriguez
After partnering up with menโs lifestyle brand AXE, professional skateboarder Paul Rodriguez, also known as P-Rod was in New York Wednesday,ย April 30, 2014 for a special launch event in honor of his new signature collection AXE Kilo. The six- time X Games medal winner captivated onlookers at Bathhouse Studios in Alphabet City with his โstreetโ skateboarding skills, as he is famously known for.
With a steadily growing brand, P-Rod explained how his innate attraction to the sport as a young kid ultimately became after purchasing his first board, daily visits to his neighborhood skateboard shop, networking with other skaters, and watching skate videos helped to cultivate his now empire. The nonstop wet weather outside could not avert the skateboard junkies from lurking.
After a quick shake off, all was swell and in motion on the inside. Music, food,
beverages and goody bags were rendered while bystanders circulated the multi-level event space. After working up a sweat taking on the purpose-built skatepark with street skateboarding elements, Knockturnal.com had the chance to sit down with P- Rod himself for a quick Q&A.
Q: How did the business collaboration with AXE and your brand come about?
Paul: Through my Target endorsement, I donโt know who approached who about it, but I was contacted about doing a brand take-over with AXE within Target. It sounded cool to me, so I was like sure. And after deciding to go forward with the collaboration, I asked if I could collab with one of my favorite artists Mister Cartoon, because I donโt really fancy myself as a creative,ย kind of branding-marketing-packaging kind of guy, so I figured I knew the right person for that. I was thankful that he accepted it; he did some of his classic pieces, murals and stuff, which put a little flavor of both him and I into it. And that was really it.
Q: What are some of your hopes for your other newest venture Primitive Skateboarding that you launched just a few weeks ago (April 10)?
Paul: I got to a point in my career where I just wanted to take ownership of myself, I wanted to have a piece of me. So this was a great place to begin. Owning my own boards, after all, this is what Iโm known for. Although I loved my sponsors, I am still in the prime stages of my career, been in the game for a while, I just felt that it was time to step away so that I could figure out my next move.
And since I had already been with Primitive, the store was already making a name for itself, it just made sense, why not make Primitive Skateboards and just grow that brand. There was already a great infrastructure there, so all the pieces seemed to come together. My partners ย do a great job so I can still focus on skateboarding, I donโt have to be in the office all the time. Now I have a chance to also find new talent, grow them, and help make their dream come true like my dream was able to.
Q: Why โstreetโ skating over the other types of skateboarding categories within your sport?
Paul: Well I picked street skating because it was initially the type of skating that I was drawn to. Street skaters are the guys jumping down theย stairs, gliding on the handrails, and you know just out on the streets skating on raw city terrain. And then you have the half pipe skaters, vert-ramp skaters, transition skaters, and then there are people who can just do it all. I wish I did it all, but I just kind of grew up skating street, it was more my passion, more appealing to me, and I think it has more swag to it.
La La presented her 5th & Mercer brand Pop-Up Shop at 267 5th Ave in Manhattan March 14.
La La Anthony makes hard work seem effortless as she juggles a manifold of operations at one time, not to mention, her never-ending duties asย the wife of New York Knicks player, Carmelo Anthony and mother of their adorable 7-year old son, Kiyan. With husband, son and all her family by her side, La La presented her 5th & Mercer brand Pop-Up Shop at 267 5th Ave in Manhattan on Friday, March 14. Camera crews captured every moment of the occasion, we suppose as footage for her VH1 hit series “La Laโs Full Court Life.” It was a night of fashion, fun and cocktails where guests were welcomed to shop as a broad spectrum of pieces swayed from clothing displays ready for purchase.
A line of people trailed the downstairs lobby waiting to gain entrance up to 11th floor of the 5th Avenue loft location. Coat check so that your arms were free, and hors d’oeuvres to lighten all the alcohol consumption were just what the doctor ordered at the end of a tiresome work week. And, with the resonances of New York Fashion Week still cooling down, a small fashion show presentation was given to allure shoppers.
Extremely humbled by her fans, 5th & Mercer was devised with them in mind. The embodiment of a classiness that exemplifies 5th Avenue fused with the cool and edgy Mercer Street, La La dubbed it โcledgyโ when illustrating her conception of the brand. Bold colors, stripes, casual sexy, dressy, however you might want to spin it, there was something for all. She looked exceptionally lush in a grasping black dress with tasseled arms as she posed for photos alongside the seven models who walked the runway, 3 of which were specially selected followers from her Twitter account.
Currently holding a number of different titles within the entertainment, fashion, publishing realms, she is unpretentious even with all of her accolades. Knockturnal.com spoke with La La exclusively at the event. Check out our interview below:
With the brand still at its beginning stages, what are your plans as far as the evolvement of 5th & Mercer?
La La: Iโm open to people telling me we love this, or we didnโt like that so much, and really getting feedback from individuals out there. And also, since I know what is on trend, I pull from that as well and just try to continue to create. I look at what other people are wearing, and tell myself, “I like that. How can I put a La La twist on this?” The skyโs the limit. I wanted to test the waters with a small collection, which seems to be going pretty well, so hopefully we can keep going from here.
Aside from yourself, whom would you choose as a muse as it pertains to your line?
La La: There is no one that dresses better than Jennifer Lopez, I mean, she is to die for. ย Someone like that is just incredible with for style. My friend Kim Kardashian dresses amazing. Kelly Rowland, Ciara, all of them you know, my group of friends are all great dressers, so I look to them for inspiration.
With all your endeavors in entrepreneurship, being a wife and a mother, and all the other great things that you do, how do you create time to make all these things happen?
La La: You have to prioritize. You have to figure out what is important, and also as women we have to understand that we canโt get it all done in one day, and be okay with that. So thatโs what I do. I love that I have events like this where I bring my whole family with me and everybody is over there having a good time. I try to bring it all together at things like this.
You can find 5th & Mercer pieces at retail stores and on websites like Shopbop.com, Sakโs Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales and others. Prices range from the mid $30 range to $300 and above.
Bethany Hamilton (Left) & Mallory Weggemann (Right)
Yesterday on March 5,ย theknockturnal.com was on the scene for a New York special screening of the EPIX originalย documentary “The Current” part of the ReelAbilities: NY Disabilities Film Festival and co- hosted by The JCC in Manhattan at the Times Center in New York City.
The film followed seven brave souls as they were tested by the ocean waters of: Bimini (Bahamas), Cozumel (Mexico), and Kauai (Hawaii) where they heroically swam with sharks and dolphins, went scuba diving, and surfed the waves of beautiful Hawaii. While keeping true to their driving principles of looking past their obvious limitations, all of which have made them each heroines in their own right, these great men and women have managed to make the impossible possible contrary to the naysayers. โSoul Surferโ Bethany Hamilton and Paralympic Gold Medalist Mallory Weggemann were in attendance at the screening and participated in a Q&A.
Check out our exclusive interviews below:
Bethany Hamilton
As one of the featured athletes in the film, what are some of your hopes for viewers to take away?
You can overcome anything you put your mind to. Having a faith in God was vital for my progression throughout my circumstance. My fear of not getting back into the water was bigger than my fear of coming in contact with another shark. And I try to see the positive out of all things.
As inspirational as your story is, what were some of the strengths you pulled from of your other cast mates?
We (Bethany and husband Adam) were specifically inspired by the love shared between Grant and Shawna, and how they stuck it out together after his accident.
How did you and your husband first meet?
We met through mutual friends and just got to know each other gradually. We didnโt know much of each other prior to meeting. On our first date, we jumped off of a 40 foot cliff.
Mallory Weggemann
Can you tell me about your connection to the water, and how the whole idea of โhealing watersโ relates to you?
When I was paralyzed in Jan. of 2008, two months before my 19th birthday, I thought my days of swimming were over. Being a competitive swimmer since the age of 7, the water was second nature to me, and it has always been my safe haven, but when I was paralyzed I thought it was taken away. But in April of 2008, 4 months later, I realized that it wasnโt, I got back in the pool, and swimming was like having my home back, it taught me so much about life as far as dedication, determination, and about lifeโs challenges and overcoming them. Iโm free, I can do anything and everything that I want. When Iโm in a pool, Iโm not in a wheelchair. Iโm free.
What led you to get back into the water?
Getting back into the water was actually kind of serendipitous. I had just gotten out of the hospital and was at my parents’ house. My sister saw a newspaper article for the Paralympic tryouts for the Beijing games being held about 30 minutes away from my house. I never heard of the Paralympics before then and didnโt know what to expect. They wanted to take me to check it out. I really didnโt want to, but my family could be really pushy (in a good-supportive way) so I went, that was on a Saturday. I left the pool, and then on Monday, I got back in the pool for the first time and literally fell in love.
What do you hope people take away from the film?
One of the biggest things that I always talk about is that everybody has a disability. Mine is physical, it could be mental, emotional, financial, spiritual, nonetheless, we all struggle with stuff every single day. And, yes the movie is about showcasing amazing abilities within the disability population, but it’s about more than that. Itโs just about life, and itโs about all of us realizing that disabilities are universal and we all have it. And if we can all understand, the appreciation, respect, and graciousness we can have towards one another I think it’s just astronomical and it forces all of us to look internally and think whatโs holding me back in my life, and then addressing that and pushing past it. Thatโs my biggest hope. It could be the smallest of things, but in your life the biggest of things, and just finding out those things and ways to challenge yourself.
“The Current” premieres on EPIX on Wednesday, March 12 at 8pm ET.
iHeartRadio and Dierks Bentley brought out some of New York Cityโs hardcore country music fans last night on Feb. 25. Bentley performed live for fans at The iHeartRadio Theater as part of the iHeartRadio Country Live series.
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