Blog Kimora

(Inside) Out

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The Face of KLS Cosmetics

She's Like a Rainbow

It is right before the Luca Luca fall fashion show at Bryant Park; the bright lights and TV cameras are swooping in as a diva makes her entrance in a sweeping fur coat, high high heels, a Luca Luca pale tweed jacket and lots of chains. Dangling from one chain is a square-cut mega gem. The celebrity brings it closer to the camera. "It looks real, doesn't it?" she says. "It's got lip gloss inside. I invented it." She has the height of a model, but her powerful shoulders and thighs come from a world apart from fashion. She's Serena Williams, the tennis phenomenon, taking a little time off the court to — shop for clothes? Not quite.

Waist Deep Cameo

AllHipHop.com
"...there's a laughable cameo by Kimora Lee Simmons..."

Associated Press
"Perhaps the most believable part of all is a cameo from Kimora Lee Simmons, the glamorous diva who runs the Baby Phat clothing line. Here she plays -- what else? -- a fashion maven who sells stolen clothing from her house. She's got it all: Gucci, Versace, Valentino, even a little Baby Phat. Now that's called method acting."

Boston Globe
"Savory touches abound, though. Kimora Lee Simmons plays a ghetto-fabulous version of herself (if such a thing isn't too terribly redundant). And once, Good rings a doorbell and intones a password that goes something like, "Prada jeans, Gucci pumps, Fendi bodybag." Outside somebody else's house, she says this: "It's Double Dutch, Mookie cousin." Both times, she makes you want to find an ice cream truck or stand in front of a gushing fire hydrant. (It'd be nice to see her play a schoolteacher or a law student, but the movies don't seem to think she's made for study breaks. She's built like a brick house and, for the movies, that's that.)"

The Jersey Journal
"To be fair, there are a couple of flickering moments when you believe the film is going to take a turn for the better. A brief scene featuring hip-hop clothing diva Kimora Lee Simmons shows a bit of promise."

The Patriot-News
"Adding to the bright SoCal screen palette are appearances by hip-hop superstar The Game as the merciless villain Meat and Fifth-Avenue fashion mogul Kimora Lee as a black market fashion mogul. Both media mavens jump headfirst into their hammy roles."

The Star Ledger
"There's a funny in-the-know cameo by the ever-scary Kimora Lee Simmons, as a fence for designer clothes ("We've got Baby Phat," she proclaims proudly) and [Larenz] Tate is as watchable as ever."

The Village Voice
"More cinema du couture comes with Waist Deep, which features Kimora Lee Simmons as "Fencing House Lady (as Kimora Lee Simmons)." Kimora's not exactly stretching; she plays a smartass who runs a designer-fashion resale shop, hawking used Versaces and shit. As Kimora Lee Simmons."

New haircut?

Kimora Lee Simmons at the "AMFAR" Party
during the 59th Cannes Film Festival
May 25, 2006 (Photo: Stephane Cardinale)

Kimora Lee's jeweler arrested this morning

TMZ.com (June 14, 1006) - Jacob Arabo, known worldwide as Jacob the Jeweler, was arrested Thursday morning on charges stemming from a federal indictment of 16 people in Detroit.

The May 10 indictment, from the U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Michigan and unsealed today, alleges 16 defendants violated federal drug laws and laundered in excess of $270 million.

The documents allege the defendants maintained a drug operation under the name the "Black Mafia Family" and allegedly transported and distributed thousands of kilos of cocaine across state lines. The 41 year-old Arabo, whose name is spelled several different ways in the papers, was named in the Detroit indictment. The indictment seeks forfeiture of more than 30 pieces of jewelry, in addition to a number of residences and cars.

Arabo, a Russian immigrant, opened his store in Manhattan's midtown diamond district in 1981, and a visit by hip-hop artist Faith Evans in the mid-1990s proved to be the catalyst for his career as jeweler to a galaxy of rappers and actors. Evans introduced Arabo's gold- and diamond-heavy creations to her husband, the late Notorious B.I.G., and thereafter Jacob the Jeweler quickly became not just a baublemaker but an icon and a symbol of attainment in the fiercely brand-obsessed hip-hop universe.  His name appeared in hip-hop lyrics and even in a Def Jam video game.

In 2004, Arabo announced a partnership with Kanye West to produce a line of religious-themed jewelry, and that same year,  Cartier filed suit against Arabo, claiming that he had modified their products illegally.  The May 2006 cover of Vogue magazine featured actress Keira Knightley wearing a pair of Arabo's diamond earrings.
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Previously: Moneyed Mini-Mes Are Ice, Ice Babies

Phat Bedding

Kellwood's Phat Fashions division has signed an agreement with Dan River, Inc. to develop and market a home collection line under the Phat Farm® and Baby Phat® brand names, according to Bernt Ullmann, president Phat Fashions.

The new line, which embodies the classic American flava of Phat Farm  and the sassy and luxurious style of Baby Phat, is slated to appear in department and specialty stores in Fall 2006 and will consist of bedding, bath furnishings and window treatments. The Phat Farm bedding ensembles include timeless stonewash denim to nautical blocks of color embroidered with the signature logo. The Baby Phat bedding styles a playful, over-the-edge chic look with palettes of Asian black velvet, white mink and exotic prints.

"Phat Farm has been at the forefront in building a hip-hop lifestyle business. We are now expanding our fashion boundaries to include a home collection. We have had tremendous success as being the leader of fashion. This new generation needs its own native interpretation of the bedding/bath business. We are filling a void and reacting to what our consumers have requested," said Russell Simmons, Phat Fashions founder and CEO.

"We are pleased to introduce luxurious bedding as the next step in expanding our lifestyle brand. It's exciting for us to offer the Baby Phat consumer something as new, fresh, and fabulous as the pieces you will find in this exclusive bedding collection," said Kimora Lee Simmons, creative director for Baby Phat.

"The addition of the home collection to the Phat Fashions family is another step towards offering our customers classical products that capture the experience of the Phat lifestyle," stated Ullmann.

"We are thrilled to be collaborating with the Phat Fashions design team. The power and presence of the Phat Farm and Baby Phat brands, combined with our luxurious fabrications and techniques, will offer our customers a comfortable sleep environment in style," stated Daniel Hammer, president sales and marketing of Dan River Home Fashion, Inc.

Kellwood is a $2 billion marketer of apparel and consumer soft goods, specializes in branded as well as private label products, and markets to all channels of distribution with product specific to a particular channel. For more information, visit www.kellwood.com.

Dan River, Inc. is a leading manufacturer and marketer of textile products for the home fashions market. The company designs, manufactures and markets a coordinated line of value-added home fashions products for the adult, juvenile, and institutional markets.