Sometimes an internationally known star and a brand just, mix.  Sometimes a face and a personality just fit into a brand.  Sometimes.

This wasn’t just “Sometimes” for Tokidoki, as on Feburary 1^st, the pop culture brand, meaning “sometimes” in Japanese, announced its partnership with International recording artist Jasmine Villegas.   

Though only 18, Villegas, a Filipino-Mexican American teen R&B, pop and soul singer is no stranger to the business of branding and entertainment.  Villegas has recently signed with Sony Music Entertainment, and was the opening act for the second leg of Justin Bieber’s My World Tour in 2010.  Since releasing her much anticipated mix tape in September of 2011, Jasmine has amassed a huge following and is currently ranked the 8th most powerful artist, 9th most powerful woman on Twitter with 961,709 followers, and has accumulated 58 million Youtube views.

“I am so excited to be the new face of Tokidoki” said Villegas.  “The style is so me!  Simone’s designs and products are so cute, everywhere I go – girls come up and tell me how much they love Tokidoki!”

Beginning in January ‘12, the partnership will include in-store appearances and special events.

“We couldn’t be happier to partner with Jasmine,” said Tokidoki CEO Ivan Arnold.  “She will represent Tokidoki apparel, accessories and beauty in a fresh and fun way that speaks directly to our consumer.”

It’s here! – doo.ri for Impulse only at Macy’s! Doo-Ri Chung’s designs have been seen on First Lady Michelle Obama as well as on the runways at New York Fashion Week, and now they can now be yours at a very affordable price! Earlier this week on Wednesday, the award-winning designer launched her first collection for Macy’s. Chung’s elegant draping techniques and modern feminine style are translated into pieces that are priced on average from $39-$159. Offering a collection in her signature style but at a different price point allows her to reach a wider audience, which the designer thinks is great! The pieces in the collection range from jersey dresses to sweaters and outerwear.

Doo-Ri Chung with Models. Photo credit: Stylist.

Chung, a graduate of Parsons: The New School of Design, is an established designer known for her technical brilliance and iconic draping abilities. She has quickly established her brand in the industry since the launch of her debut collection and has been recognized as one of America’s top designers. Chung was named a finalist in the first-ever Council of Fashion Designers of America/Vogue Fashion Fund (CVFF) back in 2004, and in 2006, won the Samsung Fashion Design Fund Award, CFDA Swarovski/Perry Ellis Award for Emerging Design Talent and the CVFF grand prize. She was also the first American designer to be nominated for Switzerland’s Stella Award.

Read on for our exclusive interview with Doo-Ri Chung to find out more about her and what she has to say about her new collection for Macy’s.
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Only two more days until Jason Wu for Target launches to the public! A few lucky ones were able to catch a glimpse of the collection beforehand at a private launch event on January 26th in New York City. The luckiest one of all though was DJ Harley Viera-Newton. Prior the event, she was personally styled by the man of the night in a peach shirt-dress that Jason describes as “fun, chic and feminine.” Harley “[loved] the color and the peter-pan collar” of the dress and said, “It’s very my style.”

Photo credit: A Bullseye View.

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All right, I’ll be the first to admit it. Shopping for us picky Asian girls is no easy feat. Not only do you have to keep up with the Chongs, you may feel that you also have to able to read our minds to please us.

When it comes to pleasing an Asian girl, Valentine’s Day is definitely the time to do it, so listen up to these Valentine gift ideas:
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Shay Mitchell on Seventeen Magazine via Seventeen Magazine

The Pretty Little Liars actress, Shay Mitchell graces the cover of the renowned Seventeen Magazine for the January 2012 Prom Issue. Mitchell, previously featured in our Fall ’10 Issue, models fabulous designs by Jovani whose prom line commonly consists of animal print, loud vivacious colors and bejeweled trims.

Mitchell does a great job in displaying the dresses as fun, youthful and suitable for dance-floor activity; an indirect antithesis to earlier years’ trend of puffy prom dress disasters. ABC Family’s sexy Filipino and Scottish/Irish actress cites her prom photo mantra as “always have fun,” because a smiling face always looks good on camera. With these dresses, young teens everywhere will want to do nothing else but that. At least, that is what Mitchell makes us believe with her very charming and flirtatious photo spread.

Project Runway, make room for 24 Hour Catwalk. Lifetime’s hot new reality show for fashionistas everywhere has designers scrambling to put together an entire collection in, you guessed it, 24 hours. The show is hosted by the lovely Alexa Chung, who is famous in Britain but is known as a television personality, model and writer all around the world.

Born to a three-quarters Chinese father and English mother, Alexa started as a teenage model but then went on to become a presenter on Popworld and other UK pop-culture shows. Before 24 Hour Catwalk, she hosted MTV’s Gonzo and It’s On With Alexa Chung. In 2011 alone, she appeared on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar UK, Harper’s Bazaar Australia, British Vogue, Vogue North Korea and Teen Vogue, proving how much of a global style icon she has become. Her distinct fashion is sure to make an impact US audiences, who can see her tonight on Lifetime at 10pm.

The pics are finally up! Target‘s latest collaboration is with mega designer Jason Wu (yup, the same one Michelle Obama wore for the inauguration), on sale February 5. Get going on your spring wardrobe with his feminine-chic looks. Check out the styles below:

Jason Wu styling one of his looks for his collaboration with Target.

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Check out our behind the scenes video of Mindy Kaling’s Audrey Magazine cover shoot!

What did you think of the photos from the shoot?

I’ll admit it. I am a consumer of brightening products and trust me I’ve seen and tried them all.

Alright, maybe not all of them but most of the products you can buy at your local oriental market. From Likas whitening soap to Glutothione cream, I have exfoliated, masked, and peeled my face in order to achieve lighter skin. I guess I have my ethnic traditional values to blame. Hundreds of years ago, light skin meant wealth and dark-skin meant working class (i.e. field work and manual labor) for Asians. Somehow the historic notion stuck with Asian culture until this day and unfortunately, several Asian Americans like myself have adapted the same concept. Lately I have been on a mission to truly appreciate my caramel skin and kick the whitening regiments to the curb!

As I was browsing on YouTube to catch up on current documentaries, I found an interesting story on the developing cultural underground movement in Japan where Japanese men and women want to emulate “Black culture,” or “hip-hop lifestyle.”

The rap/hip-hop music videos serve as their main inspiration associating the voluptuous and well-manicured video models as the new “Barbie.” Since their reformation, they schedule weekly appointments at their neighborhoods tanning salons and hold underground hip-hop parties where big hair, vibrant make-up and sexy outfits are a must.

Whether or not anyone believes this movement is joke, untrue or completely racist, it proves to be a brave surge of change to a longstanding traditional beauty standard. At the least, this movement helps women like me feel more comfortable in her own skin and open to the idea of change.

I believe that is amazing in it of itself.

Kimora Lee Simmons Harper's Bazaar Singapore via Harper's Bazaar Magazine

Gracing the January 2012 cover of Harper’s Bazaar Singapore, renowned Korean and African-American supermodel Kimora Lee Simmons shows off her to-die-for body reminding everyone she still has it! She shocked everyone in April when she hit the red carpet 25 lbs lighter and with this newest issue, those 25lbs are still nowhere to be found. Fitting perfectly in vibrant designer fashion pieces, Simmons displays her revamped body image: toned, fit and curvy. As seen on her reality television show Life in the Fab Lane, it has been a contant weight battle for the fashion mogul/model. Today, she has kicked her diet demons to the curb and attributes and maintains her new slender physique to eating more healthy food, monitoring her portion intake and maintaining an active lifestyle with her three kids. Kimora Lee Simmons was also spotted trotting around the sandy shores of St. Bart’s for the Christmas holiday in a revealing two-piece black bikini – abs fully in tact! You go girl.