What’s up with all these female rock stars performing in bodysuits and textured stockings? Is it the Madonna influence coming back? Jennifer Lopez performed in a full length skintight bodysuit at Christmas time – outdoors! – and lately, lady rock stars are getting racier and racier with their stage costumes. Of course, Beyonce started it of this new group: wearing a Thierry Mugler designed bodysuit for last year’s “Sasha Fierce” tour. Lady Gaga also does this look – but she does so many
looks, it’s hard to keep track. This year, it’s Rihanna – and Kesha – both just performed in Miami in separate nights – wearing specially designed body suits and textured hose. Kesha’s are made of circles and have pailettes attached – how do these not run? Rihanna’s are thin fishnet, but it also makes us wonder – how come they don’t run either? Clearly, these ladies know something the rest of us don’t know. But then, they also manage to perform in bodysuits – and not look silly.

As we’ve always said, when women have bright red hair, they are somewhat limited as to the colors they can wear: green looks great, black is awesome, but things like red, orange and yellow are clashing with the hair color, competing – and it’s overwhelming. You won’t see Julianne Moore or Christina Hendricks wearing anything outside of solid black, solid green or solid purple against their very red heads. Well, leave it to Rihanna to break ALL the rules, and make it look good. She wore this wild multi color D & G one shoulder jumper to an after party given by Asics and Drai’s Hollywood, and even with her new russet colored hair, it works. But then again, she’s Rihanna. Other redheads, beware – don’t try this at home.

Oh, God help us, bathing suit season is upon us. Ready or not. Well, Rihanna’s ready, even if the rest of us aren’t. She strolled the beach in Greece after her European tour wrapped up last week in this fringed colorful suit by Mara Hoffman in Headdress Black.

For store locations you can visit Marahoffman.com
To purchase visit Shopbop.com
Retail cost $193.00

Fashionrules took a kind of major Memorial Day trip – all the way, the 14 hour plane ride from LA, to Tel Aviv, Israel – where we are working on some interesting fashion/media projects with some in-the-know Israeli designers, hair stylists and makeup artists. And what a coincidence, Rihanna performed in Tel Aviv last night, at the Bloomfield Statium – and we were there! It was the last show of the last leg of her European tour, and it was a doozy. The Tel Aviv audience – passionate about music to begin with – went crazy over the stylish singer, and there were a number of Israeli girls – and guys – with Rihanna haircuts, just to show their love. And style influences. But – it was a tense day in Israel, as a Turkish boat approaching Gaza (more…)

Janet Jackson has been very low key since the death of her brother Michael almost a year ago. But she did star in the sequel to the successful family drama, “Why Did I Get Married” for director/writer Tyler Perry – and she stepped out onto the red carpet in London yesterday for the premiere of “Why Did I Get Married 2″ – shocking the crowd, with a new, VERY short, shaved-side haircut. We’re used to Halle Berry with very short hair – and it looks amazing on her. And Michelle Williams. And model Agyness Deyn. But we’re NOT used to Janet Jackson with such a boyish look. We don’t know who gave her the cut, but with its short sides and long top, we thinks it’s VERY chic and very flattering on her. We suspect her long hair was probably hair extentions anyway, and that they caused damage to her real hair. There’s even speculation on the internet that Janet was losing her hair. In any case, it looks good, shows us a different side of Ms. Jackson, and will probably start a hot new boyish trend. After all, look at Rihanna.

Since flamboyant French designer Thierry Mugler designed the highly conceptual costumes for Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce tour, the design level of costumes on a pop music tour has gone up several notches. And then there’s Lady Gaga, performing on “American Idol” in a black lace bodysuit designed by Giorgio Armani. It probably all started back when Madonna wore Jean Paul Gaultier and Dolce & Gabbana on her tours back in the day. We thought we’d give you a peak of Rihanna’s very stylized costumes. She just kicked off her English tour in Birmingham, in the north of England, at the LG Arena. She goes from very short to very long – we would expect nothing less from a lady who has both brunette AND blonde hair right now, and who looks like she’s on stage even when she’s on the street. Her stylist team Rob and Mariel see to that.

That Rihanna really understands a fashion opp and a fashion moment. She gets that a major Paris gown will get her lots of photo opps at the Grammy’s – while the Kid’s Choice Awards, held this Saturday night at Pauley Pavillion in L.A., is about youthful looks, and something rather – kid friendly. Innocent and fun and upbeat. But leave it to Ms. Rihanna to find the one perfect Christian Dior dress in a cream textured tone, that looks youthful and sweet! This is a label known for sophistication and sexy chic! She also added black streaks to her very auburn hair color, a whole new fashion element. Are obvious two tone streaks back? Well, if Rihanna’s doin’, they are!

Viktor & Rolf, and Dutch design team behind the amazing avant-garde clothes, are getting BIG American exposure with Rihanna wearing a lot of their designs. The singer is a great model for their very strong design – she’s got the height, the looks, and the attitude to pull of their incredibly tailored European pieces. She even wore this black tulle-trimmed tuxedo jacket with sequin front from the SS 2010 runway collection for a new collection of songs for AOL Music. This will certainly expose a whole new group of pop music fans to these clothes. But Viktor & Rolf will be getting a lot more exposure with a new white shirt capsule collection they just created. Nobody makes a white shirt more interesting than these two – it’s a staple of their collections, and they somehow manage to make crisp white shirts very feminine and designed. The White Shirt Capsule Collection is five shirts, with amazing names, to be released to retail this summer for fall 2010, in satin, cotton and georgette: The five shirts are named as follows: White Blossom, White Dove, White Nights, White Scent, White Tuxedo. We’re living for White Scent, the one with the bow at the bust! Viktor and Rolf issued this quote on the collection:

“The white shirt is an interesting piece of clothing to us. Every woman owns at least one white shirt. However, in our vision, the Viktor & Rolf woman will want to distinguish herself from the crowd. This capsule collection caters to our female customers”.

We all know denim is a big trend for spring 2010- bigger this season than maybe ever. A lot of that is about the economy, of course. The New York Times just did a story on the fact that both guys and girls have already been seen two different shades of denim together – which fashion people have made fun of for years, calling it “The Texas Tux.” But there are even two tone denim jackets in one piece of clothing. We know Rihanna loves expensive designer clothes – and there’s almost no one trendier these days – but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t indulge in some cheap n’ chic items – as we secretly know EVERY cool girl does! Mixed in with all fashion items here on her is the Charley 5.0 “Livin on the Edge” Studded Moto Denim Jacket in Black Acid as she arrived in Seoul yesterday. And it costs $279 at singer22.com. And a black studded denim jacket is one good spring item to have.