409. All In The Details....(Perry St., NYC)

Continuing my olive anything kick (including a post from yours truly? We'll see in the near future).

408. The English Prep....(7th Ave., NYC)

407. Protect Ya Neck....(Greenwich St., NYC)

Ok, so I just noticed that with this post it makes 3 posts in a row where neckwear was the focal point of the look (well of course brah, it's getting colder) but the coolest part is that it's not just regular scarves that you'll catch regular Joe's like me in daily but more playful and slightly dramatic. All it does is make the winter months less painful and more fun.

406. Hanneli....(Broome St., NYC)

405. Black Sauce....(Soho, NYC)

404. Studs And Leather.....(Mulberry St., NYC)

403. Leopard 'N Camo....(Broome St., NYC)

402. (Far) East Coasting.....(Crosby St., NYC)

I mentioned on twitter recently about my love for the Asian aesthetic and this shot was what helped sparked that thought. There was a Japanese based street style blog I used to frequent early last year (I forgot the URL to it after I lost my modBook 1.0. Anyone that can tip me off, I would really love that), that was never short on the style variety. You could spot tons of the same pieces, but they were rarely used the same way twice. No one plays with proportions and stretches the gender bending rules better than our friends on the far East coast. Seeing looks like this especially always puts me in a mood of wanting to visit Asia and just soak in their culture (which is ironic because you can see the inspiration and different variations of American style and pop culture, old and new.), find new influences and broadening your tastes. This is what style is all about.

401. Dance OR Die.

Born Janelle Monae Robinson on December 1, 1985, she was originally born in Kansas City, Kansas and spent part of her childhood in New York City (studying theater) then onto Atlanta, Georgia.

She's quickly making a name for herself, on and off the stage. She dedicates her monochromatic wardrobe partially to blue collar citizens and mostly to her family back in Kansas City, Missouri who wore this as a uniform, day in and day out. As far as her music is concerned, she's electrifying, which is perfect because it matches her bubbly personality and badass, James Brown like stage presence. Now let me make it clear that I've yet to see her live and my only visual representation is through televised performances, like her magnificent 4 and a half minutes on "The Late Show With Dave Letterman" a few short months ago.

Listening to her breakthrough, "The ArchAndroid", you can't help but to hear sprinkles of Andre 3000's spectacular "The Love Below", "Sign Of The Times" era Prince and 'Ziggy Stardust' era Bowie. Filled with so much funk and it's such a fun listen, you'd have no pulse if you didn't enjoy it. She's a throwback to artists that had performance based songs and can actually perform to them too.

Music happens in cycles and I strongly felt within the last year or so, with the music landscape changing strategies and adapting to new formats even further, there's still hope at the end of the tunnel. Also most executives are afraid to experiment, especially with new talent, but there are a small circle of artists pushing that envelope regardless, keeping music fun and fresh. Janelle Monae is easily in that class.