Fashion

“Lovers Rock” Star Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn on Janet Kay, Harry Potter, and Working with Steve McQueen

“That was the anthem on the set,” St. Aubyn says of Kay’s ballad “Silly Games.” “Sometimes the girls would be in the dressing room, and you’d hear one of the boys trying to reach the high parts…It was the tune.”…

After Lovers Rock premiered at the New York Film Festival in September, early reactions to the film, directed and co-written by Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave; Widows), fixated on its “vibes”—some heady combination of joyfulness, sensuality, and just a hint of danger. Set mainly at a bustling Notting Hill house party in 1980, the roughly hour-long drama, starring Micheal Ward and Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn (in her screen debut), takes its name from a subgenre of reggae popular in the 1970s, using the thrummy 1979 ballad “Silly Games” by Janet Kay as its pseudo-theme song.

“That was the anthem on the set,” St. Aubyn tells me, calling from her home in Southeast London. “Sometimes the girls would be in the dressing room, and you’d hear one of the boys trying to reach the high parts…It was the tune of the two weeks [of shooting].”

Appearing on Amazon Prime this Friday, Lovers Rock belongs to McQueen’s new anthology series, Small Axe, about London’s West Indian community between the 1960s and 1980s. If it’s not as tightly plotted as the other sections—which are variously about the racism of the Metropolitan Police (Mangrove; Red, White and Blue); how the British schooling system fails Black children (Education); and the novelist and former DJ Alex Wheatle (Alex Wheatle), all based on real events—it made for an evocative first glance at the project, foregrounding both the close communal ties of England’s Jamaican, Trinidadian, and Grenadan immigrants, and the prejudice they faced from white Britons. (In one scene from Lovers Rock, St. Aubyn’s character Martha is menaced by a gang of white no-goodniks outside the party.) Sometimes known as the “Windrush generation”—the HMT Empire Windrush ferried hundreds of Caribbean émigrés to the U.K. in 1948—nearly half a million people relocated to England from the West Indies in the 1950s and ’60s, attracted by labor shortages in the wake of World War II.

More than anything, Small Axe celebrates the strength of the collective, lifting its title from an African proverb popularized by Bob Marley: “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe.” With Lovers Rock in particular, McQueen looks at the inner workings of that collective when left to its own devices. “I love it because that is what Small Axe is about,” he says. “It is about doing it yourself. Don’t worry if people won’t let you in. You make your own.”

[embedded content]

Small Axe comes from a personal place: The son of Grenadian and Trinidadian parents, McQueen learned the stories of the series from his family, and describes developing the scripts with Courttia Newland and Alastair Siddons partly as an exercise in nostalgia. “Images, smells, textures, and old customs came flooding back,” he says. Strictly speaking, Lovers Rock is a work of fiction, yet it draws on a long and very real history of “blues parties” in the U.K.—raucous West Indian discos with a fee charged at the door. “Courttia’s mother used to have parties at his house, so he remembered a lot of that stuff as a child. I came to it through my aunt,” says McQueen. “[She] wasn’t allowed to go to these parties, but my uncle would leave the back door open for her so she could go to the Blues.” In Lovers Rock, Martha resorts to similar methods, slipping from her house under cover of night to finally return just in time for church.

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0

News

Air Jordan 3 “Paris” Reportedly Trades Elephant Print for Damask

Jordan Brand may be preparing to drop a special Air Jordan 3 dedicated to one of the world’s most recognizable cities. Landing in June 2027, the Air Jordan 3 “Paris” comes with a unique design that ditches the usual elephant print. Instead, the rumored edition is said to feature damask detailing, special Paris-inspired branding, and a limited drop focused on the French capital.

The first word comes from @zSneakerHeadz, but Jordan Brand has not confirmed the sneaker yet. A mockup is currently circulating, so the final look may differ. That said, the described design is an interesting direction for the Air Jordan 3, especially for fans used to seeing elephant print as one of the silhouettes hallmark visual elements.

The shoe is said to feature a white tumbled leather upper with a navy rubber outsole. The most noticeable change is replacing the traditional elephant print with a damask print. The pattern is reportedly on the toe and heel, with another section next to the Jumpman logo on the tongue. The treatment gives the sneaker a different visual character without straying from the Air Jordan 3’s recognizable structure.

More branding is expected to tie the release closely to its namesake city. The mudguard is said to have the wording “Jordan Paris Family 91, 92, 93, 94,” while the heel is said to have “NIKE PRS.” The details give the shoe a more specific identity than a simple colorway, with the reported inscriptions presenting it as a tribute to Paris and its role in the Jordan Brand story.

The sneaker is expected to be released in men’s sizing and will carry the style code JJ3727-100. It retails for $230 and will be available in select Jordan Brand stores in Paris. If the release details are accurate, the limited distribution may make the pair tough for sneaker fans outside the city to get their hands on. But the brand has not confirmed the information that has been reported, and the image shown is a mockup and not an official product reveal.

The Air Jordan 3 “Paris” is also expected to join a growing list of regional releases such as the Air Jordan 3 “Middle East.” These projects give Jordan Brand the chance to attack the same silhouette through various regional themes, not just the usual retro colorways. The damask pattern with city-specific branding would, in this case, make the Paris edition clearly distinct.

This classic Air Jordan 3 shape combined with a strange pattern is bound to appeal to collectors. The expected Paris-only distribution adds another layer of exclusivity, although the final release details have yet to be confirmed. If the June 2027 launch comes to fruition as described, the Air Jordan 3 “Paris” could be one of the more unique regional editions on Jordan Brand’s calendar.

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0

News

Nike LeBron 24 “Christmas” – Holiday Collection Gets Grinchy Green Look

Nike Basketball’s holiday collection is starting to take shape, and LeBron James’ latest signature shoe is bringing a particularly loud look to the seasonal crop. First-look images of the Nike LeBron 24 “Christmas” have surfaced, showcasing a black and electric green colorway with metallic silver accents. The rumored Grinch-inspired direction of the upcoming release is shaping up to be one of the more unique additions to Nike’s Christmas footwear collection.

The shoe will be dropped on December 4 for $200. Its most striking feature is the electric green colorway, which gives the design a strong visual identity. Black is used on the upper for contrast, and metallic silver is seen on the Swoosh near the heel. Another contrasting touch comes from a red logo on the tongue, offering a subtle nod to holiday colors within the overall aesthetic. The shoe continues the theme with a green rubber outsole below.

Aside from the looks, the LeBron 24 “Christmas” also features performance elements associated with the broader LeBron 24 line. The outsole has a Zoom Turbo unit that is said to keep the shoe light and quick. That bit gives the holiday edition purpose beyond just its seasonal styling, keeping it tied to the basketball performance direction of the signature series.

The Grinch concept is part of a larger “naughty list” theme that also includes the Sabrina 4 and Book 2. Rather than treating the LeBron 24 as a standalone holiday release, Nike seems to be building a connected seasonal collection around the idea. The electric green colorway fits that direction, making the shoe pop while giving the broader theme a recognizable visual thread.

The first glimpse of the sneaker came via a 360-degree video Nike shared. The audience got a first look at the color blocking and design details as the shoe was presented from various angles. A handful of basketball creators also got a sneak peek at the pair earlier on a trip to Nike headquarters, helping build the early hype around the release.

The style code is IO8205-300 and the shoe is expected to drop in men’s sizing through Nike and select retailers. The December 4 date and $200 price point give us a sense of what to expect, but the information provided doesn’t list every retailer that will sell the sneaker.

The Nike LeBron 24 ‘Christmas’ is holiday-themed and performance-inspired for LeBron’s signature line, featuring a bright green colorway with silver details, red tongue branding, and an outsole with Zoom Turbo cushioning. Its Grinch-inspired theme also fits clearly into Nike Basketball’s broader seasonal plans. If you’re a fan of the brand’s Christmas releases, this pair is already making a strong first impression.

Tweet LinkedIn PinShares0