DIDDY FOUND HIS MEN

Last month Diddy unveiled a contest to find a new man for his fall Sean John ad campaign. He appeared to have found two. Winners Jeffrey Miller from Burbank, Calif, left, and Antonio Cannon from Chicago, center, are joined by Richard Harrison, who is an established model. The campaign was shot by Anthony Mandler and will be everywhere soon.

YOU COULD BE THE NEW FACE OF SEAN JOHN

Tomorrow Diddy kicks off the Faces of the Future contest in which one lucky winner will star in Sean John’s fall ad campaign. The search will be unveiled in a grandiose multi-platform launch on seanjohn.com, Twitter, Diddytv, and other blogs - as only Diddy could.

Enter by uploading your photo to the Sean John site between tomorrow and April 29. The general public can log on to vote and comment on potential models, which sounds like either the setup for a lot of hurt feelings, or a great way for entrants to get the cheap thrills they once got on MySpace. The ten entrants with the most votes will meet with Sean John executives during the first week of May. A winner will be announced May 8.

SEAN JOHN ACQUIRES ENYCE

Sean “Diddy” Combs and Liz Claiborne Inc. announce late yesterday the purchase of fashion label ENYCE by Sean “Diddy” Combs. Founded in 1996, Enyce is a denim based sportswear brand offering knits, wovens, outerwear, and graphic tees for men and boys, as well as a successful “Big and Tall” and women’s line. Liz Claiborne purchased Enyce in 2003. Both companies will work together to ensure a smooth and orderly transition for retail partners, vendors and employees. Founder and CEO of Sean John, Sean “Diddy” Combs said, “Enyce is a brand that I have always admired, and they have been a very important player in the young men’s sportswear arena for over a decade. I am really excited to bring it into our portfolio of brands that already includes Sean John and Zac Posen. Given our track record of success in marketing products such as Ciroc Vodka, Unforgivable by Sean John, and all of our television titles, I look forward to adding our expertise to an already hot fashion line. Our long-term plan is to grow the Enyce brand through innovative marketing, expansion of the menswear and boy’s lines, and launching into new licensing categories. The current economic climate may be challenging, but we believe it is also an opportunity, and we are really excited to add Enyce to our lineup.

VINTAGE SEAN JOHN | A RETROSPECTIVE

Sean John's triumphant return to the runways last season was captured in a vintage editorial for Vibe Magazine.... which draws upon some of the classic designs of the 50's & 60's. Here are some of the published pics from the depiction. It features Ibrahim Baaith, Wendell Lissimore, Salieu, Marcus Lloyd, Lawrence Annunziata and more.

PHOTOS: Kevin Amato


STYLIT: Memsor Kamarake

CARLOS CAMPOS TO USE ALL-BLACK MODELS IN FIRST WOMENSWEAR SHOW

Menswear designer Carlos Campos is showing his first women's collection Monday during Fashion Week, and he's just announced he'll use only black models in the runway show. The New York Observer received a press release about the show, which explained supermodel Iman inspired the casting decision.

But ironically, Iman said she had reservations about Italian Vogue's All-Black issue because she didn't want it to reduce black models to a "caricature." The Observer asks, "We're all for seeing more diversity in fashion, but should we interpret Mr. Campos' show as having diversity for the sake of diversity, or just a publicity stunt?" Considering the Campos camp sent out a press release about this, we're inclined to choose the latter. That said, we don't also doubt Campos genuinely believes in promoting diversity on the runways. But we've already seen Sean John and Dsquared2 do this. So maybe the truly innovative thing to do this season would be to cast a group of models that's actually, well, diverse.

NELLY AS THE NEW FACE, WELL BODY, OF SEAN JOHN UNDERWEAR

Sean John has just announced Nelly as its new spokesmodel for the line's underwear division.

In a press release, Sean Diddy Combs said, “I have known Nelly for many years and I really admire his work. To me, Nelly is the quintessential definition of the Sean John man. He has the attitude, the swagger, and most of all the physique that our customers can both aspire and relate to. And let’s be honest, all of the ladies... (and some of you gentleman) ... out there are going to be thanking us for this campaign. The images are so strong; they speak for themselves. We are truly excited to welcome Nelly into the Sean John family.”

This is the first time the brand has appointed a spokesperson just for underpants and it's our expert opinion that Nelly's doing a pretty good job so far. He looks chiseled and shiny, but in a clean-new-drawers sort of way.

WHAT DO YOU THINK of Nelly as the new face for Sean John underwear — YAY or NAY?

LANVIN TO USE ALL ETHNIC MODELS

S/S 08 Collection for Lanvin

It seems designers are finally responding to the discontent over the absence of black models on the runways by having more diverse castings this season. So it looks like the amount of press that has been stirring up recently, surrounding the lack of diversity in fashion is beginning to take precedence for some. Yesterday we told you about the Dsquared show in Milan and it seems that it may carry over into Paris as well. Its been rumored that Alber Elbaz for Lanvin has decided to book ONLY ethnic models for their menswear show next week. Fitting news to report on the day that the anticipated Vogue Italia hits newsstands in the UK. We must point out, however, that while this is all extremely exciting, Sean "Diddy" Combs started it when he showed his fall 2008 Sean John collection with an all-black cast at New York Fashion Week back in February. I'm anxious to see what lead menswear designer, Lucas Ossendrijver has done for us this season.