Getting Kinky: Esperanza Spalding

Welcome to another edition of hair & style icons featuring the lovely Esperanza Spalding! If you don't know her, you should! Esperanza is a 26-year old jazz bassist who broke out into the mainstream spotlight by snatching the Best New Artist Grammy out of the hands of The Biebs (Yep, the Justin Bieber) at this past 2011 Grammy Awards, making her the first jazz musician to win best new artist. But that's not even why she's awesome (although beating out The Biebs, who everyone thought without a doubt was going to win is pretty freakin awesome), she's considered a child prodigy finishing high school at 16 and getting hired at Berklee College of Music at 20 making her one of the youngest professors in the institution's history, her talents are diverse - she sings, plays a mean jazz bass, and composes songs, she has a chic sense of style, and her fro is one many curly-headed sisters aspire to.

As mentioned, I love her style. She has a very cool, laidback vibe when it comes to dressing with a slight androgynous touch as you'll find her wearing jeans, t-shirts, button-ups, ties worn as necklaces, and shrunken blazers with high heels. Sexy and cool at the same time, never overdone.

 

Since her big Grammy win she's been popping up all over the fashion radar with guest editorials in magazines from InStyle, W Magazine, and Elle. And, if you haven't noticed, she is the unofficial fro of Kinks Are The New Pink! Yup, that's her picture on the header :]

"I mean, it certainly makes me 'identifiable' when I show up with my Afro, but, to me, that's the most obvious way to wear my hair. That's how it grows out of my scalp. Having big natural hair makes me stand out to people at first take. I think of myself as an artist, as a musician, and I'm happy that my hair is just one more way that I can express myself." - Esperanza Spalding, via CurlyNikki

"Embracing and freely wearing my natural hair is like a form of self- exploration. I'm not White, I'm not European, and my hair is not straight. So I don't have any desire to make it straight-- it doesn't speak to who I am as a person. I am very mixed and I like that my hair is a reflection of that. My hair is an extension of me, and that's how it should be." - Esperanza Spalding, via CurlyNikki

Finally for your listening pleasure: