Imagine if you will.

It’s Friday afternoon, and the streets are a blaze of black. The glitterati city slicker photographers stand in a perfect 180° on the subway platforms, like a line of a coke a mirror shard. Staring through plated glass, fashionistas copulate wordplay of their favorite obsession. Its was that time of the year again, New York’s Fashion’s Night Out and most importantly, its fashion’s night out. Rule of thumb, wear something black… or black-like.

Sean “Diddy” Combs blasts party crunk jams on a sight-seeing bus through 34^th Street, his Sean John insignia below his B&W Herb Ritts-inspired mug in a white tuxedo on the side. Sexy women in skimpy outfits dance as spectators take pictures from the sidewalks of the assiduous fashion Mecca. Rock band Train tunes their guitars and rocks out to their signature jingles like “Soul Sister” at a Tommy Hilfiger tailgate soiree. And despite the saturated Technicolor of fabric swimming in the wind and neon lights swirling amidst the night air, it’s like a neo-cosmopolitan funeral for club kids and nu-vogue wild wunderkinds.

The second annual credit card chewing monster extravaganza involving 1,200 retail galas around the megacity began with rendezvous at Macy’s. Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, designers Michael Kors and Rachel Roy, performer Jennifer Lopez, and actor Neil Patrick Harris were among the millions of shoppers. There were others all over the city: Magic was made with a performance by turntable gizmos N.E.R.D. and a surprise pop-and-lock cameo by former R&B poster boy Chris Brown and a warped recital by the cast of the Broadway musical “Hair.” Not to mention, there were tons of celebrity appearances by Michael Bloomberg, Serena Williams, Metric, Tyrese and Ludacris, producer Ryan Leslie and Japanese designer Nigo to name a few.

It was a grand ole time in the city and here are some trends we’d expect to see in this fall:

Tailored Suits

The Ultramodern Military Jacket

Camel and Sequined Jeggings (however, not together)

Velvet Suits

Tailored Denim

Combat Boots

Plaids

Orange

Monk Straps

Flannels & Stripes

Dapper Debonair

Leather

Beyonce Wigs Out During New York Fashion Week [PHOTOS]

Nicki Minaj Comes “Out” For Magazine [PHOTOS]

Picking females to join the fourth spot with N.E.R.D.

Known for their male aura, rumor has it N.E.R.D is now taking in a female voice to strengthen their vocal backup for their new album, due out in 2010. All we can hope for is that Rhea, their soon-to-be female group member, sings as pretty as she looks.  The question we’re all asking ourselves is, do they really need lady company?  What we do know is that there are a lot of lead female singers out there, so if it isn’t Rhea’s time to shine, we know a few super-sexy singers that would fit perfectly fine – check out the gallery for our suggestions.

Before all the Ne-Yo lovers catch feelings, those were his words — not ours.

In an exclusive interview with our sister site, Hellobeautiful, the R&B soulster talked all things NASCAR, Michael Jackson… and being a nerd! Don’t believe us? Click here.

And for more Ne-Yo, click here.

Italian Denim kingpin’s Diesel celebrated 30 years of style with xXx. The clothing company hosted 18 parties (covering eight time zones) world wide in locations like Beijing, Amsterdam, Paris and Tokyo. New York City was off the hook with performances from T.I., Chaka Kahn, M.I.A. and N.E.R.D. Check out the fun.

Mickey Factz has a present for you… Hope you like free music.

The rapper, and graduate of the Bronx’s storied Adlai Stevenson High School (Afrika Bambaata went there), is leaking a new song onto the Internet every week this year. Whether he’s rapping over samples from Portishead, N.E.R.D. or Röyksopp, Mickey keeps his lyrics heady and stays fresh in his gold Supras (which, he’ll often remind you, are sold out). At GIANT magazine’s Flash photo shoot, the 23-year-old rapper spit an exclusive freestyle in our makeshift soundproof booth (read: the studio’s bathroom). Enjoy!

For more of Mickey’s music, peep his mixtape game here!

The superproducer and style icon shows how he kicks back in an intimate cover shoot for GIANT.

Super-paid beatmaker Pharrell Williams has created some of the most memorable hits in pop music. Now ready with his solo debut, In My Mind, the style icon wonders to Joan Morgan if he’s ready to expose his inner visions to the world.

There is an inherent transience to cities by the sea that makes them both sexy and susceptible to illusion. Not lies per se, or malicious deceptions, but a gentle massaging of the truth, the kind that facilitates the crap people want to believe about themselves—and obscures what they’d prefer others not know. This makes Hibiscus Island, Florida, with its heady infusion of private exclusivity and new money, the perfect background for a music video. Especially one whose treatment probably read a little something like this: Multi-millionaire playboy romances racially non-descript (but if you had to guess, Brazilian) beauty poolside at his mansion by the ocean. Joined later on his boat by his homeboy (Kanye West!) and two skinny-ass model chicks in barely-there bikinis. A Rolls Royce! Ferrari! Multiple designer wardrobe changes! Cut to: Sean “Diddy” Combs, special music fashion mogul friend! Lots and lots of bling! Boys, beats, boats and bitches meets Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous…this could quickly lapse into cliché. That is if the video in question wasn’t Pharrell’s “Number One.”

Clichés, you see, require precedent. The meteoric rise of Pharrell Williams’s career has none. The man has been leaving his indelible size nine sneaker print on the ass cheek of popular culture for more than a decade. As the more visible half of the ubiquitous Neptunes (the production team responsible for every other banger in your iPod—that is unless you don’t really mess with Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani, Jay-Z, Janet Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, Ludacris, Busta Rhymes or TLC), one-third of the critically-acclaimed rock band N.E.R.D. and CEO of Star Trak (musical home to Kelis, Clipse, Robin Thicke and Slim Thug), Williams’s eclectic kitchen sink approach to production has literally altered the musical landscape.

An unabashed fashionista, Williams’s emergence as a style icon has been equally impressive. Of the man who made skateboard gear sexy, MTV’s style guru Coltrane Curtis says this: “Pharrell is the yin and yang of fashion. He can give you something real grimy—gold teeth, tattoo on his neck—but he can also give you a white button-up that’s so crispy and so grown man. He’s fly.”

“Fashion for Pharrell is a lifestyle,” adds celebrity stylist June Ambrose. “Clothing for him is like second skin. It’s like the early days of hip-hop when artists didn’t need stylists. He knows how to translate fashion.”

And turn his passion for it into profit. Williams’s two luxe apparel lines, Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream (including tees, jeans, sneakers, hoodies, varsity jackets), can be found at high-end retailers like Barneys and Union with price points that range from $90 to $900. “No rapper, let alone a man of color,” continues Coltrane, “has been able to create a luxury product that can sell across the board. Rocawear, Marc Ecko Collections and Sean John Blue all caught bricks, but BBC sold over $100,000 in product at the Union store in Los Angeles in one day. A hoodie is $425—it’s a piece of shit hoodie,” he laughs. “Screen-printed all over. No detail. No embroidery. But the margins on them make you want to cry when you think of how much money Pharrell must be making.”

The coup d’etats continue. Later today Williams will take a break from our interview to sign a multi-million-dollar contract to be the first ever male (and black) face for French fashion house Louis Vuitton.