[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLET DUBOC: Welcome to "Fashion Week Internationale,"
the show that reports on the most fabulous fashion weeks in
the world, and the culture and politics behind them.
This time, we take you down south to Atlanta, Georgia.
-What a coincidence that you're here for Urban Fashion
Week, and all I know is fashion.
Every day I wake up it's like a fashion statement.
I wear army fatigue pants.
That's because I'm a soldier, you hear me?
CHARLET DUBOC: When you say "soldier," I know you don't
mean it in a military sense.
You're not in the army, right?
-It's not necessarily a war, like I'm
going to kill somebody.
But it's a war against trying to better myself every day.
So at the end of the day, I'm struggling, and I'm fighting a
war against my haters and my doubters, to show them that
they ain't going to stop me, never.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLET DUBOC: In the last few years, the city of Atlanta has
reinvented itself as one of the
entertainment capitals of America.
With massive home-grown artists such as Outkast,
Ludacris, Waka Flocka Flame, and Gucci Mane, all paying
homage to their city's inimitable southern charm and
titillating nightlife.
We had come here to meet a man called Billy Bad Ass as he
prepared to bring his Urban Fashion Week franchise to
London, bringing some Atlanta style to the
prim English streets.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLET DUBOC: Billy had lined up a week of urban fashion
delights in Atlanta, and I couldn't wait to live out my
music video fantasies with Billy as my guide.
We met Billy at a casting call to select some aspiring models
to take to London, some of whom had flown in
from as far as Kansas.
Billy.
BILLY BAD ASS: Yeah.
CHARLET DUBOC: Thanks for having us.
BILLY BAD ASS: You're right here at the spot.
First time we've started out our interviews for the models.
We're trying to select one model to go to London.
So we getting it going.
Let me tell you a little bit about what's going on.
We're going to actually select probably one, or maybe two
models, to go to London.
We take care of your hotel, your partying.
White party, black party, whatever parties you're going
to have up there.
You'll be able to eat for free and just kind of
hang out, on me.
CHARLET DUBOC: Before getting down to the casting process,
Billy wanted to introduce me to some of
his assembled entourage.
He'd invited along the first and only black
female NASCAR driver.
BILLY BAD ASS: This is Tia.
She's a NASCAR driver.
I think she's going to be very instrumental in helping a lot
of young ladies get out of the stereotype
that they can't drive.
CHARLET DUBOC: Then there was the African business investor.
KENNY: What I love about him is his thinking and his
innovative capability.
He thinks of things outside of the box.
BILLY BAD ASS: I'm actually trying to build
my own fashion car.
Body make, engine, tires, everything is fashion.
And that's not being done yet.
CHARLET DUBOC: And an environmental officer from Fox
Entertainment.
BILLY BAD ASS: I think urban and eco needs to get together.
FELICIA PHILLIPS: That's exactly right.
BILLY BAD ASS: I look like a fool, but I'm the only one in
my neighborhood with the blue box out in front of my house
on Fridays.
I'm going to put my cool shades on.
See, I'm fashion.
I've got to get the Rick Ross going on, see.
CHARLET DUBOC: Finally, he got round to directing a
photoshoot.
BILLY BAD ASS: I'm looking for a girl with a little bit more
booty than a couture model, a little rump in the trunk.
Mess with that hair.
You've got it all out, now.
You've got to let them see it.
Throw a kiss.
No, no, no.
Throw a kiss like you would give your boyfriend.
[LAUGHTER]
BILLY BAD ASS: You're throwing me a kiss like you
would give a wall.
Come one, throw a kiss like you'd give
your boyfriend a kiss.
Be sincere with something like aaah.
-That's how you kiss your boyfriend.
CHARLET DUBOC: Then he got down to a Tyra Banks-style
interview session.
ARLENE: My name's Arlene White.
I am born and raised here in Atlanta, Georgia.
JANAE BROOKS: Janae Brooks, and I'm 19.
STINA DIAS: Stina Dias.
I'm from Kansas City as well.
BILLY BAD ASS: What sign are you?
-Capricorn.
-I'm a Libra.
-Water sign.
JANAE BROOKS: I'm an Aries.
STINA DIAS: Really?
I am too!
JANAE BROOKS: Really?
STINA DIAS: Yeah.
[GIGGLING]
CHARLET DUBOC: And the questioning got
increasingly awkward.
BILLY BAD ASS: Let's say, for example, we're at a club, and
we wanted to party, and you were ready to go, and we
weren't ready to go.
-Um.
BILLY BAD ASS: What if you were waiting for your flight
and you were waiting and you couldn't get on the flight,
and you got bumped.
What would you do?
JANAE BROOKS: I don't really know.
Um.
I'm not sure, really.
BILLY BAD ASS: There's a reason you're here.
What reason should I bring you that you would stand out?
What is it about you as a person that's going to make me
want to bring you to London?
What's in your heart?
What's the passion you have that's going to make you do
something in London?
JANAE BROOKS: That I'm just really determined.
It's pretty much my determination.
Going for it, pretty much.
He says the question, why should we pick you?
Me, at the time, I was thinking, well, shoot, I don't
really know.
I'm just here.
So he was like, well, I picked you because of something
really deep down.
Maybe I didn't know what the answer was, but he knew it was
something else.
I with I knew.
STINA DIAS: And at the end of the day, we ended up spending
close to $1,000 just to get down here.
It's a lot of money.
CHARLET DUBOC: And why is it worth that much money?
STINA DIAS: It'll never come again.
JANAE BROOKS: Nothing like this will ever come again.
Just the fact that we came to Atlanta, a lot models in
Kansas City have never even been out of the city, let
alone out of the state.
CHARLET DUBOC: I wasn't sure of the reason behind Billy's
tough love approach, and wondered how much of this was
for the benefit of the camera.
BILLY BAD ASS: Sometimes people don't, they don't
prepare themselves.
Like, that girl came all the way from Kansas City.
She could have practiced her photos, she could have
practiced her attitude.
In the next time, they're going to be a lot more
prepared, especially if they're dealing with me.
Because you don't know what you're going to get with me.
I know a lot of people.
I'm going out to Vegas and hanging out with
Mayweather's people.
Mayweather just got out of jail, but I'm friends with
some of those people that he hangs out with.
So I'm going out there, and they're going to show me a
good time, and I'm going to be prepared for that.
My gear's going to be right.
My swag is going to be up.
I'm going to be like, yeah, I can hang out with Mayweather,
with his 30 cars.
I can hang out with him.
So that's what it's about.
You've got to be prepared.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
CHARLET DUBOC: Billy had organized an afterparty of
sorts at a club.
However, only two of his friends and the lady NASCAR
driver showed up.
But Billy implored us to keep the camera rolling.
So I sat and talked nicely with his friends about their
cool idea for a zombie movie.
This wasn't quite the Atlanta experience I'd imagined, but
then it was only our first night.