Fleur East loses X-Factor finals to Ben Haenow after bringing out her Ghanaian roots in semi-finals

It was a family affair for the UK X-Factor finalist,  Fleur East as her Ghanaian maternal grandfather banged some bongo drums to drum up support for her in the semi finals of the live TV show. 27 year old Fleur, who was favourite to win the contest claimed that her grandfather had travelled from Ghana to the UK only to boost her campaign. Fleur is born to Malcolm East of West of England, Wessex and a Ghanaian mother, Irene Frimpong-Manso. Irene is related to radio personality Adakabre Frimpong-Manso. She made X-Factor final alongside fellow Simon Cowell protegé Ben Haenow, beating Italian maestro Andrea Faustini.

During the semi-finals, Fleur performed Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s “Can’t Hold Us” and “Beneath Your Beautiful” alongside Labyrinth as part of the X-Factor semi final competition. She also showed off her rap skills by doing the rap part of “Can’t Hold Us”.

However, Fleur  lost the 2014 X-Factor finale to Ben Haenow at the Wembley Arena Saturday night.  After an energy-field performance by Fleur backed by an impressive stage craft and choreography, all four judges including Simon Cowell gave her a standing ovation. She received wild and loud cheers from the live audience and was tipped for a comfortable win.

Many believe that comments from her grandfather, R O Frimpong , who had travelled from Ghana to the UK for the finale may have damaged to Fleur’s chances. When asked about Fleur’s performance during the semi-finals, her grandfather, said, “I feel she is great, she’s persistently, constantly improved by day and if Fleur does not win the X-Factor 2014 there is something wrong with the whole panel.”. Sadly, she seems to have suffered the same fate suffered by others like her, including Zimbabwe-born Gamu Nhengu, who also suffered injustice on X Factor soon after she had stated that she had been born in Africa.

The future seems bright for the young star though. Fleur may not have won, but you can just tell that she is going to sell millions of records like former runners-up - One Direction, as many winners like Ben, will likely suffer the fate of Matt Cardle.

Naomi Campbell and IT-girl Jourdan Dunn for its Spring Summer 15 campaign

Now this is a good example for standing up for equality.

This year Burberry is playing supermodel match maker - they deserve a standing ovation.

The prestigious, British brand brought the lovely Kate Moss and Cara Delevingne together for the My Burberry campaign, and now they've turned their attention to ageless Naomi Campbell and Jourdan Dunn. 

Bone-fide successful supermodel, Naomi has been a mentor to IT-girl and rising super Jourdan throughout her career but they have never been shot together until now. 

The pair front Burberry's Spring Summer 2015 in an array of colourful trench coats and bold print.

Naomi Campbell made a grand return to the runway in September walking at Pucci, DVF and Badgley Mischka.

The 44-year-old has previously been in one Burberry campaign with Kate Moss in 2001, while this is Jourdan's fourth campaign for the fashion house.

As always, the campaign was in the capable hands of legendary photographer Mario Testino and Mundella Media.

Naomi said of the campaign: “It is always a pleasure to work with Mario Testino; we came up in the business together twenty-eight years ago, so have an understanding and ease in working together.  

"His photography is special and the results are always stunning."

As for her 24-year-old co-star she added: "And I was thrilled to work with Jourdan Dunn for the first time - it was a lot of fun.  

"But above all, it’s always rewarding for an artist to work on a campaign for a world-class product.”

First black Miss Israel Yityish Aynaw to see Obama

Yityish Aynaw: First black Miss Israel will go to the ball

• Some 120,000 Ethiopian Jews live in Israel
• Known as Beta Israel, they mostly came from northern Ethiopia

It's been an astonishing three weeks for Yityish Aynaw, an immigrant orphan from Ethiopia, who became the first black Miss Israel last month, and has now been invited to Thursday's gala dinner with visiting US President Barack Obama.

When Yityish Aynaw arrived in Israel as a 12-year-old, winning beauty contests and dining with presidents was as far from her thoughts as her native Ethiopia is from her adopted land.
Her mother had just died, leaving her an orphan - her father had died years earlier. So her mother's parents, who were among thousands of Ethiopian Jews already living in Israel, arrived in Addis Ababa to fetch Yityish and her older brother.
In their new home, they had to learn Hebrew from scratch.
"It wasn't easy because I couldn't speak the language and I was put into a regular class without any help," Aynaw, now 21, told the BBC World Service.

"It was a new language. It was a new culture. Quite often children even laughed at me," she says, though she adds that she also met many kind people.

But Aynaw was determined to succeed in her adopted country.
"I felt a responsibility to prove myself in everything I did and to improve myself as well," she says.
After school, like most other Israelis, she performed military service. She then stayed on in the army and was serving as an officer when she left, after three years, in September last year.
Before she was selected as Miss Israel on 27 February, she was a manager in a shoe shop in Netanya.
"For people from my country of origin it is a source of great pride," she says of her new title.

During the competition she named the black American civil rights leader Martin Luther King as one of her heroes.

“Start Quote

Her victory is great for us because it shows that the most beautiful woman is black and that people accept difference”

Penina Tamanu-Shata Ethiopian Israeli MP

"He fought for justice and equality, and that's one of the reasons I'm here. I want to show that my community has many beautiful qualities that aren't always represented in the media," she said at the time.

But another hero, she told the BBC, was the US president.
"I was influenced and inspired by Obama. Like him, I was also raised by my grandmother. Nothing was handed to me on a plate and like him I also had to work very hard and long to achieve things in my life. To this day he inspires me just as he inspires the rest of the world," she says.
"I couldn't believe that one of the most influential people in the world, the head of such an important state, would invite someone like me to attend such an important event. It has only just now sunk in and I can understand that it's happening.
"It is a great honour not just for me, but the other people that I represent."
Aynaw says she hopes her victory will "achieve the acceptance of everyone in Israel".

Ethiopians often complain about discrimination when it comes to jobs, education and housing. There were even allegations last year that some new Ethiopian immigrants have been given contraceptive injections against their will.

Aynaw's victory "was very important for all Israeli society", says Penina Tamanu-Shata, one of two Ethiopian Israelis currently serving as a member of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
"Her victory is great for us because it shows that the most beautiful woman is black and that people accept difference. Yityish won, but Israeli society also won. Her victory made a statement. She showed there are no limits."
Tamanu-Shata says the fact that the contest was shown on prime-time television was important as most Israelis encounter the Ethiopian community - just 120,000 strong - through the media.
"Sometimes the discrimination is under the surface. Most Israelis say they love the Ethiopian community, but there are still problems," she says.
"I think the situation is getting better, but we still have a lot of work to do."

 

Bangladesh increasing a reputation for fashion

Many of the world's biggest successful brands are turning to Bangladesh as a quality, trusted producer of high-end fashion.

Personally, I found Al Jazeera's Nicolas Haque report from Dhaka veeeery insightful and interesting. It illustrates just how Al Jazeera news is open to the beauty in a world that is beyond the Western version of what fashion and beauty are, and certainly sets itself apart from the relatively narrow reporting by the BBC, Fox News and others.

With Aarong Bangladeshi Fashion House also playing the role of protector and promoter of traditional Bangladeshi products and designs. It houses an extensive design library where remnants of that famous rich craft heritage, such as the lovely Nakshikantha art and Jamdani patterns, have been widely researched and archived for present as well as future use.

Models have been strutting the catwalks recently for London and Milan Fashion Week, but many of the world's biggest brands are turning to Bangladesh for cheaper fashion trends, whose quality far exceeds how much they are truly worth.

The nation of Bangladesh, also bordered by Burma and India on all sides, is earning a growing reputation as a quality producer of high-end fashion for export.

I'd pay more if I knew the money went to the working knitters and designers.

I certainly don't agree with the view that what's going on in Bangladesh is "a case of whites exploiting the poor brown people, and is nothing new." 

This is actually the best way in which talented Designers can get to showcase their talent and make useful contacts with fashion entrepreneurs around the world. The Fashion and Textile Industries are about who you know as much as it's about what you know - and to dismiss and discourage this kind of collaboration will be nothing more than ignorance or just pure jealous sabotage.

Watch the Video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAQlCAB-S5Q

With numerous rising icons within the Bangladesh Fashion industry, like the great Bibi Russell- who has almost single-handedly put Bangladesh on the global fashion map, especially the Western world. Her inspirational commitment to the development, expansion and welfare of Bangladeshi weavers and support for the skilled traditional crafts has been acclaimed and appreciated world wide.

There is even going to be a British Bangladesh Fashion Week (BBFW) 2012, which will be scheduled from 11th to 13th October 2012, highly anticipated and aimed at celebrating and promoting beautiful and innovative Bangladeshi fashion textiles, arts and culture- further campaigning the relationship between the UK and the country of Bangladesh.
This intriguing event in the East London region will showcase the vibrant and colourful talent of designers and share a Bangladeshi heritage. It promises an eclectic mix of traditional and modern designs. See the link below:

http://www.britishbangladeshfashionweek.com/

Philosophy in Fashion Matters!

#FashionPhilosophy - A true Fashion Entrepreneur not only responds to the location in both climatic and cultural terms, but also seek to reconcile the traditional with the modern! By Tatenda Chimene (pictured below in Zulu traditional attire)

https://twitter.com/TMCHIMENE

“Oh, never mind the fashion. When one has a style of one's own, it is always 20 times better.” ― by Margaret Oliphant

Zimbabwe Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2013: Best Looks from Designer Colin Ratisai

Best of African, rising Fashion entrepreneurs - Designer Colin Ratisai

I found Colins designs this time round rather interesting. Trying to bring yourself closer to nature as a Fashion Designer  will obviously win you more points with Greenpeace and the Green Political Party. Truth be told; everything we wear as clothing today depends on plants somewhere along the food chain. Even if you incude the likes of animal skin into the equation; that animal may have eaten plant material or instead, ate the herbivores that do.

While other examples are very obvious to spot. The world famous Cotton is spun from the fibres attached to the seeds of the cotton plant. Lovely Linen is made from the finely woven fibres of the stems of the flax plant.

Having said that, some are not so obvious to detect. Silk comes from silk worms, which aren't plants. But all silk experts know that silk worms eat only the leaves of the white mulberry tree and without this plant, the silk industry would not exist- FULLSTOP.

To top up my point - you only have to glance once at a field of cows or sheep grazing on lush, green grass to find the source of wool and leather in their midst! This is what Colin had to say about his work:

“I’m inspired by nature so my surroundings play a very significant role in my designs. If I change my setting, it will definitely reflect in the designs. I am also inspired by individual characters and personalities. . .” Colin Ratisai

Colin understands the importance of plants in the fashion world and saw the need to provide a visual tribute using these innovative designs. Just imaging a world without plants in general, it just won't survive, even if one wanted to rely on man-made fibres. That is, fabrics such as acrylic and fragile polyester are made from complex processes that have crude oil as a raw material. It's essential to point out that Crude oil is formed from the compression over thousand and millions of years of tiny marine animals, plankton and plants!

Plants have also undoubtedly played an important role in the colour and design of fabric materials. Blue jeans owe their colour to a lovely plant called indigo, and fabric designers from Laura Ashley, Alexander McQueen to Orla Kiely and Kenzo have used plants as inspiration for their exquisite work.

COLIN RATISAI

See more on - http://stanleyrawfashion.blogspot.co.uk/

Harare, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwean fashion designer extraordinaire, Colin Ratisai, whose label is known as CZeerat, made a debut appearance at the Africa Fashion Week held in Johannesburg in October. 

http://ziviso.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/colin-ratisai-a-journey-into-fashion/

French Model Noemie Lenoir & Designer Karl Lagerfeld 

discuss race in fashion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFaWHPH4Uaw&feature=related

It's apparent that white people that own and control much of the fashion industry, simply don't care enough to ever do anything about it. They like things the way they are, some to the point that they will part with their money, in order to preserve this narrow, devilish status quo. 
Forget the last kicks of a dying horse; White supremacy is alive and well - not to mention eating up the gains made by decades of promoting cultural fairness.  
By Tatenda Chimene
Follow me on Twitter - https://twitter.com/TMCHIMENE