Ladybrille® Blogazine

FOR PRESS RELEASES

Saturday, August 18, 2007

images for tabs - do NOT modify

Friday, August 17, 2007

Funk n Jazz it Up with Ladybrille's Fashion Music Friday!

Soul II Soul- Back to Life!

Afro Juju's one and only King Sunny Ade

Dave Brubeck's Take Five

Boney James,Gerald Albright and Friends

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Ladybrille African Fashion News, #22

Happy Thursday to you! Hang in there, Friday is around the corner, woohoo! Some quick news before we get to the rest of our fashion news about/related to Africa. Yours truly is now part of a group of authors on http://www.evancarmichael.com/ in the newly formed African Accounts section. Kofi G. Annan of Annansi Chronicles, fellow blogger and also one of authors with the group, says this about the site and the newly formed section. [It is] “the world’s #1 site for small business motivation and strategies”, http://www.evancarmichael.com/. Titled, Sustainable Development Through Entrepreneurship: African Accounts, the new section [focuses] on the African perspective in business and entrepreneurship. Among the authors who already write for the site are Donald Trump, Michael Gerber, Zig Ziglar, Seth Godin, Jay Conrad Levinson, [and] Guy Kawasaki."

In another news, the recently completed Capetown Fashion Week [CFW] got more media attention that it bargained for when 35 South African fashion students protested outside the four [4] day event. The basis for their protest was what they believed were exorbitant fees required to show at the event, click here for the full story. A criticism by Renato Palmi got a response from Africa Fashion International's [AFI] CEO Paul Jackson. AFI is the producer of CFW. What's your opinion? Do you think the fashion students are right? Should they be given an opportunity to showcase at a major event like Cape Town Fashion Week? Leave your comments!

By the way, I enjoyed this post by Africamedia, "Africa gets faster internet connections, compliments of, uh-oh, US military." Enjoy the rest of Ladybrille's Africa/African Fashion News and as always, have a brilliant day!

Have a brilliant day!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Over 35, Unmarried but Desperate for a Baby, Would you Consider Invitro-Fertilization?

I hope you are all having a great week so far. Mine has been quite busy but I am not complaining. It helps when you work with people who have a good sense of humour! Below is an encounter I had while en route to my recent vacation in Sweden. I thought I'd share and get your comments/opinions on it.

I ran into a beautiful woman who looked like she was 35-37 years old while enroute to Sweden. I will call her Yetunde [Yay-tun-day]. Yetunde appeared 6 months pregnant and she was glowing with the radiance characteristic of a happy pregnant woman--pregnancy really suited her.

I struck a conversation with and congratulated her on her pregnancy. She confirmed she was 6 months pregnant and was on her way to Russia. I asked if the baby was her first. She said yes. I began to express how she and her husband must be very excited since it is their first! She smiled at me. She replied that she was excited but that there was no husband. Just as I was about to shake my head in empathy and urge her to stay strong and keep going, she informed me her case was quite unique. Yetunde explained she became pregnant through invitro-fertilization. She told me that at her current age of 41years old, she got tired of waiting for "Mr. Right." Yetunde was highly educated, worked as a CPA for one of the biggest accounting firms in the States and was well traveled and very articulate.

She said, for her, it was a case of her Mr. Right never appearing. Knowing she always wanted to be a mommy, she decided to adopt. The adoption process proved to be impossible and unfavorable to single women. So, Yetunde took her efforts to adopt overseas--Russia. Thousands of dollars later, she continued to face the same challenges that made it impossible to adopt a child. At this point, she considered another alternative, invitro-fertilization. This time, thousands of dollars later and several attempts, she was pregnant and very happy. Ironically, she was on her way to Russia because the adoption drama cleared up and she could now adopt the baby she wanted. I asked her about her family's reaction. She replied and explained that at first, her family was averse to the whole IVF thing. Now, they are happy and comfortable with it. I asked her whether she had considered asking one of her close male friends to help her conceive instead of doing an IVF. She said she did and thought it was a bad idea. We finished our conversation with me commending her on being so healthy and able to have a baby at 41years.

Ladies, particularly my African sisters in the West, I am noticing more unmarried women at age 30 and above. 30, in the African traditional sense, is already considered "too old." lol! Anyway, would you consider IVF assuming the same set of facts like Yetunde? Are you worried about your biological clock tick, tock, ticking away? Is motherhood your right? I am so curious to know your thoughts so leave your comments!

Some interesting articles I found in looking up this topic:
Last-chance mothers: some single Sisters over 40 "arrange" pregnancies, rely on sperm banks or adoption agencies
Women over 40 lead surge in demand for IVF
Motherhood is my right.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Capetown Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2007-08

[Photocredit: Simon Deiner]

On August 8th-11th, 2007, Capetown Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2007-08 debuted in a very unique way. The event was, for the first time, produced in conjunction with Cape Town Fashion Council and had the support of the Provincial Government of the Western Cape and the City of Cape Town. This is a BIG deal on South Africa's part if you understand and appreciate the immense challenge, in most African countries, of getting their federal/state/local government to support their Textiles and Trade industry. The producers, Africa Fashion International [AFI], also negotiated a reciprocal relationship with Russia Fashion Week--SA designers can show in Russia and vice versa--see the Julia Dalakian video-one of Russian's reputable designer who showed in this year's Capetown Fashion Week.

Some questions I have from viewing the collections and would appreciate your comments or input.

Lack of African/Black Models on Runway: It feels like I am watching yet another fashion event in New York, LA or Milan. Am I the only one that notices the scarcity of African models on the recently completed Capetown Fashion Week's Runway? Is this reflective of the industry? I do see some few African faces like those featured on the AngloGold Ashanti event. However, they are the same few faces I have seen in previous South Africa runway events. The Russian designer seems to be one of the few that reflects a balance of African models on her runway. I am informed and do know there are MANY black/African models in South Africa. Where are they on the runways at this event?

Lack of Use of African Fabrics: I understand African fabrics are not always the colorful print fabrics we see such as Kente, Ankara or Shwe shwe. Nevertheless, it appears there is not much attempt at this fashion event to show African infused fabrics. Is it me or have they just taken African fabrics and made it so modern, the way Nigeria’s Deola Sagoe does, so that you do not know it is your typical African fabric?

Lack of Use of African Music: Justin Timberlake and other forms of American pop music works well on the runway. However, just like African designers are trying to push themselves on an international scale, so are African musicians. I believe South Africa has probably the best music I have ever heard. How come such South African pop/R&B/hip-hop, among the many genres of music are not integrated/used as runway music for the collections the African Fashion Designers are showing? I would like to know the answers to these questions. Meanwhile check out some videos showing the various designer collections.

CAPETOWN FASHION WEEK SPRING/SUMMER '07-'08 VIDEOS

KLUKCGDT

ANGLOGOLD ASHANTI

ZINZI & PAUL VAN ZYL

JULIA DALAKIAN