Atong Arjok - Diesel

Source: Simplylovely/TFS

Health insurance scams in Maine

Maine Department of Insurance warns that consumer insurance scams increase during economic downturns. The logo above is designed to help inusrance buyers focus on verifying the legitimacy of dels that seem too good to be true. Consumers are also welcome to use the free independent OnlineAdviser service simply by emailing onlineadviser@medsave.com to verify the legitimacy of any suspected insurance plan. All of the low cost health insurance plans listed at MedSave.com at http://medsave.com/low-cost-health-insurance-listing/me.htm have been verified as legitimate legal plans in Maine.

Jourdan Dunn - Observer Magazine

Scan uploaded by decadent_chains/ONTD

From the article:

...Dunn is a fashion star, but first and foremost she's a teenager, and a very smart one. She's articulate and observant not only about her own history but about the fashion industry. At London Fashion Week in February, her comments about race made the news. 'London is not a white city,' she told the press, 'So why should our catwalks be so white?'

Race replaced weight as the story of Fashion Week and anonymous 'fashion insiders' opined that the industry had to bow to customers who apparently demand white, thin, blonde, models. "The way people said I was stupid...saying that fashion is just a business so they need to use models who sell things....I don't see change. It needs to be said because I think about these things and other girls do too."

It warms my cold cold heart to read quotes like this from such a young woman, especially one caught up in an industry like this one. It's commendable that she thought enough about the current state of race and the fashion industry to speak on her thoughts and then not shy away once it became media fodder. She and Chanel Iman are probably working more than any of the other new Black faces in the industry and I think I would have been a lot easier for her to cash her checks and say nothing.

UK Harper's Bazaar - Liya Kebede - May 2008

Source: miss_nyc/TFS

Oh Naomi!

According to The Times, Naomi Campbell had to be removed from a flight out of London's Heathrow airport last night after pitching a fit over a missing piece of luggage. Later, she was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police office and was seen "ranting" and "screaming" as she was lead away.

Her fabulousness aside, I can't defend her actions if they are true but I will say that the only place I've ever come thisclose to losing my mind was at Heathrow airport and all my crappy luggage was with me.

No word on what became of her luggage but an airline employee was seen leaving the employee locker room looking fierce.

Post About Nothing and 10 Cane Rum

It's no secret that I am obsessed with images of black women in the media. I can't look at an ad with a black model without scrutinizing every little detail about the image. I write a lot in this blog about the lack of black models in advertisements and how many in the fashion industry seem to have narrow views of how a black woman should be depicted. Occasionally, I wonder if I might be overdoing it, looking for biases or other flaws where there is none intended.

I think part of that just comes from having a blog and subscribing to too many magazines. I'm always looking for the next thing that moves me enough to write about it. Since the Lebron/Vogue dust up, I've been thinking about this quote from The Washington Post's Robin Givhan:

“It’s so exhausting that every time people see an image of a black person they work themselves into a tizzy that somehow it doesn’t adhere to the way in which they think a black person should be presented...The whole LeBron thing really comes down to … maybe Vogue should have more people of color on their cover, male and female...Maybe then they won’t be so scrutinized when they do put a person of color on their cover.”

I took that quote to heart because I really think there is a lot of truth in it. So, I'm going to try really hard not to over shit all over this series of "affluent lifestyle" ads for 10 Cane Rum (which were developed by Mother New York.)

Instead of pontificating on inherent plantation vibe that seems to be a part of all Caribbean made rum ads, I'm going to focus on the positive for once.

For example, there are no pirates in this ad. Obviously the shitty last chapter of the "Pirates of the Carribean" series has put the final nail trend that was pirate chic.

Second, the older white guy has black friends. He invited them to his beach party and he cares enough about them to take a picture. Who cares if he's only going to use the photos to show his friends back home how not racist he is. The fact is, everyone was having a good time. Also, he has a black girlfriend and apparently she can swim because why else would she be hanging out with him on the water in that prop plane? Stereotype shattered. Black chicks can swim. This is a good thing. In one of the photos he even let her bring her dad along in the dingy. See? Family values, another mark in the positive column.

See? That really wasn't hard at all.

Tracee Ellis Ross in Essence

I've always admired Tracee Ellis Ross' fashion sense. She's one of the few celebrities who isn't a slave to the latest trends and really knows how to mix vintage pieces with high and low fashion. I've been completely envious of her wardrobe ever since I read several years ago that she still has many of the outrageous outfits her mother designed for the movie Mahogany. Seriously, I would kill to spend a day rummaging through her closet.

I try not to post too much celebrity related stuff but I had to share these images (that I found on UrbanScanz) because the lady really doesn't get enough credit from the fashionistas and also because after eight seasons, Girlfriends was abruptly canceled by the CW and the network has decided that a proper finale is "too expensive" and will not be produced.

Now, I've been watching the show for years and will admit that the post-Toni seasons have ranged from lackluster to downright painful to watch. I've done more than my share of complaining about it over at Television Without Pity but it was still the only show of its kind on TV and it will be missed. Here's to hoping that something even better is on the horizon for the shows largely Black female audience.