October
Zelda Wynn Valdes – In Celebration of Icons – On their shoulder’s we stand!
In our celebration of Black History Month, which is simply every day and every month in the eyes of LACE. We have in the past years events celebrated icons. This year we were asked why was this added to the event and was surprised that we did this?
This is why, we was celebrating a designer called Zelda Wynn Valdes.
Zelda Wynn Valdes (1905-2001) was an African American fashion and costume designer whose career spanned 40 years. Working in the centre of the American fashion industry, Valdes began her career as an assistant to her uncle in his White Plains, New York tailoring shop. In 1948, Zelda opened her own boutique, “Chez Zelda,” on Broadway in New York City, making her the first African-American to own a store on the coveted street.
The niche she occupied was quite particular: exquisitely finished special occasion coutures. She created wedding gowns, evening and cocktail dresses, and other luxurious ensembles. She dressed the entire bridal party at the 1948 wedding of Marie Ellington and Nat “King” Cole, an event that brought together the upper stratum of black society in New York.
Valdes had an established clientele especially among notable female entertainers and other prominent women within the black community. Her curve-hugging creations were worn and loved by a host of Hollywood’s biggest starlets during the 1940s and 50s, including Joyce Bryant, Dorothy Dandridge, Josephine Baker, Ella Fitzgerald, Mae West, Eartha Kitt, and Marian Anderson. She also dressed the wives of famous black celebrities, including Nat “King” Cole and Sugar Ray Robinson. Unlike some other designers who exclusively created “costumes” versus “fashion”, Valdes moved between the two modes and her clients appreciated that as they ordered clothes for performance and also for their private wardrobes.
Valdes is perhaps best known as the designer of the original Playboy Bunny costume. She caught the attention of Playboy’s Hugh Hefner and he commissioned Zelda to design the first-ever Playboy Bunny costumes. And history has proven, the low-cut, skin-tight, sexy outfits are an iconic symbol of seduction and allure, forever ingrained in pop culture.
Zelda Wynn Valdes was one of the founders of the National Association of Fashion Accessory Designers, an industry group intended to promote black design professionals in a time when the fashion industry reflected the segregation of American society.
In 1970, Zelda was approached by Arthur Mitchell to serve as the head costume designer for his then newly-established performance company, the Dance Theatre of Harlem. She spent 18 years with the dance company and retired at the age of 83. Zelda Wynn Valdes died at the age of 96 in 2001.
We honour you as an Icon of our time!
LACE NEWS:
If you come across any of your creation’s and you have not been credited correctly, please get in touch with us as we do not wish to offend anyone, this page is intended to give information of what we do and what is going on around in Africa fashion and Education. We are creating awareness of information in one area to emerging designers and public to get inspired by. Much Love LACE…..
Source: Wikipedia.org and Research
FACE of LACE Competition
LACE is looking for its “FACE of 2016”.
We are looking for a model that will represent LACE on all its promotional platforms.
We at London Africa Cultural Event (LACE) would like to introduce to you Margaret Peters who is the new winner of Face of LACE 2015. Her full name is Ijeoma Peter, but she like to be called Margaret. Margaret is 23 years old and she has never modelled before. Her nationality is Nigerian.
LACE asked her why she entered for the Face of LACE competition?
Margaret replied in saying that “she entered the face of LACE 2015 competition because she loved what LACE stands for. It offers designers and artists a chance to showcase their work and show the beauty and diversity in Africa. Who wouldn’t want to be involved in that!”
What has your experience been since winning?
“Since becoming the Face of LACE 2015, I have a sponsorship with Design Essentials UK, catwalked for the LACE 2015 event, which was held on 26th September at Hotel Russell and Hype Coiffure 20th anniversary event. My first ever photo shoot was to promote LACE 2015. As the Face of LACE 2015 I have enjoyed working with many talented individuals and companies. And I look forward to seeing what else is to come for me. As a beginner into modelling, Wari has been there to guide and support me throughout all of this.
I highly recommend entering the Face of LACE competition. For anyone who is unsure about modelling this experience has taught me that you don’t know what you can achieve if you do not try.“
what do you think about the £25 fee?
“Although there is a £25 fee to enter into the competition, I felt that it was a small amount to paid in comparison to the opportunities and monetary benefits I have gained from entering this competition to became the FACE of LACE. “
Last year, we had to implement a £25 fee and a strict rule on natural own hair rules due to the necessities appointment of work opportunities. Basic on this, the amount of applicant of candidates who had applied for the position of FACE of LACE 2015 and the intakes of the corrected applicant models were short and the other factors which was also resulted was quite a lot of models were entering or being involved with beauty pageants (availability) that it was very difficult to have great models of potentials of the FACE of LACE 2015 that we had to judges the potential candidates ourselves.
Even with all that we have found Margaret and she is definitely what we are looking for in 2015.
Since finding Margaret, she has a sponsorship with Design Essentials UK, a photo shoot with Nick Gregan and she has catwalked at London Africa Cultural Event (LACE) on 26th September where Stephen Debellotte creating a masterpiece on her. Margaret has modelled for Hype Coiffure for their celebration of 20 years in the business on 10th October 2015.
We wish to say thank you to Eskiti Eskedar, (our previous Face of LACE 2014) for being an excellent ambassador of the first Face of LACE and FACE of LACE 2014! We will miss you being in reign but Eskiti has also catwalked on 26th September 2015 and will still be in the future modelling for LACE. Eskiti and Margaret are managed by warilace. http://www.warilace.com
Photo Credit: Nickgreganphotographer.co.uk
MUA, Hairstylist, Stylist and Headwrap: Wari Granville (aka Wari LACE)
Make Up Cosmetic: Fashion Fair
Headwrap Fabric: Sonna Textiles
Winner of Face of LACE 2014.
Eskiti Eskedar. Her name is Rahel, but she is called Eskiti. 20 years old and she has been modelling for the last 3 years. Her nationality is Habesha (Habesha is a term Ethiopians and Eritreans use to refer to themselves. The meaning of Habesha is when Ethiopian and Eritrea use to be called before they become two separate countries).
LACE asked her why she entered for the Face of LACE competition?
Eskiti replied that she wanted to enter for the Face of LACE competition to represent Africa, African culture with its amazing bio diversity, people who take pride in preserving their diverse culture.
“Entering Face of LACE 2014 competition and winning the prize was the best experience I have had. I have met so many talented professional people across London from winning this title. This has enable me to be in the present of new connection as designers, photographers, hair stylist and make-up artist and of course other organiser like Wari. Wari is there for me at all time. Not just as an organizer but also a mother who support me at all time. Being the Face of LACE has also gave me opportunity to work and appear in nationally leading African inspired magazine which is covered internationally, such as, MyTrinity, DivaScribe, She Caribbean, Pride, Black Hair, Black Beauty and Hair magazines. I had catwalked as a model for LACE 2014 event during Black History month as part of the winner prize and was included in the lead up to all promotional material for the event. I was also even given opportunities for other works through LACE representation such as hair modelling for Hype Coiffure for the hair award. The images of the photo shoot were included within the finalist of the categories. Currently there have been more hair modelling for Anne Veck for other hair awards to be put forward to which was a winning feature hairstyles and was the cover of the magazine as well as inside.
I highly recommend this competition and event for those who are willing to be a professional model. It will boost their confidence, skill and energy. From the moment of winning the title until the next finalist, no matter whether it takes one year or over a year, my reign is officially over when I pass on the title to the new Face of LACE. To be honest, it is a bit difficult for me to let go of the title however even after I have passed it on, I will continue working hard, doing what a Face of LACE supposed to do.”
Ella Fitzgerald – In Celebration of Icons – On their shoulder’s we stand!
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer often referred to as the First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz and Lady Ella.
While Fitzgerald appeared in movies and as a guest on popular television shows in the second half of the twentieth century, her musical collaborations with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and The Ink Spots were some of her most notable acts outside of her solo career.
These partnerships produced recognisable songs like “Dream a Little Dream of Me”, “Cheek to Cheek”, “Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall”, and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”.
Apparently in the 50s a popular nightclub Mocambo in Hollywood were Frank Sinatra made his Los Angeles debut in 1943, and it was frequented by the likes of Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Lana Turner. Ella Fitzgerald was not allowed to play at Mocambo because of her race. Fortunately for Ella, she had a powerful and unlikely benefactor, Marilyn Monroe, who of one of her biggest fans made a telephone call to the nightclub that quite possibly changed the path of her career for good into sending the elevator back down for her.
“I owe Marilyn Monroe a real debt…it was because of her that I played the Mocambo, a very popular nightclub in the ’50s. She personally called the owner of the Mocambo, and told him she wanted me booked immediately, and if he would do it, she would take a front table every night. She told him – and it was true, due to Marilyn’s superstar status – that the press would go wild. The owner said yes, and Marilyn was there, front table, every night. The press went overboard. After that, I never had to play a small jazz club again. She was an unusual woman – a little ahead of her times. And she didn’t know it.” – Ella Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald had an influence on Monroe as well, but years prior to the Mocambo phone call. Monroe was studying the recordings of Fitzgerald, it was rumoured that a vocal coach of Monroe instructed her to purchase Fitzgerald’s recordings of Gershwin music which she listened to it a numerous of times in a row. Continued study of Fitzgerald actually revealed that Ella turned Monroe into a relatively solid singer for about a decade, but those years were overshadowed by her famous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President,” tribute song to JFK in 1962 and her dress-lifting gusts of wind plus her movies.
In 1993, Fitzgerald capped off her sixty-year career with her last public performance. Three years later, Ella died at the age of 79, following years of decline in her health.
After her passing, Fitzgerald’s influence lived on through her fourteen Grammy Awards, National Medal of Arts, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and tributes in the form of stamps, music festivals, and theater namesakes.
We honour you as an Icon of our time!
LACE NEWS:
If you come across any of your creation’s and you have not been credited correctly, please get in touch with us as we do not wish to offend anyone, this page is intended to give information of what we do and what is going on around in Africa fashion and Education. We are creating awareness of information in one area to emerging designers and public to get inspired by. Much Love LACE…..
Source: Wikipedia.org and Research
Cicely Tyson – In Celebration of Icons – On their shoulder’s we stand!
Cicely Tyson is an award-winning film, television and stage actress. She is known for choosing quality roles that send positive messages to women of colour. Tyson, who has a career that has spanned five decades; an ageless beauty, inspiration, an actress, and humanitarian!
1963: Cicely Tyson became the First African American to appear as a series regular on a prime time dramatic television series: “East Side/West Side” (CBS)
Cicely Tyson was asked to audition for the series “East Side/West Side.” She landed the part of secretary Jane Foster, and she kept her natural hair, short afro style. As she rocked the style, she became an Icon to the woman of that generation. “This is what created the natural hair craze in the 60’s,” Tyson says. “I got letters from hairdressers all over the country telling me that I was affecting their business because their clients were having their hair cut off so they could ‘wear it like the girl on television.’”
Cicely Tyson was born in New York City on December 19, 1924 (although some believe her birth year to be 1933). She has won accolades and awards for her performances on TV, stage and in film, with credits including Sounder, Roots, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittmanand The Help. Tyson has won two Emmy Awards and a Tony Award, among other honours, over the course of her acting career. She was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1977.
Cicely Tyson grew up in Harlem, New York. At the age of 18, she walked away from a typing job and began modelling. Tyson was then drawn to acting, though she had not been permitted to go to plays or movies as a child. When she got her first acting job, her religious mother, feeling that Tyson was choosing a sinful path, kicked her out of their home.Despite her mother’s initial disapproval (the two didn’t speak for two years before reconciling), Tyson found success as an actress, appearing onstage, in movies and on TV.
However, Tyson’s career trajectory wasn’t a smooth one; at times, she had trouble simply finding work. She flatly refused to do “blaxploitation” films, or to take parts solely for the paycheck, and was selective about the roles she chose. As she explained in a 1983 interview, “Unless a piece really said something, I had no interest in it. I have got to know that I have served some purpose here.”
More recently, Tyson appeared in The Help (2011) and in several Tyler Perry movies. And after a 30-year absence from Broadway, Tyson returned with a role in Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful. The actress traveled to Texas in an effort to better understand her part in the acclaimed production—dedication that paid off when her performance won Tyson the 2013 Tony Award for best performance by an actress in a leading role in a play.
Tyson has a well-known commitment to community involvement. She co-founded the Dance Theater of Harlem after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. A school board in East Orange, New Jersey, wanted to name a performing arts schools after her, she only agreed to accept the honour if she could participate in the school activities. In addition to attending meetings and events, Tyson has even taught a master class at the school.
Tyson was married to Miles Davis for seven years in the 1980s.
Tyson has received numerous acting awards and nominations, and became a member of the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1977. She has also been honoured by the Congress of Racial Equality and by the National Council of Negro Women. And in 2010, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People presented Tyson with its 95th Spingarn Medal—an award given to African Americans who have reached outstanding levels of achievement.
Press Coverages
Even for the the fact that Cicley Tyson is in her 9o’s, this has not slow her down as in 2015 Tyson was nominated for an Emmy for her guest starring role in ABC’s How to Get Away With Murder.
Whenever, Cicely Tyson is out on social events engagements, whoever are her stylist’s needs to be given credits to the styles that she is commanding with the headwraps to the clothing that she wears. We absolutely love the way she has embraced her natural hair whether it short Afro to braid hair with her African inspired looks.
Styles Icons
We honour you as an Icon of our time!
Inspiration words
QUOTES
“I feel so guilty about the state of young people today. And I say that because our generation fought for everything. We fought to sit down at a counter, to sit on a bus. They were left with nothing to fight for.”
—Cicely Tyson
LACE NEWS:
If you come across any of your creation’s and you have not been credited correctly, please get in touch with us as we do not wish to offend anyone, this page is intended to give information of what we do and what is going on around in Africa fashion and Education. We are creating awareness of information in one area to emerging designers and public to get inspired by. Much Love LACE…..
Source: Wikipedia.org, Oprah and Research
Miriam Makeba – In Celebration of Icons – On their shoulder’s we stand!
Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 Mar 1932 – 9 Nov 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a Grammy Award-winning South African singer and civil rights activist.
Her professional career began in the 1950s when she was featured in the South African jazz group the Manhattan Brothers. She left the Manhattan Brothers to record with her all-woman group, The Skylarks, singing a blend of jazz and traditional melodies of South Africa.
In the 1960s, she was the first artist from Africa to popularise African music around the world. She is best known for the song “Pata Pata”, first recorded in 1957 and released in the U.S. in 1967.
Makeba campaigned against the South African system of apartheid. The South African government responded by revoking her passport in 1960 as she tried to return to South Africa in 1960 for her mother’s funeral, she discovered that her South African passport had been cancelled.
Makeba then travelled to London where she met Harry Belafonte, who assisted her in gaining entry to the United States and achieving fame there. She signed with RCA Victor and released Miriam Makeba, her first U.S. studio album, in 1960.
In 1962, Makeba and Belafonte sang at John F. Kennedy’s birthday party at Madison Square Garden, but Makeba did not go to the aftershow party because she was ill. President Kennedy insisted on meeting her, so Belafonte sent a car to pick her up and she met the President of the United States.
In 1963, Makeba released her second studio album for RCA, The World of Miriam Makeba., the album peaked at number eighty-six on the Billboard 200. Later that year, after she testified against apartheid before the United Nations, her South African citizenship and her right to return to the country were revoked. She was a woman without a country, but the world came to her aid, and Guinea, Belgium and Ghana issued her international passports, and she became, in effect, a citizen of the world. In her life, she held nine passports, and was granted honorary citizenship in ten countries.
In 1966, Makeba received the Grammy Award for Best Folk Recording together with Harry Belafonte for An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba. The album dealt with the political plight of black South Africans under apartheid, and it was one of the first American albums to present traditional Zulu, Sotho and Swahili songs in an authentic setting. From the time of her New York debut at the Village Vanguard, her fame and reputation grew.
She released many of her most famous hits in the United States, including “The Click Song” (“Qongqothwane” in Xhosa) and “Malaika”. Time called her the “most exciting new singing talent to appear in many years,” and Newsweek compared her voice to “the smoky tones and delicate phrasing” of Ella Fitzgerald and the “intimate warmth” of Frank Sinatra.
Despite the success that made her a star in the U.S., she wore no makeup and refused to curl her hair for shows, thus establishing a style that would come to be known internationally as the “Afro look” In 1967, more than ten years after she wrote the song, the single “Pata Pata” was released in the United States and became a worldwide hit.
Her marriage to Trinidad-born civil rights activist, Black Panther, and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader Stokely Carmichael in 1968 caused controversy in the United States, and her record deals and tours were cancelled. As a result, the couple moved to Guinea, her home for the next 15 years, where they became close with President Ahmed Sékou Touré and his wife, Andrée.
Makeba was appointed Guinea’s official delegate to the United Nations, for which she won the Dag Hammarskjöld Peace Prize in 1986. She also separated from Carmichael in 1973 and continued to perform primarily in Africa, Europe and Asia, but not in the United States, where a de facto boycott was in effect. Makeba was one of the entertainers at the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman held in Zaïre. She addressed the United Nations General Assembly for the second time in 1975. She divorced Carmichael in 1978.
After the death of her daughter Bongi in 1985, she decided to move to Brussels. In the following year, her ex husband Hugh Masekela introduced Makeba to Paul Simon, and a few months later she embarked on the very successful Graceland Tour. Two concerts held in Harare, Zimbabwe, were filmed in 1987 for release as Graceland: The African Concert. After touring the world with Simon, Warner Bros. Records signed Makeba and she released Sangoma (“Healer”), an a cappella album of healing chants named in honour of her mother who was a “sangoma” (“a healer”).
Shortly thereafter, her autobiography Makeba: My Story was published and subsequently translated from English into other languages including German, French, Dutch, Italian and Spanish. She took part in the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute, a concert staged on 11 June 1988 at Wembley Stadium, and broadcast to 67 countries and an audience of 600 million. This was referred to as Freedomfest, Free Nelson Mandela Concert, and Mandela Day, the event which called for Mandela’s release. Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Tribute increased pressure on the government of South Africa to release Mandela, and in 1990, State President of South Africa Frederik Willem de Klerk reversed the ban on the African National Congress and other anti-apartheid organisations, and announced that Nelson Mandela would shortly be released from prison. Mandela, who was effectively released from Victor Verster Prison in Paarl on 11 February 1990, persuaded Miriam Makeba to return to South Africa.
She returned home on 10 June 1990, on her French passport. In 1991, Makeba, with Dizzy Gillespie, Nina Simone and Masekela, recorded and released her studio album, Eyes on Tomorrow. It combined jazz, R&B, pop, and African music, and was a hit in Africa. Makeba and Gillespie then toured the world together to promote it In November of the same year, she made a guest appearance in the episode “Olivia Comes Out of the Closet” of The Cosby Show. In 1992, she starred in the film Sarafina!. The film’s plot centers on students involved in the 1976’s Soweto youth uprisings, and Makeba portrayed the title character’s mother, “Angelina”. The following year she released Sing Me a Song.
On 16 October 1999, Miriam Makeba was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In January 2000, her album, Homeland, produced by Cedric Samson and Michael Levinsohn for the New York City based record label Putumayo World Music, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best World Music Album category. She worked closely with Graça Machel-Mandela, who at the time was the South African first lady, for children suffering from HIV/AIDS, child soldiers, and the physically handicapped.
In 2001, she was awarded the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold by the United Nations Association of Germany (DGVN) in Berlin, “for outstanding services to peace and international understanding”. She shared the Polar Music Prize with Sofia Gubaidulina. The prize is regarded as Sweden’s foremost musical honour. They received their Prize from Carl XVI Gustaf King of Sweden during a nationally-televised ceremony at Berwaldhallen, Stockholm, on 27 May 2002. She also took part in the 2002 documentary Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, where she and others recalled the struggles of black South Africans against the injustices of apartheid through the use of music. In 2004, Makeba was voted 38th in the Top 100 Great South Africans. Makeba started a worldwide farewell tour in 2005, holding concerts in all of those countries that she had visited during her working life.
On 9 November 2008, she became ill while taking part in a concert organised to support writer Roberto Saviano in his stand against the Camorra, a mafia-like organisation local to the Region of Campania. The concert was being held in Castel Volturno, near Caserta, Italy. Makeba suffered a heart attack after singing her hit song “Pata Pata”, and was taken to the “Pineta Grande” clinic, where doctors were unable to revive her. Her publicist notes that Makeba had suffered “severe arthritis” for some time.
From 25 to 27 September 2009, a tribute show to Makeba entitled “Hommage à Miriam Makeba” and curated by Grammy Award-winning Beninoise singer-songwriter and activist Angélique Kidjo for the Festival d’Ile de France, was held at the Cirque d’hiver in Paris. The same show but with the English title of “Mama Africa: Celebrating Miriam Makeba” was held at the Barbican in London on 21 November 2009. Mama Africa, a documentary film about the life of Miriam Makeba, co-written and directed by Finnish film director Mika Kaurismäki, was released in 2011.
On 4 March 2013 Google honoured her with a doodle on the homepage.
We honour you as an Icon of our time!
LACE NEWS:
If you come across any of your creation’s and you have not been credited correctly, please get in touch with us as we do not wish to offend anyone, this page is intended to give information of what we do and what is going on around in Africa fashion and Education. We are creating awareness of information in one area to emerging designers and public to get inspired by. Much Love LACE…..
Source: Wikipedia.org and Research
Nichelle Nichols – In Celebration of Icons – On their shoulder’s we stand!
Nichelle Nichols (born Grace Dell Nichols on December 28, 1932) is an American actress, singer and voice artist. Her most famous role is that of communications officer Lieutenant Uhura aboard the USS Enterprise in the popular Star Trek television series (1966–1969), as well as the succeeding motion pictures, where her character was eventually promoted in Starfleet to the rank of commander. Nichols’ Star Trek character, one of the first African American female characters on American television not portrayed as a servant.
She studied in Chicago as well as New York and Los Angeles. Her break came in an appearance in Kicks and Co., Oscar Brown’s highly touted, but ill-fated 1961 musical. Although the play closed after its brief try-out in Chicago, in an ironic twist, she attracted the attention of Hugh Hefner, the publisher of Playboy, who was so impressed with her appearance that he booked her immediately at his Chicago Playboy Club. Nichols did occasional modelling work. In January 1967, Nichols also was featured on the cover of Ebony magazine, and had two feature articles in the publication in five years.
On Star Trek, Nichols gained popular recognition by being one of the first black women featured in a major television series not portraying a servant; her prominent supporting role as abridge officer was unprecedented. During the first year of the series, Nichols was tempted to leave the series, as she wanted to pursue a Broadway career; however, a conversation with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., changed her mind. She has said that King personally encouraged her to stay on the show, telling her that he was a big fan of the series.
He said she “could not give up” because she was playing a vital role model for black children and young women across the country, as well as for other children who would see blacks appearing as equals. It is also often reported that Dr. King added that “Once that door is opened by someone, no one else can close it again.”
In her role as Lieutenant Uhura, Nichols famously kissed white actor William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the November 22, 1968, Star Trek episode “Plato’s Stepchildren”. The episode is popularly cited as the first example of an interracial kiss on U.S. television. The Shatner-Nichols kiss was seen as groundbreaking, even though it was portrayed as having been forced by alien telekinesis. There was some praise and some protest.
After the cancellation of Star Trek, Nichols volunteered her time in a special project with NASA to recruit minority and female personnel for the space agency. She began this work by making an affiliation between NASA and a company, which she helped to run, Women in Motion.
The program was a success. Among those recruited were Dr. Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, and United States Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, as well as Dr. Judith Resnik and Dr. Ronald McNair, who both flew successful missions during the Space Shuttle program before their deaths in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986.
We honour you as an Icon of our time!
LACE NEWS:
If you come across any of your creation’s and you have not been credited correctly, please get in touch with us as we do not wish to offend anyone, this page is intended to give information of what we do and what is going on around in Africa fashion and Education. We are creating awareness of information in one area to emerging designers and public to get inspired by. Much Love LACE…..
Source: Wikipedia.org and Research
Hattie McDaniel – In Celebration of Icons – On their shoulder’s we stand!
Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1895 – October 26, 1952) was an American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedienne.
In 1931, McDaniel scored her first small film role as an extra in a Hollywood musical. Then in 1932, she was featured as a housekeeper in The Golden West. McDaniel continued to land parts here and there. But, as roles for black actors were hard to come by, she was once again forced to take odd jobs to make ends meet.
She is best known for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939) for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the first Oldest African American actress (44) to win an Academy Award.
The Loew’s Grand Theater on Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia, was selected by the studio as the site for the premiere of Gone with the Wind, Friday, December 15, 1939. As the date of the premiere approached, all the black actors were advised they were barred from attending, excluded from being in the souvenir program, and banned from appearing in advertisements for the film in the South. Studio head David Selznick asked that Hattie McDaniel be permitted to attend, but MGM advised him not to because of Georgia’s segregation laws. Clark Gable threatened to boycott the Atlanta premiere unless McDaniel was allowed to attend, but McDaniel convinced him to attend anyway.
McDaniel had been attacked by the media for taking parts that perpetuated a negative stereotype of blacks; she was criticised for playing servants and slaves who were seemingly content to retain their role as such.
Walter White, then president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, pleaded with African-American actors to stop accepting such stereotypical parts, as he believed they degraded their community. He also urged movie studios to start creating roles that portrayed blacks as capable of achieving far more than cooking and cleaning for white people.
While many blacks were happy over McDaniel’s personal victory, they also viewed it as bittersweet. They believed Gone With the Wind celebrated the slave system and condemned the forces that destroyed it. For them, the unique accolade McDaniel had won suggested that only those who did not protest Hollywood’s systemic use of racial stereotypes could find work and success there.
Since her death, McDaniel has been posthumously awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Additionally, in 1975, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
We honour you as an Icon of our time!
LACE NEWS:
If you come across any of your creation’s and you have not been credited correctly, please get in touch with us as we do not wish to offend anyone, this page is intended to give information of what we do and what is going on around in Africa fashion and Education. We are creating awareness of information in one area to emerging designers and public to get inspired by. Much Love LACE…..
Source: Wikipedia.org and Research
PROUD MOMENT IN HISTORY FOR AFRICA!
The beginning of our life – should not be judged at all, this is the path of God that has leaded our way to this day!
We must give thanks to these individuals who have decided enough to enough and have decided to go on their own to achieve this dream and make true to life.
“Electricity is more than light. This is a true change in our daily life”, A mother, Yelimané, village, Mali
Akon Lighting Africa is a project started in 2014 by music artist Akon with Samba Bathily and Thione Niang which aims to provide electricity by Solar Energy in Africa.
“Today, 600 million Africans still don’t have access to electricity, particularly in rural areas. In far too many parts of Africa, night time economic activities are practically non-existent. Women cannot make productive use of their time to carry out the most basic household tasks. Children who help the women cannot study at night without proper light and complete their homework by candle light, an additional expense for parents. Moreover, without access to electricity, over 3.5 million Africans die every year from harmful pollutants or fires in the home produced by costly and toxic solid fuels.” – Akon
In less than one year, thanks to a private-public partnership model and a well-established network of partners (including SOLEKTRA INT, SUMEC and NARI), a wide range of quality solar solutions, including street lamps, domestic and individual kits, have been installed in 14 African countries.
The academy’s main goal is teaching participants how to install and maintain solar-powered electricity and microgrids, which Akon Lighting Africa says “are really taking off in Africa.” Harnessing solar power is the ideal way for those without electricity to obtain it, because Africa has 320 days of sunshine a year. “We have the sun and innovative technologies to bring electricity to homes and communities. We now need to consolidate African expertise,” said Samba Baithily, who founded Akon Lighting Africa with Akon and Thione Niang.
With 70 percent of Africans younger than 35, there is a huge need for sustainable jobs, and the organisation hopes their efforts will reap long-term benefits. “We expect the Africans who graduate from this center to devise new, innovative, technical solutions,” Niang said. “With this Academy, we can capitalise on Akon Lighting Africa and go further.”
An institute has been designed by Solektra International to support the African solar industry
“Solektra is proud to announce the upcoming inauguration of the Solektra Solar Academy on Tuesday November 24, 2015 in Bamako, Mali. This training center will be the first African institute dedicated to solar technologies. A number of local and international media have expressed great interest in covering this significant milestone for the development of the solar industry in Africa.” (check out more on website http://solektra-international.com/launch-of-the-solektra-solar-academy-in-bamako-on-november-24th/)
The reason being is that due to frustration with the government not helping with the situation and worrying for the future of our next generation that they have decided to take action instead of talking about it. The issue will not go away if you are just talking and not doing. ACTION is needed NOW, even if it slowly, you are still doing and taking small steps, things would be achieved and changed for the better for the future.
We need to hear more of these stories in the mainstreams press to uplift the next generation that they too can achieve in their dream. This should not be something that the government should be embarrassed about simply because they have not come up with the ideas but for now that it has come to light is now to help with the development for it to go on for the future of next generation.
This is why we at LACE is so passionate in the next generation, if we do not act now with government and educational support we will have generation who will not be self awareness of worth within themselves to try and develop their hidden talents skills. The next generation is our future for the older generation and we older generation need to guide them to make sure the world is in great hands!
To achieve all this vision we need funding, sponsorship and support from professional individuals and educational boards to continue helping in the right direction in helping the next generation within their talents!
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LACE NEWS:
If you come across any of your creation’s and you have not been credited correctly, please get in touch with us as we do not wish to offend anyone, this page is intended to give information of what we do and what is going on around in Africa fashion and Education. We are creating awareness of information in one area to emerging designers and public to get inspired by. Much Love LACE…..
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Preparation for LACE event
Preparing for an event is a long process in getting things organised for a big event.
Here are some background preparations of organising at our LACE events.
Sorting out LACE goodie bags with our sponsored products for LACE events.
Table Runners were made for LACE 2015 Gala 3 Course dinner at Hotel Russell – Fabric sponsored by Sonna Textiles and made by our student. Step by step images of how the table runners were made.
Table Runners were placed on tables and dressed for our 26th September 2015 event at Hotel Russell.
London Africa Cultural Event - (LACE) is a fashion show with a twist inspired by African culture! 