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Friday, January 27, 2012

Street Thread: The shoes!

So we gave you some of our favorite sartorial gals and guys but honestly everyone knows that fashion week's street fashion is all about the shoes. Here are some hot ones to satisfy your shoe addiction!

Get noticed!

xoxo 

Closet Goddess Cape, Clothes For The Goddess Satchel, Clothes For The Goddess Booties
Kryz U. seen in Manila.

Proenza Schouler Bag, Stine Goya Sweater
Andy T. seen in Amsterdam.

Mosely Tribes Sunglasses, Helmut Lang Silk Graphic Tank, Helmut Lang Asymmetrical Skirt, Vintage Necklace, Romwe Spiked Loafers
Marie H. seen in Los Angeles.

Michael Antonio Blue Pumps, Romwe Encrusted Collar, Wagw Black Cropped Top (Coming Soon)
Kryz U. seen in Manila.

H&M Blazer, Studio Tmls Heels
Anni seen in Germany.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Street Thread: The guys.

When we talk about fashion, women usually come to mind. But at F.W.A.C. we love to see the gents all dressed up and ready to rock. As we wait for New York Fashion Week to start here are some ideas from around the world for the guys. 
Zara Blazer, American Apparel Sweater, Zara Scarf
Adam G. seen in Riverside.

H&M, Topman, Asos, April77 Joey Admiral, Zara
Mohcine A. seen in Casablanca.

Topman Grey Wooly Coat, Blue Banana Black Skinny Jeans, Bally Brown Shoes, My Great Grandmother  1950's Velvet Waist Coat, Topman Brown Leather Belt
Oscar R. seen in the U.K.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Just a thought...

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."
- Herman Cain

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Street Thread: The gals!

It's been a while since we've shared our sartorial picks. With only a few days to spare before Fashion Week mayhem hits New York City, we selected these fierce gals based on their sartorial resume, outfit of the day and overall appearance.  Who knows they might inspire your NYFW wardrobe.

Chiara Ferragni Shoes Http://Chiaraferragni.Com, Hermes Constance Bag

Chiara F. seen in Milan.

Asos Necklace, Clutch, Asos Jeans

Jana S. seen in Germany.

Camille Co. seen in Manila.

Coat, Bouse And Collar

Kristina B. seen in Switzerland

Monday, January 23, 2012

#HAAF2012 by Tara Nicole Moss (PHOTOS)

Happy Monday! 

As promised here are more pictures from the 'Hope and A Future' Benefit Concert. This selection of pictures is by Tara Nicole Moss Photography. This talented photographer is a dear friend of F.W.A.C. She is originally from Tennessee but resides in Brooklyn now. Relive the 'Hope and A Future Concert' through her lens from backstage to the stage. 

For more information on TNM or to book a session, visit her website: Tara Nicole Moss.


















Thank you Tara for these Moments. Captured.


XOXO

Friday, January 20, 2012

Farewell to an icon: Etta James

R.I.P. Etta James

'Hope and A Future' Concert by Afrikanspot (PHOTOS)

The New York Giants with C2C Founder.

As promised here are some of the pictures from the amazing 2nd Annual Hope and A Future Benefit Concert. The pictures you are about to see were taken by Isseu from Afrikanspot.   They were so gracious in sharing them with us so we could in turn share them with you. For more pictures visit their website: Afrikanspot

Community2Community Founder, Marie Eusebe.

Headliners CaRiMi getting ready backstage.

C2C's Water Initiative was presented in a theatrical performance by this talented young man along with other actors.

 Headliner Oleta Adams waving to the crowd after her performance. 

 Headliner Chrisette Michele singing her heart out.

Headliners CaRiMi rocking the house in our God Save Haiti t-shirts for Haiti relief. They had the crowd out of their seats dancing to their sound! What a night! 

The Fashion With A Conscience table was buzzing. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to support the cause.  

We will be posting more pictures so stay tuned.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

To be black or not to be?

For many internet companies wearing black today is the new black. In fact, household names like Wikipedia and Reddit blacked out their website to protest the legislation on online piracy. This means that for the entire day those sites will not be in service. Instead they are posting a message about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) the government is trying to pass. Other big names like Facebook, AOL and Twitter were called to take action by making their websites unavailable for the day, but they declined. "Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish," said Dick Costolo (Chief executive, Twitter) He doesn't seem to be the only one thinking along those lines. In fact, although opposed to the bill, eBay, Mozilla and Zinga also chose to sit out the blackout.

Google on the other hand chose a more moderate approach. While keeping their search engines available for use they have censored their name. This way they are keeping the revenues from the searches while taking a stand.

By attempting to regulate the web the government is basically trying to tame a fleet of wild, hungry dinosaurs. Jurassic Park anyone? The beast has been unleashed and the protest has begun. 

Are you wearing black?

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Thank you!

Happy Tuesday everyone! 

We had such an amazing first couple of weeks celebrating Haiti. Our "12 days 12 ways to discover Haiti" series culminated with the fabulous 'Hope and A Future Concert' this past friday night with Chrisette Michele, Oleta Adams and CaRiMi. Spirits were high, music was flowing, people were dancing, awareness was being raised and Haiti was rising. The concert was everything we wanted it to be: INSPIRING


Picture courtesy of C2C

We were so happy to receive your support and meeting some of you for the first time. Thanks to everyone who came and said hello at the Fashion With A Conscience / Community2Community table. 

Pictures are coming soon. Stay tuned.

We love you and Haiti thanks you! 


The F.W.A.C. Team

Monday, January 16, 2012

Happy MLK day!

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."
Martin Luther King, Jr.



Although marked by a tragic event, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, this day is a celebration of love. The life of Dr. King was all about love and his legacy endures to this day because it is based on the greatest gift of all time: LOVE. As you pursue your life's dreams remember that with love nothing is impossible. 


xoxo



Thursday, January 12, 2012

12th Way to Discover Haiti: You!


I spent the morning on Twitter and Google looking for coverage on the current situation in Haiti. I was shocked to find so little. Maybe it is still too early in the day and reporters are still waiting on their assistants to come back with their morning coffee. Or maybe Haiti has become old news already. Let's be honest most hot topics don't make it past the 3 week mark anyway. Whatever the case may be, due to the colossal work that still needs to be done over there, we choose to keep Haiti at the forefront of our news.

By now we all know the facts:
Date: January 12, 2010 (2 years)
Disaster: Earthquake
Death toll: +300, 000 dead in 35 seconds
Over 1 million impacted (injuries, homelessness and cholera)
Ongoing needs: Medical, shelter, food and clean water.


The 12th way to discover Haiti is to Discover Haiti for Yourself by staying informed, getting involved and paying it's people a little visit perhaps! Many celebrities have visited the island since the earthquake, namely: Sean Penn, Oprah, A Belle in Brooklyn, Neo, Farrakhan, Rachel Roy, Martha Stewart and President Bill Clinton to only name a few. They all fell in love with the culture, the people and were amazed by the resiliency of this nation. They have also given their time and resources to this cause. Join them! We guarantee you won't regret following in their footsteps.

Don't know where to begin? Join us tomorrow at the Hope and A Future Benefit Concert, 8pm. Come out for a night of music with performances by Grammy Award winner Chrisette Michele, multi-platinum recording artist Oleta Adams and Haitian band sensation CaRiMi. Check out the promo video.


#12days12ways is another great place to start.
Here's the recap:

11th Way to Discover Haiti: Literature

10th Way to Discover Haiti: A Young Haiti

9th Way to Discover Haiti: Artistry

8th Way to Discover Haiti: BONUS: #12days12ways GIVEAWAY!!! Hope and A Future Concert + EXCLUSIVE GUEST PASSES

7th Way to Discover Haiti: Food...Food...Food...

6th Way to Discover Haiti: Community2Community

5th Way to Discover Haiti: Share in their struggles 

4th Way to Discover Haiti: Remember the earthquake and never forget

3rd Way to Discover Haiti: Historical Facts - After the Independence

2nd Way to Discover Haiti: Historical Facts - Before the Independence

1st Way to Discover Haiti: Happy Independence Day!!!

Contact us with any questions, ideas or comments!


XOXO

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

11th Way to Discover Haiti: Literature

"What is wonderful about great literature is that it transforms the man who reads it towards the condition of the man who wrote it." -E.M. Forster


Haitian literature has been closely intertwined with the political life of Haiti. Haitian intellectuals turned successively or simultaneously to France, the UK, the United States, and African traditions. At the same time, Haitian history has always been a rich source of inspiration for literature, with its heroes, its upheavals, its cruelties and its rites.


19th Century
Juste Chanlatte (1766–1828) was a Haitian poet and playwright. He served as secretary to King Henri I of the Kingdom of Haiti. Chanlatte was born in Port-au-Prince and educated in France. He wrote for La Gazette du Cap  and later was the editor of the official government publication during President Jean Pierre Boyer's term, the Télégraphe.
  • Ode à l'Indépendance (1821)
  • Cantate à l'Indépendance (1821)
  • La Triple Palme (1822)
  • Le Naufrage de "l'Alexandre"


20th Century:
Jacques Roumain (June 4, 1907 – August 18, 1944) was a Haitian writer, politician, and advocate of Communism. He is considered one of the most prominent figures in Haitian literature. Although poorly known in the English-speaking world, Roumain has significant following in Europe, and is renowned in the Caribbean and Latin America. The great African-American poet, Langston Hughes, translated some of Roumain's greatest works, including Gouverneurs de la Rosée (Masters of the Dew). Although his life was short, Roumain managed to touch many aspects of Haitian life and culture.

"What are we? Since that's your question, I'm going to answer you. We're this country, and it wouldn't be a thing without us, nothing at all. Who does the planting? Who does the watering? Who does the harvesting? Coffee, cotton, rice, sugar cane, caco, corn, bananas, vegetables, and all the fruits, who's going to grow them if we don't? Yet with all that, we're poor, that's true. We're out of luck, that's true. We're miserable, that's true. But do you know why, brother? Because of our ignorance. We don't know yet what a force we are, what a single force - all the peasants, all the Negroes of the plain and hill, all united. Some day, when we get wise to that, we'll rise up from one end of the country to the other. Then we'll call a General Assembly of the Masters of the Dew, a great big coumbite of farmers and we'll clear out poverty and plant a new life". ("Masters of the Dew", p. 106).



Contemporary:
Stanley Péan:
Born in Haiti but raised in Northern Quebec (Jonquière, in the Saguenay region), Stanley Péan is the author of twenty books: short story collections, novels, fiction for kids and a couple of essays about jazz. He is also a screenwriter; a journalist; the editor in chief of Le Libraire (a bimonthly magazine about books in Quebec, distributed freely in independent bookstores); a book reviewer on Vous m'en lirez tant, Radio-Canada's Première Chaîne weekly literary program; the host of a daily jazz program on Espace musique, Radio-Canada's all-music national radio network; and, finally, was the chair of l'UNEQ, the writers and authors union in Québec, from 2004 to 2010.

Did you know?
The Language of Haiti: Creole
Two hypotheses exist on the birth of creole, a language whose history is intimately linked to colonization. One suggests that creole was born from the necessity for different communities to communicate among themselves. Under this theory, Haitian creole developed in the 17th century on Turtle Island, where enslaved Africans, buccaneers, privateers and European settlers lived together. The other theory suggests that creole was born on the Portuguese Atlantic coast of Africa in the fifteenth century and it was then "exported" via the slave trade.

In any event there are more than 200 creole or creole-related languages. Whether based on English, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch or French, as in Haiti, creole is the language of collective memory, carrying a symbol of resistance. Creole is found in stories, songs, poetry (Saint-John Perse, Aimé Césaire, Derek Walcott), and novels (Patrick Chamoiseau, Raphaël Confiant).

Despite Haiti's independence, French has remained the country's official language. French, a language of great cultural prestige, was spoken by the elite, and creole did not enter the literary field until the second half of the 20th century. The indianists of the 1930s and the Négritude movement (incarnated in Haiti by Jean Price-Marts) emphasized the African origins of Antillean people, giving it an identity lost in deportation and later colonization. But, for them, Creole was still considered an impure language of slavery.

The Créolité movement, which succeeded them, rehabilitated the Creole, which no longer was only the language of slavery, but "that which we made together to survive". A shift was brought about in Haitian literature, from French to Creole, or du français vers le créole, or rather a dialogue between the two languages.

Creole is used frequently in poetry and drama. Frankétienne, for example, writes his plays only in Creole. An oral language, Creole is particularly suited in these genres elevating the voice. (Even if many Haitians speak and understand Creole, not all can read it.) In novels, the two languages are sometimes used together, creating a new and original way of writing.

The choice of language for writing is an important issue in contemporary creative writing, especially for writers residing in Haiti.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

10th Way to Discover Haiti: A Young Haiti.

I stumbled upon these photos while I was discovering the LIFE app for iPad. I was shocked to see these images of Haiti. People relaxing on a patio, playing at a casino and listening to live music.  Even though the disparity between the rich and the poor was still poignant then, these images of a once happier Haiti gave me hope.

Pictured: Palm trees silhouettes against the sky at a Haitian fishing village. 

Pictured: A band plays in a nightclub, Simbie, named after an African water goddess.  

Pictured:  Women enjoy drinks on the porch of a wealthy private home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

 Pictured: President Dumarsais Estime plays a slot machine at a Port-au-Prince casino.

Pictured: Like many places in the Caribbean, Hispaniola was for many decades a gambling and frolicking hotspot for the wealthy. 

Monday, January 9, 2012

9th Way to Discover Haiti 's culture: Artistry

One way to learn more about a culture is read the stories told by its people through their song, art and literature. Since a picture says 1000 words I wanted to share with you the works of 2 of the most acclaimed Haitian Artists:

Philomé Obin (July 20, 1892 - August 1986)
Philomé Obin was a Haitian painter. He was arguably the greatest of all Haitian artists - his main rival for that accolade is fellow painter Hector Hyppolite.


Philomé Obin was born in Cap-Haïtien, the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Obénard Obin. He received rudimentary instruction in drawing as a boy and produced his first known painting in 1908. He was still working at his art three-quarters of a century later.


Most of the paintings of Obin’s first half-century - often on cardboard, sometimes on masonite - are lost. They were, in any event, unappreciated by middle-class Haitians who preferred works that aped French paintings; they did not value Obin’s representations of Haitian street scenes or his visions of Haitian history.Through the eyes of a painter.

Rigaud Benoit 
A native of Port-au-Prince, Benoit had been a shoemaker, musician, and taxi driver before making his living as a painter. He had also supplemented his income by painting pottery, pieces he rarely signed or acknowledged.

Benoit was an early member of the Haïtian art movement known as Naive Art, so-called because of its members' limited formal training. The movement was first recognized and promoted by the Centre d'Art, founded in 1944 by the American Quaker and World War II conscientious objector Dewitt Peters.


According to a widely repeated story, Benoit was working as Peters's chauffeur in 1944 when he saw some of the first works displayed at the Centre d'Art. He immediately decided he could do as well as any of the featured artists. Late in life Benoit denied that tale, insisting that he had merely visited the Centre out of curiosity before submitting his first works to Peters. His paintings were immediately among the Centre's most popular.

In the early 1950s Benoit was one of a handful of artists asked to decorate the interior of the Cathedral of Sainte Trinité; his great mural, Nativity, stands above the high altar. (The Catholic archbishop had—to his subsequent regret—denied permission for "mere Haitians" to decorate the Roman cathedral. The Episcopal bishop eagerly consented to the project. On seeing the result he exclaimed "Thank God!, they painted Haitians.")

Some of Benoit's later work was surrealist, though he continued to produce scenes of Haitian life—narrative scenes—until his death.


The tradition of artistry is still alive and well in Haiti. Later this week, we will feature an organization dear to our hearts which created a platform for Haitian art to be purchased around the world.

Just a thought...

"For beautiful eyes, look for the good in other; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."

- Audrey Hepburn

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