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Fashion king Saint Laurent dies
'I draw on woman' "I found my style through women," Saint Laurent once said. "That's where its strength and vitality comes from because I draw on the body of a woman."He changed forever what women wear, introducing trouser suits, safari jackets and sweaters, BBC arts correspondent Razia Iqbal notes.Saint Laurent was a great innovator, helping to revitalise haute couture while making ready-to-wear design popular.The editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, said he had helped democratise fashion:"Before that people had small salons for rich people."Saint Laurent brought it to the people."He was young and groovy. Pop stars were hanging out with him and younger generations related to him." 'Devastating' news President Sarkozy said the designer had been "the first to elevate haute couture to the rank of art and that gave him global influence". "Yves Saint Laurent infused his label with his creative genius, elegant and refined personality... because he was convinced that beauty was a necessary luxury for all men and all women," he added. Speaking on French radio, Pierre Berge said his former partner had empowered women. "In this sense he was a libertarian, an anarchist and he threw bombs at the legs of society," he said."That's how he transformed society and that's how he transformed women."Famous French embroiderer Francois Lesage, who worked 40 years with the designer, said he was "devastated" by news of his death. "I have never known a designer who would give so much thought to something when it was proposed to him," he told French TV."It is a great grief for me." Life of ill-health Born in the Algerian city of Oran at a time when the North African country was a French colony, he had a precocious talent. His first collection caused a sensation with its gently flared dresses and jackets that set the mould for 1950s fashion. Within three years, Dior had died and Yves St Laurent had taken his place. He took the world by storm with his trouser suits, highly coloured ethnic prints and designs inspired by the art world. Taunted as a schoolboy because of his homosexuality, Yves St Laurent suffered mental and physical ill health for much of his life and he appeared in public only rarely. The price of a rhino's life? $100,000 Big game hunting hasn't died out with fears for endangered species, it's just moved to private game reserves. Louis Theroux went to South Africa to try to understand the thrill of paying to kill an animal.
Where the strangeness of gambling and plastic surgery lies in the element of self-sabotage - throwing your own money away, making yourself look weird - hunting gives another turn to the screw by putting another sentient creature in harm's way - specifically, that zebra or lion whose pelt would look so nice turned into a pouffe for the front room. A lifelong city dweller, my ignorance about wildlife in general and hunting in particular was, at the outset, almost complete. For five or six years I was a vegetarian; I don't cook much meat at home and I still get a slightly weird "farmyard feeling" when I take sausages out of the packet and notice that they're all strung together. As for big game hunting, my ideas - formed by old films and books - were basically that you'd spend weeks tramping through rough country for a glimpse of a kudu, unleash hell with your shotgun, then retire to the tent for six or seven gin-and-tonics. And I had a notion that nowadays most of the big animals were endangered and therefore off limits - no-one actually still went out bagging rhinos and lions, did they? But almost any animal can be hunted - rhinos, lions, leopards, elephants, hippos, and many more - and far from being out in the "bundu", most of the hunting in South Africa takes place on privately owned game farms. The animals are behind fences. Menu of game They are wild in the sense that they may bite you; they are wild in the sense that they won't come when you whistle; but they are not wild in the "Born Free" sense. They all belong to someone. You don't have to tramp around for a glimpse of a kudu because the farmer who owns all the kudu can drive you to the corner of his property where they're usually seen. Most safari outfitters offer a menu of game that clients can choose from. It's like shopping from a catalogue. Looking down these lists is slightly surreal. Everything is on offer, including porcupine ($250 - is it possible people really hunt these?), warthog ($300), on through a multitude of indistinguishable deer-like species, up to the big ticket items: $8,000 for a hippo, $14,000 for a buffalo, between $25,000 and $35,000 for a male lion, and between $50,000 and $100,000 for a rhino. It was all quite weird, but I became intrigued by the element of pretence in what was being offered - the outfitters were selling an old-fashioned idea of man-against-nature while secretly working the scenery in the wings. There was a whiff of theme park about the whole thing. I also liked the paradoxical situation of the game farmers - that they keep their animals alive for years, leaving them feed in the dry season, piping in water - only to have tourists come in and whack their prize specimens from the back of a four-by-four. It was a bit like running a zoo where visitors could shoot the animals. Discount packages Not surprisingly, the industry has attracted its share of criticism, especially from the media. This made it tricky for us to get people to go on film. But after a lot of phone calls my team eventually won the trust of Riaan Vosloo, owner of Shingani Safaris, a company that operates in the north-west corner of the country, Limpopo Province. Riaan is in many ways typical of South African professional hunters and outfitters. He grew up hunting wild game the old fashioned way - he told me in the old days he'd be pleased to shoot one or two animals in a four-month season. Now he offers discount packages where visiting tourists can bag four trophies in six days. On one level, he probably regards the ersatz theme-park kind of hunting that he purveys to international clients as unchallenging and slightly pointless; at the same time he's proud of his ability to make sure every hunter, no matter his skill level, goes home with the trophies he's paid for. You might be morbidly obese and half-blind, you'll still get those record-breaking kudu horns - even if it means Riaan has to drive you up to the animal and point your gun in the right direction. During our filming, Riaan had a large party of bow-hunters from Ohio staying at his lodge. These were a far cry from the colonial-era image I had of the great white hunter. They were regular middle-class and working-class folk, some of whom had never been outside America before. Used to hunting deer they could at times be a little ignorant about the more exotic game. A trucker called Anthony was asked by his South African guide if he wanted to take a shot at a "duiker" (a small horned antelope). "A tiger? I can't afford that!" he said. Another novice hunter told me, in a moment of confusion, that her husband had killed a "zudu". Accidents happen But the Ohioans were knowledgeable where it counted: they were accurate with their arrows and they took pains to make their kills clean. Walking-and-stalking game with a bow and arrow is virtually impossible - you can't get close enough. So the bow hunters would sit in a blind most of the day, looking out on a watering hole, wait till their animal of choice came in for a drink, and then whack him. Nor was it as absurdly easy as one might think. All the game farms I saw were a minimum of a couple of thousand acres; they feel like wilderness, at least when you're in the middle of them, even if they are actually fenced in. Some days, because of wind carrying their scent towards the animals, nothing turned up at the watering holes. It wasn't as though they were being led into the firing line on a leash - it might take several days to pop that waterbuck or that oryx. But the outcome was never really in doubt. Naturally I'd been concerned about the nature of the deaths inflicted on the animals - how protracted and painful they might be. With a good shot through the heart or lungs, I was told, most animals will "bleed out" in a matter of seconds. And because with bow-hunting there are no loud gun-shots, the experience is apparently less stressful - both for the unlucky prey and for the surrounding wildlife. Natural predators And yet, and yet. Accidents happen, shots go astray. Miss the vitals and you're looking at tracking an animal that might take hours or even days to catch up with and put out of its misery. Not a nice way to go. Exactly why you might choose to take an animal's life for sport was a question I never completely got my head around - notwithstanding numerous approaches to the issue. Hunters talked about the challenge of pitting your wits against an animal in its natural habitat (well, kind of) and the rush of lining up a perfect shot. It may be that we're natural predators, genetically programmed deep in our inherited neuro-circuits to dig killing things. Or perhaps it's a question of hunters being raised in a culture that desensitises them to the well-being of animals. Who knows? The thornier conundrum for a squeamish city-dweller like me is that the practice of keeping animals on game farms and allowing them to be hunted has helped to increase the stocks of exotic wildlife. Simply put, hunters are paying for more and more exotic animals to be kept alive and healthy - which has to be a good thing. There are now more wild animals on private farms in South Africa than in the nature reserves. In the end, for me, the most touching and revealing element in the story was the bond that grows between the game farmers and the animals they raise and allow to be killed. Several of the game farmers seemed deeply ambivalent about the hunting that takes place on their properties and which pays their bills. Having got to know their animals, and grown fond of them, they actually don't like to see them get hurt. It's an axiom of the game farming world that farmers almost never hunt their own animals. On one or two occasions I was with game farmers whose animals had been injured but not killed, and they became visibly uneasy. It was oddly touching to see these grizzled South Africans grappling with their unease about the new incarnation of their sport and attempting, for the most part successfully, to stick to the script about giving clients the trophies they wanted. In the end, there may be no satisfactory answer to the urge to hunt. But the more profound lesson may be one about the nature of empathy - that no-one wants to hurt a creature that he's got to know. Ivory Coast's 'big-bottom' craze A national dance craze in Ivory Coast has spawned a black market in treatments claiming to increase one's bottom size.
"We made it as a tribute to women, because African women are defined by the shape of their bottoms," he says."Move your bottom, jump, you see, it's alive."Kady Meite, one of his dancers, says the song is a message for women."There are women today with large bottoms who are embarrassed, so it's to say don't be ashamed - be comfortable," she says.The message seems to have been taken on board - so much so that some women are now going in search of a "bobaraba". Injections In the sprawling Adjame market just north of the city centre in Abidjan, women sell "bottom enhancers". "You need to inject this liquid into your bottom once a day," says a market trader, showing a vial of coloured liquid labelled "Vitamin B12".Each vial costs $2. The label claims it is made in China.If you do not like the sound of injections, the same amount of money will also get you a small tub of cream.There is no description of what the product contains or how to apply it; just the words "Big bottoms and big breasts", and two illustrating pictures.Local gynaecologist Dr Marcel Sissoko is sceptical about the concoctions. "This medicine could be dangerous for your health because we don't know the ingredients. It's being used without a medical prescription," he warns. "The health ministry hasn't authorised this and doctors don't know what's in there, so there are risks." At the Micronutrient Information Centre at Oregon State University in the United States, Dr Victoria Drake says she knows of no scientific evidence that vitamin B12 can be used to treat anything except vitamin B12 deficiency. 'Danger' DJ Mix admits there is now a growing fashion for young women to show off their bottoms. "If a woman goes dancing and wants to take two or three treatments, no problem," he says."But we don't say to girls that they must take treatment to enhance your bottom, no."One man on the streets of Abidjan agreed: "Us boys, we appreciate these things because when women use the treatment it attracts us, but for women it's not good."Most women I spoke to preferred to avoid the treatments."Me? I prefer to be natural so you can know your true value. It's best not to use these medicines. It's not good - it's actually very dangerous," one said.Another woman was happy with what came naturally."I do the bobaraba because I already have a big bum. When I dance, everyone looks at me." Nigerian barber Dunga Obeche, 31, is one of the estimated 100m Nigerians struggling to live on less than $1 a day.
“I’m trying to save money for my own barbers but it isn’t easy,” he says. Gift His name was shortened from Adunga to Dunga by team-mates, after a Brazilian footballer in the 1980s, but his dreams of playing professionally were soon swapped for something more realistic when he showed talent cutting hair. “I wasn’t supported and I found I was also good at hairdressing – it’s a gift,” he says. Barber talk Customers like Sunday, a motorbike taxi driver, agrees. “Dunga barbers very well. If he went to work in Favours [a nearby rival] I’d go there.” “We talk. I just told him about how we came home late from a party last night and were chased by the police. It was scary.” Birthday break But Dunga still manages to afford a few luxuries. On Saturday night, Dunga is taking a short break from work to celebrate the 29th birthday of his fellow hairdresser and good friend Napoleon. “We’ve worked together for eight years,” says Napoleon. “He gave me a card and bought me a brandy today,” he says.Women problems often crop up. “For example, recently one guy told me he had cheated on his girlfriend and she was threatening to leave,” Dunga says. “I advised him to beg her to take him back. Grade 1 cut Raymond, 30, is an IT student and has been getting his hair cut by Dunga for six years.“Dunga does my hair very well. I get a grade 1 cut that costs me 100 naira (75 US cents)”They have been discussing food – a common subject with students. If someone has had breakfast, lunch and dinner they say you are 1-1-1. “Today is 1-0 – and we are waiting to see what the evening will bring,” says Raymond, as Dunga joins in with the laughter. Marriage plans Dunga has a girlfriend and wants to marry but feels he should get on a more secure financial footing first. But this is not easy. He has two brothers and four sisters - three of whom he supports while they are studying. This makes it impossible to save. “It’s hard. As the eldest, I am responsible but it is difficult to move on. If I refused to help, my sisters would be thrown out of college." Slum clearance Dunga pays the salon owner 2,500 naira ($20) a week to work there – as do four other barbers. Anything he makes on top of that he keeps. But in a big slum clearance operation in Abuja, Don P Barbers had to move from a busy area to an approved shopping area on a big housing estate – Gwarinpa. “My takings have dropped from about 3,500 a week to 3,000 ($23.5) – so it’s got harder,” he said. Breakfast optional This means he often has less than 100 naira a day to live on, although he does not pay rent. He does not cook but buys garri (cassava porridge) and stew from roadside restaurants. One bowl costs 50 naira, or 100 if there is meat in the stew. "When I have money, I take breakfast because breakfast is not a must. 0-1-1 is fine for me," he says. Not voting Surprisingly, he is not bitter that the Abuja mayor’s clean-up campaign has cut his income.“The man is just doing his job,” he says. He queued for three days to get registered in April's elections but eventually gave up – so he will not be voting in the polls. He says he is sad to be missing out but he tried. Queen Elizabeth in Kentucky Derby as "Street Sense" Wins. TTimes World Report Kentucky - Queen Elizabeth and her royal entourage were present at this years 133th Kentucky Derby to watch the prestige prize horse racing. The royal avid fan of horse racing indeed brought much added class across the atlantic to blue grass state.Typically the talk at the Kentucky Derby is about what horse will win, and whether the winning horse can take the Triple Crown. But this year the biggest gossip is all about Britian's Queen Elizabeth II. An avid horsewoman, she was at Churchill Downs for the race. Race favorite Street Sense roared from next-to-last in a 20-horse field to win the Kentucky Derby, the first Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner to return in the spring and win the first leg of the Triple Crown. Much expectation awaited the Queen signature comments on the latest fashion hat or what to expect in her new book which was on display at the Derby. All the same it was a royalty spiced appearance and much of the speculation remained just that, as Street Sense returned to win the first Triple Crown. Paul Bunyan, Modern-Day Sex Symbol By ERIC WILSON Published: March 23, 2006 LAST December John Martin sat in on a focus group for a trend-forecasting company at which young professionals were asked about their grooming habits. Mr. Martin found he had nothing useful to contribute. His shaving regimen involves the use of a razor about as frequently as the seasons change. "Everyone else was chiming in about the products they use," said Mr. Martin, the advertising director for Vice, a lad magazine based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. "I was totally mystified. I blanked." Mr. Martin's idea of a style symbol, seriously, is Ulysses S. Grant, whose beard he came to admire after watching the 2003 Civil War-era drama "Cold Mountain." Two years ago, when he began experimenting with different beard styles, which he described as ranging from neat to burly to unkempt, his facial hair was an expression of individuality in a tide of metrosexual conformity. Now 10 of his 15 co-workers at Vice wear full, bushy beards. In that, they vie with the pro-facial-hair contingent of an editorial rival, Spin, where a rash of new beards has broken out. Major Fashion Trends & Looks Spring Summer 2006 There is now a major shift in designer inspired fashion trends. That new look implies more serious grown-up fashion trends of elegant womanly dressing. This in turn moves toward a streamlined, disciplined, figure defining glamour or minimal space age look. In the spring of 2006, the shift is leading away from the eclectic ethnic roots of the first half of this decade toward a less casual, more classically establishment appearance. This new look is cleaner and more ordered than the fussiness of the Boho trend. I see this desire for groomed orderliness as a reflection of our mental assimilation of a world in chaos. There is a sense of high speed change which we cannot control. But in the western world, we are fortunate to have choice in the way we dress and groom ourselves and in what fashion trends we decide to follow. Read more: http://www.fashion-era.com/Trends_2006/2006_spring_fashion_trends_looks.htm |
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