POWER DRESSING

I want this Book.

POWER DRESSING: Men's Fashion & Prestige in Africa

Discover the artistic diversity and visual splendor of African men’s dress in this first exhibition of its kind in the United States. Power Dressing: Men’s Fashion and Prestige in Africa brings together fifty spectacular examples of male attire from across the continent, from Morocco to South Africa, representing over a century of fashion. Drawn from the Museum’s own important collection, as well as from private and public lenders, the works on view reveal how a man’s clothing can define, sustain and reinforce ideas about power and status. The exhibition is organized into four broad and intersecting themes-Style and Status, Fit for a King, Divine Dress, and Identity and Innovation -- that offer rich insights into the meanings of men^s fashions within Africa^s diverse and ever-changing cultural and political landscape.

Africa investing opportunities

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former Finance Minister for Nigeria (and the first woman to hold that job), talks about the good in Africa as opposed to what the media potrays.



http://www.ted.com

Photosynth demo

ohh this is amazing, the possibilities and of course dude works for Microsoft.




"Using photos of oft-snapped subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth (based on Seadragon technology) creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features that outstrip all expectation. Its architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, shows it off in this standing-ovation demo. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle. With an unpleasant grimace. And an ant-sized chip in its lower left molar. "Perhaps the most amazing demo I've seen this year," wrote Ethan Zuckerman, after TED2007. Indeed, Photosynth might utterly transform the way we manipulate and experience digital images."

http://www.ted.com

Digital sweetness

Wow the digital world. Microsoft has come up with some really cool touch screen
ways of manipulating data on a an interactive table. This is probably how people are going to be shopping in the future.
Check this out http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

conformity

Ever since web 2.0 all new websites seem to look the same, everyone is using Div tags instead of tables which increases loading spead but...its boring the CSS is getting to be more complex or lengthy but the pages all look the same. If you think I am kidding look at this designs, http://bestwebgallery.com even blogger, MSN does this.

Art

Jaques Leconte

Art

Ben Agbee from African encounters

Ahhh Art

Wiz Kudowor African Encounters

Oumou Sy

Oumou Sy has made a name for herself as a designer of Couture and Ready-to-Wear fashion, as well as jewelry and other fashion accessories. Sy has also made a name for herself as a costume designer for theatre and films, garnering awards for her work in film festivals in Milan, Johannesburg and Ouagadougou. She has even done set design in films. She has over a dozen films to her credit. She has strong ties to the international entertainment industry. Singers Baba Maal and Youssou N’Dour and filmmakers Ousmane Sembene and Flora Gomes are among her clientele. An artist and a businesswoman, Oumou SY works to build a sound infrastructure for the African fashion industry. To that end she has organized the annual Semaine de la Mode (fashion week), during which designers from all over Africa display their work. Further promoting the continued African presence in the world of fashion, Sy has taught at Ecole des Beaux Arts and ultimately founded Ateliers de Stylisme et de Formation aux Arts et de la Parure en Afrique et en Occident. Métissacana, a cybercafe Sy created, not only highlights her work, it is a project she uses to help build and promote a stronger Senegalese presence.

conceptual fashion2

Seidnaly Alphadi, Known as the “the child of the desert”, Alphadi combines traditional African techniques with contemporary style to create fashion for the modern African woman. He is aware of the fashion’s power to bridge cultural gaps. Alphadi is a founding member of the Federation of African Creators. From his base of operations in Niger, Alphadi organized the first Festival International de la Monde Africaine, FIMA. He would like to prove that African designers “can reach the summit of fashion like all other famous designers”

Uzuri

Personal Development for Smart People

For those of you who are motivated and ambitious you might this site very handy steve pavalina

My space

Whats up with my space, it must be because I am over thirty but I cant figure out the clutter. No privacy either anyone can look at you and all your friends and all the correspondence. And I cant stand the scroll with the translucent background GRRR! Cant even read it. The first time I was had my page up, I went back to find some really wierd people requesting to be my friends. Thats why I am sticking to my blog. Its clean and legible.

sandrabacklund blank page

Wow the possibilities. Just glue and paper?

The brain machine interface

Sheer genius, I would like to know how you can move objects without moving a finger, hmmm.

Hitachi, Ltd. Scientist Hideaki Koizumi holds a brain model while researcher Akiko Obata wearing a head gear during a demonstration of a new technology that reads brain activity and lets you control everyday objects without lifting a finger at Hitachi's research lab in Hatoyama, near Tokyo, Wednesday, June 20, 2007. The 'brain-machine interface,' developed by Hitachi, analyzes slight changes in the brain's blood flow to detect brain motion and translate it into electric signals.

African queen

The power of the media

I was reading this article, I could not help but notice how these words "if you read the newspapers" jumped on me. For decades Africa has been potrayed as a continent plagued with all kinds of evils from war to disease. I feel that its our responsibility as Africans to change that script.



EMERGING MARKETS REPORT
Investors in Africa seeking undervalued names, diversification
Funds head south of the Sahara as banking and telecom sectors expand
By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Jun 21, 2007

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Where most investors see a continent plagued by underdevelopment and conflict, others recognize Africa as the next frontier, whose accelerating economic growth and long-term potential are creating compelling investment opportunities."We're convinced that the perceived risk in Africa is greater than the actual risk for disciplined and focused investment," said Thomas Gibian, chief executive of Emerging Capital Partners, which manages more than $1 billion in five private-equity funds focused on African companies."We thrive on diversification -- across regions in Africa, across currencies, across sectors," he said.

After decades of colonialism, violence and poverty, some African countries, particularly those south of the Sahara Desert, are experiencing an economic renaissance, propelled by more than rich deposits of natural resources. The banking and telecom sectors are luring foreign investors, who are now hunting for deals in smaller countries including Ghana, Botswana and Zambia, not just South Africa. Certainly, significant challenges remain, including ongoing conflicts in some countries, corruption and HIV infection.

"Optimism is what separates people today," said Lawrence Speidell, co-manager of the Frontier Market Select Fund, L.P., a $4-million, long-only hedge fund that invests in frontier equity markets, most of them in Africa."If you read the newspaper, you're very worried because a lot of news is bad news," Speidell said. "If you take a step back and you take a look at the patterns that are in place in the world, you'll see that there's a long-term movement of the world toward democracy and peaceful settlement of disputes. "Optimism is one of the four pillars on which Speidell bases his investment philosophy; the others are history, risk, and globalization.
Sub-Saharan Africa posted economic growth of 6% in 2006 and is expected to grow by 6.7% this year, making it one of the fastest-growing regions in the world, according to the International Monetary Fund. In contrast, between 1980 and 1999, the region lagged far behind global growth -- its GDP grew by about 2% on average. China, with its insatiable appetite for commodities, is becoming a key destination for African exports.

"While key oil exporters like Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria are expected to enjoy some of the fastest growth rates in Africa in 2007, they are not the only countries enjoying rapid economic growth," said John Orford, South Africa-based strategist at UBS Investment Research, in a June research report.
Sub-Saharan Africa posted economic growth of 6% in 2006 and is expected to grow by 6.7% this year, making it one of the fastest-growing regions in the world.
"Indeed about 18 oil importers will enjoy growth rates of 5% or higher in 2007," Orford said. "A number of factors -- better macro management, lower inflation and rising savings and investment rates -- are supporting higher growth across the continent. "Some countries in Africa have made partial progress on implementing economic reforms, specifically when it comes to monetary, regulatory, trade, fiscal and financial policies, Orford said. Barriers remain, however, in areas like property rights, investment freedom and corruption.

Inflation in sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of Zimbabwe, is forecast to fall to about 7.1% from 7.2% in 2006 and 8.1% in 2005, according to IMF figures quotes by UBS. Investment-to-GDP ratios are still very low, but rising.
External debt has declined and foreign private capital flows are increasing. Net foreign direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa climbed to $18 billion in 2006.
Attractive sectors
"We have been able to identify many investment opportunities where there are near-monopolistic environments," said Gibian of Emerging Capital Partners, the pan-African private-equity firm.
The companies he invests in "operate with preferential access." For example, if it's a natural resource, the company has the rights to the mineral or energy source that they are developing.
Emerging Capital Partners has made more than 35 investments in 30 African countries. In some deals, the firm takes a controlling position, but as a rule it always acquires a seat on the boards of the companies in which it invests.
"We look at businesses where Africa has historically had a comparative advantage -- in energy businesses, because that's where the oil and gas is, in mining, in agriculture, even in tourism," Gibian said.
One such company is Anvil Mining Ltd. (CA:AVM: news, chart, profile) (AU:AVM: news, chart, profile) , a copper and silver producer that is listed on the Toronto and Australian stock exchanges. The company operates several mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Another example is Artumas Group Inc. (DE:A0J34E: news, chart, profile) (NO:AGI: news, chart, profile) , an energy producer that operates hydrocarbon reserves in Tanzania and Mozambique.
"We also look at businesses where Africa has lagged -- in terms of banking, telecommunications, distribution -- these are not areas where historically Africa has held itself up as an example of efficiency," he said. "Our track record is the most complete in the area of telecommunications and now in the area of financial services and financial institutions," he said.
Among the firm's investments are Celtel International, a mobile telecommunications company; Continental Reinsurance Plc, Nigeria's largest reinsurance company, which was recently listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange; Intercontinental Bank Plc, the fifth largest banking group in Nigeria; and Ecobank Transnational Inc., one of the largest regional banking groups in sub-Saharan Africa and a company that is listed on stock exchanges in Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana.
"There has been tremendous investment in Africa -- look at Air France, Exxon, Shell, De Beers etc. -- but investment in Africa typically did not create opportunities for emerging markets buyers to take a position," Gibian said. "We are very keen to build companies that deserve to be liquid."
Low liquidity continues to be one of the major problems for investors in Africa's equity markets, with the exception of South Africa, Egypt and partially, Nigeria. The ratio of market capitalization to GDP remains low, while sector composition is also mostly biased toward the financials.
"With the exception of South Africa and Egypt (relatively diverse sector composition) and Côte d'Ivoire (dominated by a single telecommunications stock) financials account for between 40% and 90% of African equity markets," according to UBS's Orford.
South African stocks stand out as the clearest beneficiaries of African growth, he said. UBS's favored picks from South Africa are communications company MTN; the country's largest retail bank ABSA; food retailer Shoprite; and construction firm Group 5.
One way for American investors to invest in South Africa is through the iShares MSCI South Africa Index Fund an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the country's stock market.

Today's prices and tomorrow's liquidity
Speidell looks beyond South Africa in his search for attractive African stocks. As of March 31 this year, the Frontier Market Select Fund owned 18 stocks in 12 countries around the world. Country-weightings include Botswana (10%), Ghana (21%), Nigeria (9%), Malawi (2%), Senegal (8%), Tanzania (5%) and Zambia (5%).
Speidell points out four reasons why he invests in frontier markets.
First, the history of emerging markets is the future of frontier markets, Speidell said. Second, globalization and technology, particularly cell phones and the Internet, are making information available to millions of people in some of the poorest and most remote places in the world. Third is optimism, and the fourth reason is risk. "The reason I say that these countries offer a different kind of risk to a portfolio is because they are different in that they do not move with the other established world markets," Speidell said. "They don't move with New York, London or Tokyo or Russia or China."
Only about 6% of the movement in frontier markets could be considered related to the movement in the S&P 500, Speidell said: "Frontier markets certainly move, but in a way that's so largely independent that they provide wonderful diversification to a global portfolio."
Among Speidell's favorites are the smaller markets in Africa like Ghana, Botswana, and Zambia.

"We're hoping to benefit from the fact that these markets are not well-understood and that there will be undervalued names in almost every market," he said.
"There are local brokers, the companies do publish annual reports," Speidell said. "There are broker services that go out to companies and get the reports; when you have the report, you have market opportunities because the data are not so closely followed that the stocks will only move within a narrow band."
Speidell's fund invests in a variety of sectors, including consumer staples, finance, telecommunications, transportation and construction.
"Liquidity is a problem," Speidell said. "It's not to say that trading is impossible. One needs to be patient to figure that the opportunity here is to get today's prices and tomorrow's liquidity."

Eco-conscious material girl

I am very inspired by her go getter attitude.

By Janice Blackburn

Published: June 8 2007

As a girl, Jenny White decided that her conservative, traditional school needed shaking up, so she launched a student radio station, a newspaper and a gossip magazine and painted murals all over the walls.

After studying graphics at Central Saint Martins, ­London, she spent four years working as a junior art director but soon tired of the “somewhat safe lifestyle”. So she quit her job to become an environmentally friendly textile designer.


“I wanted to create something new,” she says. “I had become very eco-conscious, eating organic food and using Dr Hauschka’s cosmetics. I also knew that textiles was a horrendously polluting industry and I wanted to find a way to make products that were created with care for the environment. I have always been ambitious and wanted to do something exciting and work for myself.”

She returned to Central Saint Martins, enrolling in a two-year masters course in “textile futures” and her final project involved creating a luxury brand focused on sustain­ability. Her tutors were supportive but “they didn’t have any business skills or manufacturing experience themselves”, she says. “They were all researchers and artists.”

Undeterred, White signed up for a series of talks called Create A Living, which focused on the importance of writing a business plan and, by the end of her course, she had one. Her brand, Eco-Boudoir – Luxury with a Conscience, would sell textiles and homewares that were not only eco-friendly but also “very personal, very sensual and sexy”.

“I thought: ‘Great. I have the brand concept, I’ve done some research and there is a gap in the market. It’s time to make some products and see if I can sell them’.” She now realises that was beginner’s naivety. Her business plan was passable but it didn’t have the essential “three Ps – product, place and price” right.

So she spent another tough year mastering more skills: pattern cutting, garment costing, manufacturing, price negotiation, accounts, VAT, customs and shipping. At the same time she was also designing a full range of throws and cushions, lingerie and a selection of feminine incidentals, such as eye masks and aromatherapy bags, for the bedroom, inspired intriguingly by her somewhat eclectic interests – burlesque, decadence, ecology and the home environment. She decided to make them out of a luxurious woven fabric she calls “bamboo” (apparently softer and silkier than cashmere), digitally printed silks and laser-etched vege­table-tanned leathers.

She finally launched the Eco-Boudoir range in February at the International Salon de la Lingerie in Paris and the reaction was impressive. Boutiques in New York, Athens, Germany, Scandinavia, Switzerland and the UK (from department store Liberty to boutique Phoebe Carlyle) now stock the wares. More recently White was involved in an exhibition during New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair called Haute Green and in August she will show at the Lingerie Americas trade show.

She thinks the extra business training she took on has been key to her success. “Creative brains often work in a different way. You can have the best idea in the world but if it can’t be produced, the price is wrong and you don’t know how or where to sell it you don’t stand a chance. The production process [for example] was a roller- coaster of problems for me but in the end it was the most important aspect of the business that I needed to get a tight rein on.”

There are still problems to resolve. Her collection is very broad, the eco-friendly materials she uses are expensive and the pound is disadvantageously strong against other currencies. Sometimes, White acknowledges, she thinks she might like to have a business partner or investor to share the burden. (“Starting and running your own business is not for the faint-hearted.”) But she also loves her independence and is pleased to have made it so far on her own.

She hopes to set an example for other designers and is full of advice for would-be entreprenuers. “Make sure your idea is valuable, long-lasting, strong, viable and versatile,” she says. “Research your market. There is no point trying to sell something that is already out there. Make sure your prices are right. And keep it simple at first.

Most importantly, “have the determination to see things through. If it doesn’t seem to be working out it doesn’t mean that you can’t develop something else within the same concept and make it work.”

Processing Vs Flash

I have seen both, I wonder if processing is just a more basic version of actionscript

http://www.processing.org/

Code that creates amazing design...mostly mathematical
Design in numbers aagh! lets leave out the numbers.
Design with color thats more like it...

Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art

This book is written especially for artists, designers, and other creative professionals and students showing how to use Processing for code art, graphics programming, and computational aesthetics.

I got a crush on Obama

Hilarious video on Utube.

Design give

I found this site, where you can design a T shirt, the designs would then be sold to raise money for social issues. Can your art change the world?

http://www.designgive.com/

one.org

African childrens choir perfoming at a one rally.
One.org an organization started by Bono, I am so touched by what they are doing with their celebrity status. If you want to join by going to www.one.org
The ONE Campaign is an effort by Americans to rally Americans – one by one – to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE is students and ministers, punk rockers and NASCAR moms, Americans of all beliefs and every walk of life, united to help make poverty history.

Gender differences

This is long, but really interesting.

"Sizing Up The Sexes" by Christine Gorman

More men than women are left handed; more women than men listen with both ears, men favor the right ear.

Men and women perceive the world in different ways. Men excel at rotating three-dimensional objects in their head. Women prove better at reading emotions of people in photographs. However, there's much overlap.

Women have a double dose of the large "X" chromosome. Men have a single "X" and a short, stumpy "Y". Normal men also are affected by a larger level of testosterone (hormone) while their mothers are in pregnancy.

In men the hypothalamus (small organ near the brain stem) is larger than in most women. When provoked, the hypothalamus heightens rage, thirst, hunger and desire; possibly explaining boys' more rambunctious behavior.

In most women, the corpus callosum is larger. This thick bundle of nerves allows the right half of the brain to communicate with the left. This may help explain women's intuition and ability to read emotional cues. There may be other areas where the woman's brains have more connections then the man's.

This greater communication between sides of the brain may be a distraction when, for example, reading a map. Men are more able to rotate the images in their heads, women tend to need to turn the map around.

For both sexes, the principal language centers of the brain are usually concentrated in the left hemisphere. Because women use both sides of their brain, their appreciation of everyday speech appears to be enhanced by input from various cebral regions, including those that control vision and feelings. Thus girls often begin speaking earlier than boys, enunciate more clearly as tots, and develop a greater vocabulary.

by J Madeleine Nash

Men tend to be far more upset by a lover's sexual infidelity than do women: just imagining their partner in bed with another man sends their heart rate soaring by almost five beats a minute.

Women react more strongly to the threat of emotional infidelity. What women fear most is the loss of their mates' long-term commitment and support.

Larry Crabb, "Men and Women", Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids

Men see themselves more as separate individuals, achieving something; women more as persons whose identity is found in relational attachments.

"Instead of attachment, individual achievement rivets the male imagination."

For men, the dominant ideas are: separateness, achievement, entering.

For women, the dominant ideas are: involvement, attachment, invitation. This is symbolized in the sexual relationship, "men feel complete as they strongly enter; women feel enjoyed as they warmly invite."

Masculinity is at its best when men "enter their worlds with a humble but confident intention to do good". Femininity at its best when women "invite people into their worlds to experience the joys of relationships".

Women are focused on the strengthening of relationships, encouraging others, deepening attachments.

Willard F.Harley, Jr., "His Needs, Her Needs", Fleming H. Revell Company, Tarrytown

Man's five most basic needs in marriage:

1. Sexual fulfillment

2. Recreational companionship

3. An attractive spouse

4. Domestic support

5. Admiration

Woman's five most basic needs in marriage:

1. Affection

2. Conversation

3. Honesty and openness

4. Financial support

5. Family commitment

Concerning sexuality: men experience arousal and climax with relative ease; for women it's just the opposite.

THE IRRESITIBLE MAN

1. He meets her need for affection with plenty of hugs and kisses at every opportunity.

2. He meets her need for intimate conversation by talking with her at the feeling level.

3. He meets her need for honesty and openness by looking her in the eye and telling her what he really thinks.

4. He meets her need for financial support by firmly shouldering the responsibility to house, feed, and clothe his family.

5. He meets her need for family commitment by putting his family first. He commits his time and energy to the moral and intellectual development of his children.

THE IRRESITIBLE WOMAN

1. She meets his need for sexual fulfillment by becoming an excellent sexual partner to him.

2. She meets his need for recreational companionship by developing mutual interests with her husband.

3. She meets his need for her attractiveness. She keeps herself physically fit with diet and exercise, and she wears her hair, makeup, and clothes in a way that her husband finds attractive and tasteful.

4. She meets his need for domestic support by creating a home that offers him an atmosphere of peace and quiet.

5. She meets his need for admiration and respect by understanding his value and achievements more than anyone else.

John Gray, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus", HarperCollins Publishers, New York

Men value power, competency, efficiency and achievement; looking to prove themselves, develop power and skills. "Their sense of self is defined through their ability to achieve results." More interested in "objects" and "things" rather than people and feelings. Achieving goals is very important - to prove competency. Rarely talk is about his problems unless he needs expert advice. When his wife talks about problems he is quick to offer advice, to solve the problem, to fix it.

Women value love, communication, beauty, relationships. Spend time supporting, nurturing. Sense of self defined through their feelings and the quality of their relationships which are more important than work and technology. Intuitive, anticipating the needs of others. For women the sign of love is to offer help without being asked.

For men, the offer of help suggests he isn't competent, she doesn't trust him to do it himself. "For women, offering advice and construction is an act of love."

Men feel better solving problems. Women feel better talking about problems.

When men are under stress, they tend to want to be alone, to think about how they can solve their problem. When a women is stressed, she wants to talk it out; talking about the problems causes her to feel better.

When a woman talks to a man about her problems he feels she is holding him responsible. When a man doesn't talk about his problems his wife feels he is ignoring or rejecting her.

Men need to know they are needed. Women need to know they are cherished.

Women express feelings, men communicate information.

Men need trust, acceptance, appreciation, admiration, approval, and encouragement.

Women need caring, understanding, respect, devotion, validation, and reassurance.

Men typically handle arguments with "Fight" and "Flight" - intimidation or become silent; women with "Fake" and "Fold" - pretend there's no problem, or take all the responsibility for it.

Men think they score big points with big gifts; women score all gifts the same.

Women intuitively feel the needs of others and expect men to do the same.

Jokes aside

All jokes aside yes I am a woman who is maturing, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually, I feel that its important to arm myself with information regarding matters of the heart. No more forgoing through this with a naive attitude. So I am embarking on my guerrila research, its a darn complicated matter.

Someone shared this joke with me the other day, I will try to do it justice.

A man was praying relentlessly for different things, was listening, in response he asked the man, to be specific. He told him that he would grant him answers to two requests. The man thought long and hard and since he was an civil engineer he asked God to show him how to build a bridge from San Francisco to Hawaii, God turned around and asked him are you crazy, that is a very complicated task and it would take too much, so whats your second request, the man said o.k then give me wisdom to understand women,
God looked at him and asked him, how many lanes. LOL

The girlfriend test

Now it would not be fair to just have a female oriented book. So guys dont despair there is also a girlfriend test LOL. I wonder if guys really read this one.

Friends with potential

I am taking a short detour, after all there is more to my life besides design.
O.k this is hilarious but how do you really know, the person you are talking to is interested in you for who you are. I went looking and found this book LOL YEAAAHHH!
the boyfriend test! I am not buying it, but I am reallly curious.
I also found 365 questions to ask a potential BF. Who knew.

Ingrid Mwangi

The art of Ingrid Mwangi.
The collective's three solo shows last year were titled "Collective Desires", "Trophies" and "Man of War". The three theme exhibitions point towards the main issues that the artists' are dealing with currently: Firstly, questions and difficulties, on a global, collective level, of living together and overcoming cultural discrimination within the traumatic circumstance of historical and current injustices. Secondly, the use of the artists' body to generate imagery relating to these themes, the body being utilized as an interface between knowledge and insight. Thirdly, the omnipresent topic of living in a world ridden with violent conflict, destructive human action and the negative impact of media information - a desperate state which calls for attention.

C' mon

For those of you who are reading my blog, I know what you might be thinking o gosh, fashion oh c'mon. Like I said its about the stuff that rocks my boat. Just think about something that you are really passionate about, something that you do because you like to not because someone wants you too. Even better something that will makes you
wake up early on a saturday morning. Yes thats it... now we are on the same page.

Absolute creativity

Christian Dior 2007 haute couture collection

Aha!

Looks like something I have envisioned. Giles autumn/winter 2007/2008 collection
best of London fashion week.

Fashion week in India

Sonam Dubal autumn/winter 2007/2008 collection
I like his use of color and fabric, rich colors and textures very refreshing.

Analyzing business plans

I found this great blog...fashion incubator, she is serious about her stuff, I found this bit of advise inspiring it stirred me up inside, answered some of the questions that have been bogging me down so I am keeping it here for future reference, thanks whoever you are...

Based on the comments from visitors to part one of this series, I realize I should have I recommended that you read Factoring invoices: financing a fashion line and Financing fashion: 10 mistakes designers make as well as part one of this series. You may also wish to read about a bare bones but modest and simple business plan in How to start a clothing line. Picking up where we left off in the sample business plan, the bulleted list of long term goals are:

Long-term goals:

* Develop a leading market position
* Begin foreign sales in markets such as England, and France
* Sustain the commitment to the quality of the end product through quality fabric, workmanship, and design.
* Increase sales beyond the $1 million mark by 2011

I don't think it's very productive to scrutinize these goals because it's the long term goals that change the most and we all know it. How many of us even had a plan when we started? It seems that anybody I know who's succeeded -success is a process, not a goal- has fallen into it. It's rarely planned. Still, assuming we'd had business plans, would the long term goals we would have written yesteryear resemble anything like how things turned out? It's doubtful. Accordingly, I'm analyzing the long term goals in matters of form and cognition, rather than questioning the viability of the ideas.

The line reading "develop a leading market position" doesn't mean anything to me so I'll pass. Selling in foreign markets is just dandy. Most US citizens tend to be leery of shipping off shore. It is far away and it's scary. I think it's great if people look to develop relationships abroad. After all, the best way to practice what you preach is through commerce. That renders the longest lasting social change. However, I don't think I would have itemized England and France specifically but rather, would have referred to the EU . There's not much difference in selling to France than there is to selling to most countries within the EU. Saying so makes us look less provincial.

The point on committing to product quality, I really don't know what that means either, other than that in the long term, the commitment to quality will be sustained. One would hope this would be the case so I don't know that you need to say so unless you were planning to actually increase product quality by some easily communicated standard. Say, a goal to go from producing mid range sportswear up to bridge or something like that. I'd include that but otherwise, I'd leave it out. Add another bullet point of marketing mumbo-jumbo if you need to fill some whitespace because I agree that a 3 point bullet list looks kind of wimpy. You have to put in something; everyone's uncertain of the long term and resists writing it down lest we be tortured by posterity.

The last line though (increase sales beyond $1M) deserves an aside; not to say that a million in sales isn't doable because it is. It's worth discussing in another way, that the numbers in your plan must all agree. I realize this isn't a spreadsheet but even soft numbers have to be in agreement. For example,

* the short term goals list first year sales of $125K
* the mid level goals list an annual growth rate of 25%
* the long term goals list sales of $1M in five years.

If you project 25% annual sales growth, based on $125,000, the result will not equal anywhere near a million dollars in five years. Even though these are soft numbers, they have to add up. Otherwise, any projections or legitimate research you may have included with your plan will be considered equally suspect. The math in your soft copy matters; if your math is off, your plan doesn't look well thought out or well constructed. And just because you didn't notice it doesn't mean that nobody else won't notice it either. I see this in business plans all the time .

By the way, $1 million in sales is not unreasonable in the fifth year, depending on what you're doing. It helps if you're selling pricier goods. Pushing the upper limits, I wouldn't consider projected sales of close to 3 million in five years unreasonable. I mean, it'd be ambitious. You could do it if you had it together, were growing responsibly (cutting to order) and staying private. By private, I mean growing according to growth rather than pushing it. Some people are tempted to find and take on investors and potential partners but the best advice I ever got was, don't take on partners if you can avoid it. I feel like I've dodged a bullet with all the horror stories I've heard about partnerships. Over half of all partnerships -like marriages- don't survive and you'll have to get a divorce. Again like marriage, some divorces are amicable and some aren't. By the way, divorcing partnerships are a big source of design theft. Maybe not design theft but the ownership of the intellectual property (designs and patterns) is often contested and it's not uncommon for ex-partners to compete with each other (at least initially) drawing from the same well. Not pretty. I'm sure you all have plenty of partnership horror stories too.

Hollywood goes to Africa

Here is a list of movies by hollywood made in Africa a dose of "fiction or "reality" presented through their lenses.

The African Queen UK/USA (1951)
John Huston, takes us on a great adventure navigating a small boat through Africa during WW1. Humphrey Bogart is the ever drunk captain who has to put up with themissionary played by Katharine Hepburn.

The Ghost and The Darkness USA (1996)
This action drama is based on a true story from 1898, when the British were constructing the railroad through Kenya (view photos from Kenya). Man-eating lions killed several workers and british engineers. The movie describes the Africans with the same ignorance as common hundred years ago, but it is still good old-fashioned action. Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas stars in the movie, which is shot on location in South Africa and Kenya.

King Solomon's Mines USA (1937)
The classic story of white hunter Allan Quartermain who takes the job of helping a young woman to find her lost husband somewhere deep inside Africa.

King Solomon's Mines USA (1950)
The best of the Solomon movies. Story is the same: Qartermain falling in love with the woman he is guiding through the wild and dangerous Africa. Starring Deboarh Kerr and Stewart Granger. Filmed on location in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Congo and USA.

King Solomon's Mines USA (1985)
The worst of the 3 versions features Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone. Mainly fails because it tries to copy the style from Indiana Jones. Several script errors, bad dialogue and directing. Some of the film is shot on location in Zimbabwe.

Congo USA (1995)
Directed by Frank Marshall
A silly adventure-action-horror film based on a book by Michael Crichton. The story is actually a modernised version of king Solomon's Mines with a touch of King Kong, Indiana Jones, Jurrassic Park, Aliens and a "talking" plastic gorilla on top of it all! Does it sound bad? It sure is. Parts of the movie are filmed on location in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

Mogambo USA (1953)
Directed by John Ford. A great Hollywood cast of Clark Gable, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly.

Hatari! USA (1962)
Adventure film with John Wayne, directed by Howard Hawks. A group of men are making their living from trapping animals and selling them to zoo's in Europe and America. A woman shows up. She is a wildlife photographer and questions the mens methods. Filmed mainly in the national parks of Tanzania.

The Snows Of Kilimanjaro USA (1952)
A wounded writer rethinks his life while waiting for relief. Gregory Peck stars in this movie based on the short story by Ernest Hemingway. Not much is actually shot on location in Africa.

The Last Safari USA (1967)
Stewart Granger is onece again the great white hunter. He is hunting a giant elephant which killed his best friend. Filmed on location in Kenya and directed by Henry Hathaway.

Shaft in Africa USA (1973)
Starring: Richard Roundtree
Directed by John Guillermin
The third "blaxploitation" movie with Shaft takes him back to the African continent to infiltrate modern day slave business and bring it down. No great film, but funny and interesting if you are interested in how black Americans were portrayed in films in the early seventies.

A Far Off Place USA (1993)
Family adventure/drama directed by Danish Michael Solomon for Disney Pictures(!) Shot in Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Tarzan USA (1999)
The animated Disney version of the Tarzan story. Don't expect to see any Africans in this story. I guess it doesn't need further introduction.

Sheena USA (1984)
This female version of Tarzan was first put on the screen in 1955 and like Tarzan, Sheena was created as a comic book figure. Directed by John Guillermin and starring Tanya Roberts as the orphaned blond girl growing up with an African tribe. Stereotypic, as can be expected, and skinny plot. Some audience (mostly male) will enjoy watching a half-naked Queen of the jungle riding on the zebras and fighting bandits. The story takes place in a fictitious African state, but was filmed on location in Kenya.

Sahara USA (1943)
World War 2 fought in the Sahara. starring Humphrey Bogart, but not very much about Africa.

* Out Of Africa
* I Dreamed of Africa
* Cry Freedom
* White Hunter Black Heart
* Gorillas in the Mist
* Black Hawk Down
* Amistad
* The Constant Gardener
* The Last King of Scotland
* Blood Diamond

Conceptual Style

GENIUS the cloths change, they get longer or shorter depending on time, or altogether disappear how is that for a wardrobe malfuction!

Hussein Chalayan s/s 2007, transformed www.style.com
For his s/s 2007 show presented in Paris earlier this week, Hussein Chalayan astonished the crowd with self-contained fashion retrospectives - garments that transformed themselves to represent styles from chosen eras. The magic was made possible by a collaboration between Chalayan and the team behind special effects for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, who microchipped the garments to perform to the tune of the designer’s vision.

Chalayan is the first big-name designer to inject this kind of technology into fashion, forging the inevitable path ahead. There’s really no telling which direction the industry will take with this first effort. A few considerations regarding the use of technology in garment design with a purely creative intent (apart from functional intents such as RFID chipping for monitoring inventory or theft prevention, nanotech swarms repairing fabric tears and weaving computer and communications technology into the textiles):

1. How will the market respond?

2. Technology of this sort will probably not escape the fickleness of patent law and its stifling of creativity.

3. The possibilities of personalizing clothes are endless, opening up a whole new dimension for bespoke.

Mixed in with the novelty shapeshifting garments in Chalayan’s collection were wearable clothes, appropriate for the s/s season (which deserve mention later). If patent infringement nonsense doesn’t stifle the magic and hinder progress from the example he has set, there will come a day when the integration of technology in garment design will be seamless and practical, and will rightfully be defined as ready-to-wear.

figures

Pan African Film Festival

Its going to be at the Black Arts festival in Atlanta. On 7/20/07 to 7/29/07 at 12:00am.


The NBAF brings the popular Los Angeles-based Pan African Film Festival, the largest event in the United States dedicated to the exhibition of Black films to the Southeast for the National Black Arts Festival.

This festival within the Festival features films from across the Diaspora - the United States, Africa, the Caribbean, South America, Latin America, Europe, the South Pacific and Canada.

The Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a magnificant opportunity to move beyond the cineplex and experience the images, issues, imagination, intensity and artistry of people of African descent through this cinematic showcase.

Festival Location
Woodruff Arts Center/Rich Theatre
1280 Peachtree St. NE
Atlanta, GA 30309


7/20/07 to 7/29/07 at 12:00am

kwani

A few people got laid off at work, what happened to job security? It sucks!
I know this is pathetic and so is the nature of the current situation. Excuse the sulking, I need an outlet...It seems like the designers in the London fashion week were having a pathetic time too.

Fashion inspiration1

images to inspire

What is web 2.0 ?

Lately I have been hearing about web 2.0 so I decided to do a little walking, I found this article which made me curious to dive deeper, I was dissappointed at some of the assumptions the author makes. It seems to me as if he does not like to admit that web technology has evolved from memorising tags in HTML to basically just clicking on a layout and viola! a blog/web page (o.k its not that simple) has been created. For some designers this comes in very handy since they get to spend less time writing code, although its important to know both. He argues that "just because you know every programming language out there, from PHP to Ruby, that doesn’t make you a designer; "...read on.

This may seem a strange statement coming from someone who has designed a few sites that may be deemed as Web2.0 but there’s a big confusion as to what exactly Web2.0 means.

So what does it really mean? Everyone is talking about it but it has different connotations for each person. What originally started out as a label for a set of technologies, later expanded to include a specific graphical look and even a general philosophy on interaction methods. As far as technology goes, web founder Tim Berners-Lee said it best: “this ‘Web 2.0,’ it means using the standards which have been produced by all these people working on Web 1.0.” So nothing new here, except, maybe, that the continuous evolution of browsers may have finally enabled the use of those technologies as it was meant from the beginning. In any case, the tools were finally developed and they suddenly provided the regular user with a lot more power than before; and with all this new found power, be it in the form of blogs, social networking solutions, wikis or content publishing and sharing systems, came a new breed of internet thinking, which some may refer to as the Web2.0 philosophy. It’s all about empowering the user as an active contributor of information in ways that are so straightforward that anyone can do it. Whereas a few years ago, you had to have at least some basic knowledge about HTML to put together and publish a few texts and images, now it’s as simple as a few clicks.

We now have myriads of users actively publishing content on the internet; but when it’s so easy to do it and all the barriers have been removed, what will the user do with this absolute freedom, especially considering his general lack of whatever publishing skills were necessary before? Too much freedom can be dangerous and the user will eventually abuse it. Just take a look at MySpace or other similar sites to see what I’m talking about. The designer’s nightmare is upon us – users are given the power to choose layout, colors, fonts, and all the flashy gimmicks they want.

All this freedom is not a bad thing in itself. What’s bad is that its results are mimicked in an attempt to gain from all this Web2.0 hype: “We want our site to look more like a ‘do-it-yourself’ type so that people will know it’s new and cool and Web2.0”. Trends have always been set by leaders and who are the leaders of this movement? Sites like MySpace, YouTube or FaceBook, who have generated an enormous amount of hype but, in the end, have done so through their innovative concepts and certainly not through their design, which is sub par at best.

This recent empowerment also led to a false sense of knowledge for a lot of people who otherwise don’t have anything in common with the intricacies of high quality design. Just because you’ve been browsing the web since the 14.4K modem, that doesn’t make you a designer; just because you know every programming language out there, from PHP to Ruby, that doesn’t make you a designer; just because you’re running 5 blogs and a very successful YouTube account, that doesn’t make you a designer; just because you know by heart every effect and filter available in Photoshop, that still doesn’t make you a designer.

I’m going to stress this one more time: Web2.0 is not about design, it’s about the quality of the interaction methods and the principles behind those have seen little change since the beginning of the web, whereas design trends come and go all the time. Quality interactive design is still what it’s all about, maybe even more today than before.

African Fashion designer

Here is the list of Designers, post is still in progress. I am living vicariously through them but not for long.

Kenya| African Heritage,Kikoromeo

Uganda| sylvia owori's http://www.sylviaowori.com/

South Africa| Sun goddess

North Africa.

Embarking on the fashion b/ed

So You Want to Start Your Own Clothing Line some of the things to consider...How big the market is for your product- revenue, units, average selling price, etc.

Who is your target market? Imagine who you want to sell to and who your perfect customer is. Describe them in detail.

What are your customer's needs? You can find this out by conducting surveys or interviewing people in the industry

What are the different segments of your target market (by needs, demographics, etc)

How are you going to market to these customers? (through what type of media or message)

What are the best channels to sell to these customers - retail, wholesale, or distributors?

Kenyan Film

I am guilty of not utilizing my skills in this area, this article made me go hmmm you have a point. We as Africans need to tell our own stories. Its very doable it can be low budget

Kenyan Film Industry Written by Amina Mohamed Monday, 23 April 2007

Last month Nigerian films made a sweep at the African Movie Academy Awards. Incidentally, only one film from Kenya was nominated, Voice in the Bin for Best Film.

A quick glance at the nominees shows that Nigerians had the most number of nominees in any category. Nigerian films have become increasingly popular in Kenya and the rest of Africa.

Every street corner has hundreds of these films-- a dime a dozen. When I first watched them I was amused by the Nigerian character. However, the charm soon wore off and the yelling and juju-filled stories only irritate me. There are not too many African films to write home about, however, Totsi from a few years ago comes to mind as a great story.

Too many times we criticise Hollywood for misrepresenting us, for telling our story, not through our eyes, but through theirs. Many of us criticize Hollywood films, even if slightly accurate in historical context, such as Blood Diamond and all the renditions of Idi Amin and other African dictators. For even if our rulers were evil, even if some of our past and present is not glorious we would rather not have Hollywood retell that story. At the same time, it isn't Hollywood's responsibility to tell our story.

I am not much of a movie buff, but a well-produced African film, especially a Kenyan one, would appeal very much to me. The film industry is undoubtedly an expensive venture. Bollywood and Nollywood , in their growing industries, have both shown that on a low budget one can still produce a film.

According to a recent report by ComMattersKenya Limited, 80 per cent of television programs are foreign, while almost 100 per cent of films shown at the cinema are foreign. One would think that the Kenya Film Commission (KFC) aims at creating an opportunity for Kenyan films, and growth for Kenyan film producers and actors and actresses. However, KFC's goal is much like that of the Kenyan Tourism Board, that to sell Kenya's image to Hollywood in what a great locale Kenya is.

Kenya is not without talent. A few years ago, a young Kenyan man produced a film that has been critically acclaimed-- HipHop Colony. Other noteworthy film producers and directors include: Njeri Karago and Judy Kibinge. Last year, the program Lola Kenya Screen gave an opportunity for budding Kenyan youth to produce animation films. Out of this came a complitation of nine films that in March won the Africa Grand Prize for achievement in a film made by children at t the fifth World Summit on Media for Children, held in Johannesburg.

The argument has been, for many, that films are too expensive to produce. However, Nollywood, Bollywood and Independent films across the world have proved that low-budget films are possible. Digital video recording, and increased access to technology will make what was an impossible feat a few years ago, a dream within reach.

While we must not follow all the way in Nollywoods steps, we could take a step or two in their direction. Following the history of Nollywood it is not difficult to see why its rise, albeit critism of poor quality, has resulted in its growth.

So, how about a movie with a real story, afterall, "Kenya is not just about fast running men and giraffes."

Fashion as art

I read this article by a fashionista who was wondering why the heck designers tend to create bizzare cloths such as these... well if you ever read my blog its because its just an expression of their artistic creative talent. I personally like the fact that they are so out there.

Digital Viral fashion

HMMM... very cool in theory? great digital media project. No more laundry maybe. Read on... According to MIT researchers, fashion in the physical world is moving at a much slower pace than online. "[In the online world,] fashion has been moving faster and faster as communication systems become faster and faster," said Judith Donath, director of the Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Lab, who is conducting this research with student Christine M. Liu.

Urbanhermes defines a communicative fashion framework that would ultimately consist of OLED-integrated clothing material that could display digital images and designs, updating whenever the user desired. For instance, a T-shirt could be solid blue one day and striped the next, she said.

These digital images could then be transmitted wirelessly to clothing worn by other people, thereby creating a sort of viral fashion, propagating in much the same way a virus does online. Each piece of clothing, in this example, would also have user-set permissions that could allow/disallow this propagation, or enforce a degradation of images upon transmission, ensuring that the original artwork is always the best quality.

The key to Urbanhermes, Donath explained, is to bring this propagation speed to the physical world so that changing the pattern displayed on your shirt or pants would be as simple as absorbing fashion from the person next to you, or even subscribing to a feed from a designer.

"In the physical world, fashion is not limited by the communication rate [like an RSS feed] but by material," Donath said. "People can't discard their clothing on a daily basis."

The proof-of-concept, which Donath admitted is simplistic, consists of a Sharp Zaurus PDA woven into a messenger bag. The LCD screen of the Zaurus, which features a Linux-based development platform, is visible through a clear plastic window. The device uses Bluetooth and infrared technology for proximity detection and data transmission.

While the idea of OLED-integrated clothing is not new -- the military has been researching adaptive camouflage for years -- the MIT approach to fashion and viral propagation is innovative.

Flickr, which is an website dedicated to photo sharing, is an example of electronic fashion, according to Donath. Images on Flickr's photo feeds change on a real time basis, and are propagated via the Internet. One method to display Flickr fashion, for example, would be to stream an RSS feed of community-supplied images from Flickr to a desktop PC to display as a screensaver.

"[With Urbanhermes,] the notion of fast fashion, as we've seen it on blogs and on Flickr, can migrate to the physical world of face-to-face urban integration," Donath said.