Cologne Attacks Raise Major Questions About Arab Men & Women's Safety In Western Countries

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Cologne Attacks Raise Major Questions About Arab Men & Women's Safety In Western Countries

Over the New Years holiday, Germany experienced significant attacks of a wide-ranging nature on women living there. Writing for The New Yorker, Amy Davidson describes the scene -- NPR estimates that 1000 men gathered by Cologne's famous cathedral and central hub train station -- on New Year's Eve in Cologne as reported in Der Spiegel:

That night, as revellers filled the station platforms and—following a dubious German tradition—tossed firecrackers, they were pushed out into already crowded streets. There, groups of men who, according to eye-witness accounts and subsequent police investigations, were primarily foreigners from nations in North Africa, the Middle East, and the Balkans, targeted women and surrounded them. Some of the men groped and taunted them, while others stole their wallets and their cell phones. Women, accompanied or not, literally ran a ‘gauntlet’ through masses of heavily intoxicated men that words cannot describe.” The atmosphere was “chaotic and shameless.” Women reported men grabbing at their breasts and between their legs, among other violent and sexual assaults. With the press of the crowd, there was nowhere for the women to go and, although they screamed for help, the police had no effective response; the report described them as overwhelmed, and some witnesses said that they seemed to stand by in confusion. The police report expressed relief that no one was killed, but that appears to have been a matter of luck, not the result of any actions on the part of law enforcement. The chief of police has already been pushed into early retirement.

"A lot happened on New Year's Eve in Cologne, much of it contradictory, much of it real, much of it imagined," wrote the staff of Der Spiegel, who obtained an internal police document about the night's events. "Some was happenstance, some was exaggerated and much of it was horrifying."

Angelina Jolie Has Second Surgery | Jolie's Impact On BRCA Screening Is Huge

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Angelina Jolie shared one more reason why she is among the world’s most admired women, writing an op ed in The New York Times about her latest preventive surgery. Two years ago the world star had a double mastectomy after learning that she carries the BRCA1 gene. Angelina Jolie Pitt, the name she used in today’s op ed, had an 87% risk of getting breast cancer and a 50% risk of ovarian cancer and lost her mother, grandmother and aunt to cancer.

Jolie’s recent surgery to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes was always part of her health management plan, but a recent blood test and follow-up medical treatment prompted her to act now.

At the time of her double mastectomy, Jolie wrote: ‘I do not feel any less of a woman. I feel empowered that I made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity.’

In today’s piece, Jolie reached out to women, saying ‘I feel feminine and grounded in the choices I am making for myself and my family. I know my children will never have to say ‘Mom died of ovarian cancer”.

High Impact on Women’s Health

2. In 2014 Dr. Harold Burstein from the Harvard Medical School shared news of Angelina’s impact on women getting checked for BRCA mutations. Calling her first op-ed ‘a model of medical writing’, Dr. Burstein referred to a study at the University of Toronto that examined both an increase in medical screenings and whether the subjects were medically appropriate candidates or just nervous nellies.

Focusing on their own populations in Toronto, the doctors concluded that the number of BRCA! and BRCA2 screenings doubled as a result of her op ed. The candidates for the screenings were ABSOLUTELY women who should be screened. A secondary effect was a strong increase in physician referrals by doctors influenced by the Jolie effect, health workers who probed more deeply into women’s medical histories.

Madonna Calls Out Gay Men's Misogyny In Out Magazine April 2015 Interview

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Madonna Calls Out Gay Men’s Misogyny In Out Magazine April 2015 Interview

Madonna’s comments echo those of 2015 Academy Awards best supporting actress Patricia Arquette, who was criticised loudly for suggesting that multiple groups — including the LGBT community — must stand for women. The debate became one about intersectionality, political correctness,  and white women high-wage earners and not Arquette’s sound argument that all women are entitled to expect support for women’s rights after so many have stood for LGBT rights.

Victoria's Secret Angels Flock Loses Doutzen Kroes, Lindsay Ellingson & Karlie Kloss

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Two more Victoria’s Secret Angels have left the flock. Karlie Kloss made the biggest news last Friday, leaving the world’s largest lingerie brand to pursue a degree at New York University while maintaining her modeling career and business interests.

Doutzen Kroes

Now we learn that Doutzen Kroes also left the Victoria’s Secret gaggle of Angels in late December to pursue a ‘lucrative business opportunity in Europe. Like with Kloss, Ed Razek, Chief Marketing Officer of VS, stressed that there was no conflict. Doutzen Kroes now has two children with husband Sunnery James: their son Phyllon and new daughter Myllena. Razek wrote on his Instagram account:

Doutzen had a lucrative opportunity in Europe and it would have conflicted with her VS obligations. So, at her agencies request, we released her from contract. There was no conflict. No animosity. None of the nonsense I’ve read on Instagram. She had a great business opportunity, and I wanted to be fair to someone I adore and respect. That’s all. I honestly believe Doutzen is one of the most stunningly beautiful people in the world. And I always will. I have told her that many times. Now you know.

Lindsay Ellingson

The third Victoria’s Secret Angel to depart the brand is Lindsay Ellingson, who is launching a cosmetics line called Wander Beauty that will debut on the QVC television channel in April 2015. Ellingson’s business partner Divya Gugnani graduated from the Harvard business school and used to work at QVC. Gugnani is the co-founder of Send the Trend, a NY based startup that was acquired by QVC in 2012.

Previously: Karlie Kloss

Eye | A Digital Tizzy Erupts Over Emma Watson & Prince Harry Rumors | Karlie Kloss Hangs Up Her Victoria’s Secret Wings

Victoria’s Secret has confirmed the loss of Karlie Kloss with glowing words about the model.

‘Karlie and I met several months ago to discuss the many things she hoped to do in her life and career. As we talked, it became clear she would not have the time to fulfill her myriad commitments. Reluctantly, we agreed she would leave the brand at the end of her contract. Karlie is one of a kind, a very close friend, someone I truly admire and love. She is, without question, one of the best models ever. But she is an even better person. Her future is unlimited, and I am excited to see all the good she will do. Karlie Kloss will always be an Angel to me,’ Ed Razek, senior creative executive for Victoria’s Secret, said in confirming the Friday night rumor.

Tippi Degré: Daughter of Namibia, Best Friend To Animals, Desired By The World

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Tippi Degre: Daughter of Namibia, Best Friend to Animals, Desired By The World

These childhood images of Tippi Degré, born in 1990 the newly-independent Namibia to French parents, documentary film makers and wildlife photographers Alain Degré and Sylvie Robert, are extraordinary in their intimacy. Named after Tippi Hedren, the young girl Tippi Benjamine Okanti Degré grew up in the company of an elephant named Abu and a dizzying array of big cats, snakes, a baby zebra, an ostrich, giant bullfrogs and countless other members of her animal menagerie. It’s said that Tippi persuaded giraffes to come down to her level.

Eye | Behati Prinsloo In 'Seminole Spirit' By Russell James Opens Feb 17 At NYC Stephan Weiss Gallery

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Behati Prinsloo In ‘Seminole Spirit’ By Russell James Opens Feb 17 At NYC Stephan Weiss Gallery

Apart from the photos of Prinsloo, the exhibit will also present a film featuring spoken word from the spiritual leader of the Seminole Tribe, a fine art photography exhibition from Bobby Henry that includes portraits of tribe members, and the tribe’s cultural sites and landscapes.

“Seminole Spirit is totally different than any type of normal shoot. This isn’t a project about fashion or trends, it is an art project with a really powerful story behind it,” Prinsloo says. “We were all so humbled to be in collaboration with the Seminole Tribe of Florida. […] This was definitely a project of passion for all of us with no shot count or designer label needed.”

Adds James, “I hope to engage people to look at this and understand this culture as not something that is gathering dust in the closet, but to realize that tribes and indigenous people are using culture to their great advantage, to maintain their identity.”

Anne adds:

Describing her experience with the Seminole people, Behati Prinsloo says: “We painted my body gold as we tried to capture an idea we had of what ‘Seminole Spirit’ is . . I felt like a savage swamp mermaid on Seminole land, crazy.”

In describing herself as a mermaid, Behati channels the key theme of female goddess history, establishing herself in the sisterhood of Mami Wati’s born in Africa before travelling the globe — often on the slave ships as a source of comfort and solace in brutal conditions.

AOC is dancing as fast as we can on this one, because ‘Seminole Spirit’ goes to the very essence of our identity and purpose. Lots more is coming. ~ Anne

Eye 2-2-15 | Mami Wata Resurgence As Global Goddess | 55,000 Years-Old Female Skull Provides Critical Link In Human Evolution & Migration Out of Africa

Eye | Mami Wata Resurgence As Global Goddess | 55,000 Years-Old Female Skull Provides Critical Link In Human Evolution & Migration Out of Africa

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Carmelita Mendes Is Beauty Goddess By Mari Queiroz For Amuse Magazine AOC GlamTribale

A Female Skull Closes Migration Link Out of Africa and Into The Levant

Female Skull In Israel’s Manot Cave Links Humans & Neanderthals 55,000 Years Ago AOC GlamTribale

In a series of coincidences that are peppered throughout my life, scientists have threaded another needle in the highly-probable story that human life originated in the region of Lake Turkana bordering Kenya and Ethiopia before migrating into a region known today as The Levant.

In a very real sense, today’s religious wars are going on in the very region that is the cradle of human civilization. My own relationship with The Levant area is most focused on studying the evolution of the goddesses and the rise of monotheism.

Kenya, Lake Turkana and the Omo Valley people of Ethiopia are a much stronger connection — one revealed through my inexplicable connections with the young photographer Dan Eldon. Here is a sampling of our journey.

Mami Wata Moves Into Anne of Carversville

Aphrodite Joins Mami Wata For A Swim in Human Consciousness AOC Sensual Rebel Nov. 2009

Men have always been ambivalent about mermaids, the mythological aquatic creature with a female human head and torso but the tail of a fish. In many ancient cultures, mermaids were regarded as semi-divine aspects of the Goddess.

Carl Jung’s theory of the feminine unconscious describes this oceanic-subterranean womb of creation as an unfathomable place of ancient wisdom but also fear.

The first known mermaid stories appeared in Assyria, ca. 1000 BC. The goddess Atargatis, mother of Assyrian queen Semiramis, loved a mortal shepherd and unintentionally killed him.

Distraught and ashamed, Atargatis jumped into a lake to take the form of a fish, but the waters would not conceal her divine beauty. Thereafter, she took the form of a mermaid—human above the waist, fish below—though the earliest representations of Atargatis showed her as a fish with a human head and legs, similar to the Babylonian Ea. The Greeks recognized Atargatis under the name Derketo.

Prior to 546 BC, the Milesian philosopher Anaximander proposed that mankind had sprung from an aquatic species of animal. The scientist and highly-regarded critical thinker thought that humans, with their extended infancy, could not have survived otherwise.

Mami Wata Resurgence In South Africa

Steve Marais Celebrates African & Global Goddess Mami Wata As Mermaid In Gaschette Magazine AOC Salon

More reading:

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Female Skull In Israel's Manot Cave Links Humans & Neanderthals 55,000 Years Ago

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Female Skull In Israel's Manot Cave Links Humans & Neanderthals 55,000 Years Ago AOC Muse

Israeli researchers published a critical article this week, arguing that a 55,000 years-old, female skull found in the Manot Cave of Israel’s Western Galilee is a crucial link in understanding the evolution of the human species.  Scientists believe that the skull offers definitive proof that anatomically modern humans coexisted with Neanderthals in the same geographical area.

It’s widely accepted science that human origins date back about 200,000 years to Africa. However, there has not been agreement about which migration model of early Homo sapiens led to the population of our planet, accompanied by the extinction of Neanderthals.

The morphology of the skull indicates that it is that of a modern human of African origin, bearing characteristics of early European Upper Palaeolithic populations. This suggests that the Levantine populations were ancestral to earlier European populations,” said Prof. (Israel) Hershkovitz (of Tel Aviv University).  “This study also provides important clues regarding the likely inbreeding between anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals.”

The Manot Cave, where the skull was unearthed, was discovered accidentally in 2008 when a bulldozer struck the cave roof, revealing a time capsule tens of thousands of years old. “This is a goldmine,” said Prof. Hershkovitz. “Most other caves are ‘disturbed caves,’ but this is untouched, frozen in time — truly an amazing find. Among other artefacts found there, the skull, which we dated to 55,000 years ago using uranium thorium methods, was astonishing. It provides insight into the beginnings of the dispersal of modern humans all over the world.”

Israeli Newspapers Photoshop Out Women Leaders From Paris March

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Israeli Newspapers Photoshop Out Women Leaders From Paris March

The actual photo from Sunday that included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and EU foreign affairs, security chief Frederica Mogherini and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Eye | John Galliano Returns At Teatime London | Hollywood Stands For Charlie | Adidas Originals Ad Campaign

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Helen Mirren shows support for free speech, holding Je Suis Charlie sign at January 11 Golden Globe awards in Hollywood.Adidas Originals | #OriginalSuperstar

Some of the best, memorable ad campaigns are launched by athletic brands, and the new Adidas Originals campaign hits a real high note inspite of a strong bass line. In the age of selfiedom — now promoted in more not memorable Spring 2015 campaigns than we can count — Adidas has a values-driven message: stop being obsessed with your own fame.

You can live through the lives of celebrities, says Adidas, even if you are Rebecca Harrington writing about her adventures in celebrity dieting in I’ll Have What She’s Having, out this week from Vintage. New York Magazine features Harrington’s ‘I Tried Taylor Swift’s Diet and It Was A Joy’.

John Galliano Returns to Runway Today

John Galliano with model Cara Delevingne at a London party December 2014.Former Dior Creative Director and Designer John Galliano will return to the fashion world today, as he debut’s French Label Maison Martin Margiela Artisanal collection at London’s menswear show. WWD reports that Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz, Burberry’s Christopher Bailey and milliner Stephen Jones are expected to attend the event.

Jones says that the event will occur at 4:30 pn London time at a “warehouse space in Westminster”.” It’s ‘Teatime’,” explained Margiela spokeswoman Jade Guishard, “which is very English.”

Perfect Timing?

If Guishard is right and timing is everything in life, Galliano might wish for a different day to showcase his work. The impetuous, alcoholic design talent, who has received major support from Vogue’s Anna Wintour and supermodel Kate Moss in his recovery, faced a deadly public relations backlash over his antisemetic, drunken February 2011 rant at the La Perle cafe in the Marais.

Unfortunately, the Marais is also the location of Paris’ terrorist attack at a kosher supermarket, with four dead bodies now headed for Israel, rather than burial in France. Anti-Semetic attacks and incidents in France more than doubled during 2014, says the French Ministry of Interior. About 7,000 French Jews moved to Israel from France in 2014 up from 3,300 in 2013. It’s believed that 15,000 French Jews will migrate to Israel this year, writes Middle East Eye.

Note that anti-Muslim attacks have also increased in France and throughout Europe over the same period.

Whether current events will impact the viability of Galliano’s return to fashion design will be decided after the first collections are shown. Galliano may no longer be relevant as a designer, writes The Guardian. Certainly his theatrical, over-the-top designs have no place at Martin Margiela. After phase one’s focus on the clothes, European retailers will decide whether or not to embrace again fashion’s bad boy now enjoying a revitalized, sober life based on values that resonate — or so he says.

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Eye | Spring 2015 Designer Brands | Ralph Lauren

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Ralph Lauren brings safari splendor to new heights — or volumes — with Bruce Weber’s kickoff of the first image of Sanne Vloet surrounded by camels and the incredible safari-inspired gown that closed out Lauren’s Spring 2015 designer show.

As we wait for more images from the Ralph Lauren Spring 2015 campaign, enjoy Lauren’s safari-inspired glamour from the ready-to-wear collection.

Ralph Lauren Spring 2015 Polo Restaurant

The Polo Bar is located just a few steps east of Ralph Lauren’s flagship store at Fifth Avenue and 55th Street. WritesThe New York Times:

“I’m about longevity, I’m about timeless,” Mr. Lauren said, sipping a cup of his own brand of coffee. “It was not my idea to be trendy. I don’t want to be the hot restaurant. I want to be the restaurant you want to go to twice a week.”

Ralph & Ricky Lauren: 50 Years and Counting