EYE: Gucci Denies Black Community Boycott Is Slowing Sales | Leigh Bowery Inspired Sweater

EYE: Gucci Denies Black Community Boycott Is Slowing Sales | Leigh Bowery Inspired Sweater

Kering's chief financial officer Jean-Marc Duplaix rejected the notion that the blackface scandal played a determining role in Gucci's recent sales slowdown. Per ‘Business of Fashion’, "He dismissed the idea that backlash against a balaclava sweater widely criticized for resembling blackface had hurt sales."

Still — when growth slows some and the word ‘boycott’ is being called for by Oscar-winning director Spike Lee — a smart person takes the situation very seriously. 50 Cent immediately posted a video of himself burning his Gucci clothing, and Soulja Boy covered up the forehead tattoo that was once an ode to the brand, writes Complex.

"Gucci's done," Soulja said before being asked if he planned to ditch his collection of Gucci pieces. "Nah, we ain't gon' return it...I'll just give it to charity."

Michigan Trumpsters Chant "AOC Sucks" As Junior Condemns All Things Green Except Money For Trump Family

Michigan Trumpsters Chant "AOC Sucks" As Junior Condemns All Things Green Except Money For Trump Family

Part of the crowd at Thursday night’s Trump March 28, 2019 rally in Michigan started chanting "AOC sucks," referencing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), after Donald Trump Jr. criticized her ideas. After all, the president’s son is such an authority on American politics, and his father loves women targets, in particular.

“Think about the fact that every mainstream, leading Democratic contender is taking the advice of a freshman congresswoman who three weeks ago didn’t know the three branches of government,” the president's son told the crowd ahead of his dad’s speech. “I don’t know about you guys, but that’s pretty scary.”

After Junior’s remark — AOC calls him ‘Junior’ — the crowd broke into the "AOC sucks" chant. Read Charlotte Alter’s cover story 'Change Is Closer Than We Think.' Inside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Unlikely Rise’. We hope that AOC will just ignore the chants, because they may be with her all the way to 2020.

The Trump crowd loves to denigrate smart women because females with brains that function on overdrive have a very small place in their universe. Daddy’s girl Ivanka Trump, Trumpsters embrace. Do you see a pattern here? I’m sure that Trump had a proverbial heart attack when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — hardly a member of the Trump family inner sanctum — showed up on the cover of last week’s TIME magazine.

Israeli Model Yoshevah Jones Black Hebrews As Tablet's Armin Rosen Expands Convo

Israeli Model Yoshevah Jones Black Hebrews As Tablet's Armin Rosen Expands Convo

Vogue’s Liana Satenstein sits down with Tel Aviv model Yoshevah Jones, described as Israel’s most in-demand face. Jones identifies as a Black Hebrew.

For background, the Black Hebrew movement was founded in Chicago by Ben Ammi Ben-Israel (born Ben Carter). who considered it a radical exit from America during the height of the civil rights movement. Mr. Ben-Israel was a prophet-like figure who claimed that he had a visitation from the angel Gabriel in 1966, in which he was encouraged to lead an exodus of black Americans to Israel. Mr. Ben-Israel led a group of about 400 black, mostly Chicagoans first to Liberia for two years, and then the 100 or so followers, who wanted to continue, on to the small Israeli town of Dimona, about two nours north of Tel Aviv.

Pineapple + Orange Fabrics Rock Sustainable H&M Conscious Exclusive 2019 Collection

Pineapple + Orange Fabrics Rock Sustainable H&M Conscious Exclusive 2019 Collection

Oumie Jammeh, Alanna Arrington and Imaan Hammam encourage us to embrace a sustainable future, buying into the H&M Conscious Exclusive 2019 Campaign, lensed by Josh Olins.

H&M’s latest Conscious Exclusive collection—its ninth so far —introduces three materials the brand is using for the first time: Piñatex, a leather alternative made from the cellulose fiber of pineapple leaves (which become waste after the fruit is harvested); Orange Fiber, a silklike fabric made from the peels of oranges at the end of the juice production cycle; and BLOOM Foam, a high-performance foam made from algae biomass, which “cleans the environment and reduces the risk of algal blooms while reducing our dependence on fossil fuels,” according to the company’s website.

American Cowgirls, French Fashion, Dale Evans , Patriarchy + Religion's 'Big Gods'

American Cowgirls, French Fashion, Dale Evans , Patriarchy + Religion's 'Big Gods'

Amber Valletta Fronts Zara's 'Chasing the Light' Spring 2019 Nature Woman Campaign

Amber Valletta Fronts Zara's 'Chasing the Light' Spring 2019 Nature Woman Campaign

Supermodel Amber Valletta is one of fashion’s loudest and consistently-articulate voices on sustainable fashion. AOC has taken the time to research any sustainable credentials behind Zara’s newest ‘Chasing the Light’ collection, and don’t that these beautiful all-white summer styles are part of Zara’s sustainable ‘Join Life’ project, currently estimated to be only 1.5-3% of sales. We wish ‘Chasing the Light’ had green credentials but can’t find any.

With Amber Valletta appearing as the nature-woman model, it’s easy to think the collection is sustainable, especially coming on the heels of last week’s release of H&M’s exciting Conscious Exclusive Collection. H&M actually used orange peels from the end of the juice production cycle for their Orange Fiber. If Valletta was also eating pineapple, I’d call foul. Piñatex, a leather alternative made from the cellulose fiber of pineapple leaves (which become waste after the fruit is harvested) is a key new fake leather product used in H&M’s 2019 Conscious Exclusive collection.

Alasdair McLellan Flashes Liya, Sara Grace, Hoyeon + Hayett For Tory Burch Spring/Summer 2019 Campaign

Alasdair McLellan Flashes Liya, Sara Grace, Hoyeon + Hayett For Tory Burch Spring/Summer 2019 Campaign

Benjamin Bruno styles models Hayett McCarthy, Hoyeon Jung, Liya Kebede and Sara Grace Wallerstedt in Tory Burch’s Spring/Summer 2019 campaign. Alasdair McLellan is behind the lens, capturing Tory’s ‘Spirit of Adventure’ campaign.

Burch is busy connecting with women all over America, currently on tour in her philanthropic/activist #EmbraceAmbition campaign. Forbes caught up with Tory in Philadelphia last week. “Burch has always envisioned social responsibility to be part of her brand and business and started the Tory Burch Foundation to advance women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship. The need for the Foundation is continually reinforced by studies like SCORE’s recent “The Megaphone of Main Street: Women’s Entrepreneurship” that found while women-owned businesses are making gains, they still lag behind men in key areas like funding.

2012 Vogue Paris 'La Sauvage' Aligns With Faye Cuevas + Damien Mander Drive For Women Rangers In Africa

2012 Vogue Paris 'La Sauvage' Aligns With Faye Cuevas + Damien Mander Drive For Women Rangers In Africa

AOC is always interested in how fierce women are portrayed in fashion and pop culture. We dive into the archives for this Vogue Paris June/July 2012 editorial ‘La Sauvage’. Model Karmen Pedaru is styled by Geraldine Saglio in animal prints and other wild woman looks lensed by Hans Feurer.

The editorial brings to mind recent GlamTribal Blog posts about elephant conservation in Africa. We checked back in with Faye Cuevas, a former military intelligence expert now a key, front-line leader in Kenya’s anti-poaching effort.

Faye’s brand new effort is Team Lioness, the first all-female ranger squad in Kenya. Going forward, Cuevas wants one in four new hires among conservation rangers to be women. Right on, Faye. Faye is not alone in promoting women rangers in Africa.

We are admittedly caught off-guard by the loudest voice for hiring women rangers, Aussie sharp-shooter Damien Mander has just created Zimbabwe’s all-female ‘Akashinga’ anti-poaching force in Phundundu Wildlife Park. Mander pulls no punches and sounds like Hillary Clinton when the topic is women in the developing world.

Mander believes that putting the well-being of wildlife in the expertly trained hands of women could usher in a new way of carrying out conservation. In Mander’s vast experience, he believes that women rangers will create conservation practices that are far less violent, while empowers women and improving communities in the process.

Big Gods Came After The Rise of Civilizations, Not Before, Finds Study Using Huge Historical Database

Big Gods Came After The Rise of Civilisations, Not Before, Finds Study Using Huge Historical Database

When you think of religion, you probably think of a god who rewards the good and punishes the wicked. But the idea of morally concerned gods is by no means universal. Social scientists have long known that small-scale traditional societies – the kind missionaries used to dismiss as “pagan” – envisaged a spirit world that cared little about the morality of human behaviour. Their concern was less about whether humans behaved nicely towards one another and more about whether they carried out their obligations to the spirits and displayed suitable deference to them.

Nevertheless, the world religions we know today, and their myriad variants, either demand belief in all-seeing punitive deities or at least postulate some kind of broader mechanism – such as karma – for rewarding the virtuous and punishing the wicked. In recent years, researchers have debated how and why these moralising religions came into being.

Now, thanks to our massive new database of world history, known as Seshat (named after the Egyptian goddess of record keeping), we’re starting to get some answers.

NASA Cancels First All-Female Spacewalk, Not Having Two Equipped Spacesuits In Women's Sizes

NASA Cancels First All-Female Spacewalk, Not Having Two Equipped Spacesuits In Women's Sizes

NASA has cancelled their highly-promoted two-women space walk due to not having two size medium space suits available. Earlier this month, America’s US space agency announced that astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch were set to make history this Friday, installing lithium-ion batteries at the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA doesn't have two smaller space suits for the ladies, as only big guys are astronauts. Please forgive us for being sarcastic. In fact, NASA is trying to change this image of promoting only men as astronauts, but outfits to wear floating out there in the universe weren’t on the checklist.

Koch will now exit the ISS with male colleague Nick Hague instead. She will wear the medium-size suit used by McClain on a spacewalk with Hague last week.

Safari Tourism May Make Elephants More Aggressive – But It’s Still the Best Tool for Conservation

Safari Tourism May Make Elephants More Aggressive – But It’s Still the Best Tool for Conservation

By Isabelle Szott, PhD Candidate in Conservation Biology, Liverpool John Moores University and Nicola F. Koyama, Senior Lecturer in Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University. First published on The Conversation.

Going on safari in Africa offers tourists the opportunity to see some of the most spectacular wildlife on Earth – including African elephants (Loxodonta africana). Known for their complex social systems, long memory and high intelligence, this species is also threatened by poaching and shrinking habitats, so further disturbance to their precarious existence could have serious consequences.

Wildlife tourism can help protect these animals and their habitat by generating income for conservation and providing stable work in local economies. Countries such as South Africa and Kenya receive two to five million visitors to protected areas each year, generating receipts of up to USD$90m. But as it becomes more popular worldwide, it’s worth remembering that we often don’t know how tourism affects the animals we observe.

Damien Mander Creates Female 'Akashinga' Anti-Poaching Force In Zimbabwe's Phundundu Wildlife Park

Damien Mander Creates Female 'Akashinga' Anti-Poaching Force In Zimbabwe's Phundundu Wildlife Park

Faye Cuevas is not alone in recruiting women as wildlife rangers, responsible for patrolling and even shooting if necessary, ivory poachers. In September 2018, the BBC featured former Special Forces sniper, Australian Damien Mander, who says he found his ‘higher calling’ protecting wildlife in Africa. Knowing what key global military experts, including America’s own top military brass believes, Mander specifically focused on creating a female anti-poaching force in Zimbabwe’s Phundundu Wildlife Park nature reserve a 115 square mile former trophy hunting area that is part of a larger ecosystem home to some 11,000 elephants.

Though women rarely serve as rangers in Africa — a reality that Faye Cuevas also confronted in Kenya — Mander believes that putting the well-being of wildlife in their expertly trained hands could usher in a new way of carrying out conservation. In Mander’s vast experience, he believes that women rangers will create conservation practices that are far less violent, while empowering women and improving communities in the process.

“There’s a saying in Africa, ‘If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation’,” Mander says. “We’re seeing increasing evidence that empowering women is one of the greatest forces of change in the world today.”

Mander is hitting roadblocks, especially in his vision for 4,500 female rangers protecting wildlife across Africa. You can imagine the havoc he’s creating!

Kenya's US Anti-Poaching Expert Faye Cuevas Announces 'Team Lioness', 8 Young Maasai Women Rangers + Plans For Many More

Kenya's US Anti-Poaching Expert Faye Cuevas Announces 'Team Lioness', 8 Young Maasai Women Rangers + Plans For Many More

Team Lioness, a team of eight young Maasai women is one of Kenya’s first all-female ranger units — and the direct result of Faye’s consultations with the Masaii women leaders. Officially announced on March 6, 2019, Team Lioness joins the Olgulului Community Wildlife Rangers (OCWR) who protect wildlife across six bases and one mobile unit in OOGR through IFAW’s tenBoma, an innovative wildlife security initiative. Team Lioness is operating in this precious natural corridor created by Kenya and Tanzania under the majesty of Kilimanjaro.

“In the larger Amboseli region, out of almost 300 wildlife rangers, to my knowledge there was only one woman,” Faye explained, in introducing Team Lioness. “The need was apparent.”

 The women of team Lioness were selected based on their academic achievements and physical strength, as well as their demonstration of trustworthiness, discipline, and integrity. Typically, a Maasai girl leaves school around age 10 and have few opportunities to achieve a higher education.

“It’s very rare that Maasai women achieve a secondary education,” says Cuevas. “But all of team Lioness have the equivalent of a US high school education, and none of them have had a paying job before this. It’s breaking barriers.”

“As the first women joining the OCWR Rangers, each of the team Lioness recruits brings a new perspective and a different experience with wildlife than her male counterparts,” Faye continues. “They are important voices in protecting wildlife and reconnecting communities to the benefits of sharing land with the magnificent big cats and other wildlife that call OOGR home.”

Michael Steinhardt, a Leader in Jewish Philanthropy, Is Accused of a Pattern of Sexual Harassment

MICHAEL STEINHARDT SHOWING ANTI-ISRAEL, ANTI-BIRTHRIGHT PROTESTERS WHAT HE REALLY THINKS. SOURCE: TWITTER PHOTO CAPTURE. VIA JNS

Michael Steinhardt, a Leader in Jewish Philanthropy, Is Accused of a Pattern of Sexual Harassment

By Hannah Dreyfus for ProPublica and Sharon Otterman, The New York Times

Sheila Katz was a young executive at Hillel International, the Jewish college outreach organization, when she was sent to visit the philanthropist Michael H. Steinhardt, a New York billionaire. He had once been a major donor, and her goal was to persuade him to increase his support. But in their first encounter, he asked her repeatedly if she wanted to have sex with him, she said.

Deborah Mohile Goldberg worked for Birthright Israel, a nonprofit co-founded by Steinhardt, when he asked her if she and a female colleague would like to join him in a threesome, she said.

Natalie Goldfein, an officer at a small nonprofit that Steinhardt had helped establish, said he suggested in a meeting that they have babies together.

Steinhardt, 78, a retired hedge fund founder, is among an elite cadre of donors who bankroll some of the country’s most prestigious Jewish nonprofits. His foundations have given at least $127 million to charitable causes since 2003, public filings show.

But for more than two decades, that generosity has come at a price. Six women said in interviews with The New York Times and ProPublica, and one said in a lawsuit, that Steinhardt asked them to have sex with him, or made sexual requests of them, while they were relying on or seeking his support. He also regularly made comments to women about their bodies and their fertility, according to the seven women and 16 other people who said they were present when Steinhardt made such comments.

Will Burrard-Lucas + Tsavo Trust + BeetleCam Capture Kenya's Endangered, Magnificent Elephant Queens

Will Burrard-Lucas + Tsavo Trust + BeetleCam Capture Kenya's Endangered, Magnificent Elephant Queens

You are forgiven for thinking that F_MU1 is a woolly mammoth brought to life. Queen of Elephants, the name photographer Will Burrard-Lucas gave to F__MU1, was a rare “big tusker” elephant, one of perhaps only 30 left in Africa. This royal creature enjoyed a peaceful life for more than 60 years in Kenya’s Tsavo National Park.

These images of F_MU1, renamed Elephant Queen on WBL’s website, are among the last images captured of her. Over long periods of horrific, violent poaching in Kenya, Elephant Queen is a survivor, and she died a natural death shortly after Burrard-Lucas made these magnificent image captures for his new book ‘Land Of Giants.’

Burrard-Lucas embarked on the ambitious project in partnership with Tsavo Trust in August 2017, in an effort to promote worldwide support for the elephants of Tsavo.

In his own words, the photographer shares his story of meeting Elephant Queen for the first time:

Amal Clooney Launches 2020 Award For Young Women As Ambassador For Prince's Trust International

Amal Clooney Launches 2020 Award For Young Women As Ambassador For Prince's Trust International

Amal Clooney may be a ravishingly beautiful style-setter, but most of her fans are equally inspired by her remarkable intelligence, professional focus on human rights, and willingness to give voice to the underprivileged.

Until now, Amal Clooney’s — and her husband George’s — intimate royal relationship has been with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, although the couple did attend a Prince’s Trust Internationall dinner in 2016. . Amal wore that spectacular yellow dress to the royal wedding last spring and co-hosted Meghan Markle’s recent baby shower in New York. The Clooneys also returned the Duchess of Sussex to England in a private jet after the shower. It’s also no secret that Prince Charles is very fond of Meghan and is eagerly awaiting the birth of his grandchild, where he intends to be very involved as a proud grandpapa.

It should be no surprise then that Amal Clooney, who made headlines last week attending a Buckingham Palace dinner with her husband, has agreed to assume a formal ambassadorial role with Prince Charles’ youth charity Prince’s Trust International. The human rights lawyer plans to launch her own prize named the Amal Clooney Award, to celebrate inspirational young women. The award is intended to “highlight the work of young women who have succeeded against the odds to make a lasting difference in their communities.”

A Jewelry Design Journey From Fashionable Omo Valley Arbore Women To Mario Gerth To INIVA Miami

A Jewelry Design Journey From Fashionable Omo Valley Arbore Women To Mario Gerth To INIVA Miami

Serendipity seems to be always at play at Anne of Carversville and in my GlamTribal Jewelry. Close friends think the powers are actually stronger than serendipity in my case, but let me stick with the facts here. The DNA of my GlamTribal collection lies in East Africa, in an area extending from southern Ethiopia’s Omo Valley into the Lake Turkana region, South Sudan and northern Kenya, with a final destination in Nairobi and specifically Kibera. This is not to say that there aren’t more pieces in my puzzle, but my life has wound in and around these pillars for decades.

Hans Silvester’s monumental book ‘Natural Fashion’ (2009) introduced me to the Omo Valley people in 2012, inspiring the first major turn in my vision for GlamTribal. These precious people are living in grave danger of extinction in a modern world, In particular the Gilgel Give III damn threatens their very existence. For five years Italian photographer Fausto Podavini has charted the progress of the damn and its impact on one of Africa’s most remote frontiers. National Geographic updates the story of perhaps epic change in the Omo Valley.

Tom Ford Becomes Chairman of Council of Fashion Designers of America

CURRENT CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF FASHION DESIGNERS OF AMERICA DIANE VON FURSTENBERG AND INCOMING CHAIRMAN TOM FORD.

Tom Ford Becomes Chairman of Council of Fashion Designers of America

The award-winning fashion designer, film director, screenwriter, and film producer Tom Ford will succeed current Chairwoman Diane von Furstenberg effective June 2019, writes the CFDA.

The Texas-born designer introduced a heady combination of glamour and sensual desire into American fashion.. Ford eagerly embraced smart women with sex appeal believing that women could be both.

Gemma Chan Can't Help Talking Substance, Lensed By Paola Kudacki For Allure April 2019

Gemma Chan Can't Help Talking Substance, Lensed By Paola Kudacki For Allure April 2019

Actor Gemma Chan is styled by Karen Kaiser in images by Paola Kudacki for Allure US April 2019./ Hair by Kevin Ryan; makeup by James Kaliardos. Jessica Chia conducts the interview.

Chan has dominated headlines since playing the troubled cousin Astrid in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. Chan reminds us that political correctness works both ways, and she’s clearly still smarting from the racial pushback against her for playing Bess of Hardwick from the 2018 film ‘Mary Queen of Scots’.