Rally round the West Indies ... women!

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Soooo... once again, the West Indies men's cricket team has disappointed us with their lack of heart, effort or discipline in the World Twenty20.

It's not so much that they lost to Australia - the Aussies have been like frigging Terminators in this series - machines covered in human skin and focused on one mission only. But it is how they lost that is hurtful. There was a limpness, a visible lack of interest or effort, that just compounded the defeat for Windies supporters.


Gayle apologised to fans, saying:

"There are no excuses and I apologise to the fans for our display in this World Cup but we have to hold our heads high."

Really? You have to hold your heads high? Why again?


Big. Dutty. Suck. Teet.

Let's focus on a team that can and should really hold its head high. The ones who fight on the field to win games, with amazing feats to outshine even those of the men and who defeated the defending champions England.

Let's talk about Deandra Dottin, Stafanie Taylor and the rest of the West Indies women's team, led by Merissa Aguilleira.

Islandista It Girl: Shala Monroque

Islandistas, you know what we love?

We love reading about islandista it girls - chicks who are just killing the scene in New York, London, wherever, with their style, flair and islandistas-ness. We love when something about their name or look gives us that little inkling... is she...an islandista?

And we've found another one - she's St. Lucian Shala Monroque, editor-at-large for Pop magazine, girlfriend of art dealer and gallerist Larry Gagosian  and the fashion set's darling.
Seriously, Monroque, who was born and raised in bel Sent Lisi, is everywhere that matters in style.

She makes regular appearances (like here and here) in Vogue.com's Ten Best Dressed of the Week and was profiled as an 'It Girl' in the Flash section of Vogue last month (April 2010). Essence.com also praised her style in a piece recently, noting how she sent the fashion blogosphere in a tizzy during the SS10 season last year.

Her style is distinctive - a variety of turbans and beanies so she doesn't have to fuss too much with her short, natural do, the sickest shoe game this side of the Atlantic and a love of bright colours and prints.
That same month she was also in Harper's Bazaar, in their 7-day Wardrobe feature, showing the range of fabulous style. In the feature, she attributes her love of big, bold colour to her Caribbean heritage.

She also attributes that heritage, specifically her looshan-ess to her fearless attitude. In her blog for Pop, she drops the stat that every St. Lucian must remind you of - their Nobel Laureate ratio,  while musing:

"Anyway these two events coming from an island with a population of 160.000 people has left me and many other St. Lucians with the idea that we can achieve anything..."

Yep, pretty much!

New vid: Alexandra Burke's 'All Night Long'

Islandista and X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke unveiled her latest music video this week -  for her dance tune All Night Long.

While the song itself is pretty generic dance pop, the video is something else - a raucous, raunchy house-party with girls kissing girls, club kids in Crayola shades and Alex herself in a dramatic look - a black leather leotard with one puff-ball shoulder and glittery eyeshadow.

Check out the vid and a closer shot of her look below and tell us what you think

Islandistas part of Marie Claire's 'Inspire & Mentor' campaign

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 British Marie Claire launched its Inspire & Mentor campaign last week and three Caribbean women are among the ranks of the "most influential women in Britain" that the mag has chosen to serve as mentors.

 

Singer Leona Lewis (Guyanese by way of her father), actress Naomie Harris (Jamaican mother) and double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes (half-Jamaican by way of her estranged father) are among the 17 women that will mentor chosen Marie Claire readers.

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They are all featured on a pull-out cover of Marie Claire's upcoming May issue and on the inside as well with profiles highlighting each woman.

  The campaign which is in association with the esteemed Prince's Trust was launched with a big do at London's Ivy club, with speeches by Harris and British PM's wife Sarah Brown and a performance by Dionne Bromfield, the half-Jamaican, half-Jewish god-daughter of Amy Winehouse and general teenage singing phenom.

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Sanya Richards weds college sweetheart

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Islandista Sanya Richards married her college sweetheart, NY Giants football player Aaron Ross last Friday in Austin, Texas, where they first met at the University of Texas.

Being a real-real power couple (her, Olympic gold medallist, US record holder and World Champion, him Super Bowl winner), their wedding was featured in the New York Times' Vows section and was also on Entertainment Tonight and is also set to be featured in WEtv's Platinum Weddings, as we told you in an earlier post.



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When yuh big, yuh large!

The NYT write-up was really cute with Ross talking about his excitement when he finally got to talk to Sanya, after eyeing her for a while.

JOURDAN'S BAAA-AACK!

Can you tell we're excited?!

One of our favourite islandistas walking the fashion runways, Jourdan Dunn is set to be back in action for London Fashion Week, after being out for a good part of last year when she was pregnant.

Jourdan delivered her first child, a baby boy in December and now she is set to make her return in her home city.

The showcard above surfaced a few days ago on models.com, sending the fashion pack into a frenzy of anticipation for the return of the islandista who was Britain's model of the year in 2008.

And then the story broke in the mainstream press with New York Magazine and British Vogue reporting her imminent return.

According to the gossip on fashion forum The Fashion Spot, she was sighted at a Russell Marsh casting and folks have been speculating about which of the shows he casts will she appear in - guesses right now are on Richard Nicoll, Chris Kane, Jaeger and Jonny Saunders and Prada.

Yay! Welcome back Jourdan! We sure missed you!

Destra welcomes her baby girl

Islandista and soca mummy Destra Garcia gave birth to her baby girl, Xaiya yesterday, almost exactly at full term.

The Express in Trinidad reported that the baby, who weighed in at 6 lbs and 15 oz, came a day earlier than her due date - wha kinda island baby little Xaiya is, being so prompt?!

Mother and child are doing well after a long labour for Miss Sassiness, who told the Express:

’It was everything I thought it would be. Now I have to learn how to be a good mum. She is so innocent. Right now she is just sleeping a lot.’

Congrats Destra and looking forward to seeing you back out next Carnival!

Alexandra Burke in fabulous new spread

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One of our favourite British islandistas, singer Alexandra Burke is looking absolutely fabulous in Britain’s News of the World.

The glamourous shoot is surprisingly classy for NOTW, which is your typical brash British celeb tabloid magazine – and we love the look – very Russian princess with dramatic white dresses, diamonds and even wolves!

An extensive interview accompanied the spread, where Alex spoke at length about growing up as the little woman of the house when her mother, Soul II Soul lead singer Melissa Bell was on tour.

Rihanna craving the taste of home

We had to smile at these pics of Rihanna clutching her Tiger Malt as she prepared to get her Caribbean grub on when she was in London this weekend to perform on X-Factor.

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Two nights in a row, she left out the fancy restaurants for the chance to get some curry chicken and plain rice from Ochi Caribbean take-away in Shepherd's Bush - washed down each time with a Tiger Malt from Barbados' own Banks Holdings.

 

Girl, we know how yuh feel... islandistas, who hasn't been 'over in away' and craved the taste of home? Not to mention if you're from any Caribbean country besides Jamaica (and to a lesser extent Trinidad), getting products from your specific country is difficult so you get super-excited when you do manage to find something... I certainly remember avidly stocking up on Ju-C and Ovaltine biscuits when I found someone in the city I lived who actually sold it.

Oh, p.s to Ri-ri... you can also check out the Humming Bird in North London - they sell greeeat food from all over the Caribbean - even cou-cou! And Jerk City in Central London is an islandista fave too...

Alicia John-Powell facing down cancer

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We spent quite some time mulling over the headline for this post.

We really wanted to get across how we feel about how 'Ms. Basia' , tv host and magazine publisher Alicia John-Powell has dealt with her breast cancer diagnosis and battle - with fierceness and grace and can-do spirit.

This is the way I choose to do my fight and anyone who wants to join me is free to do so,” she told the Trinidad Guardian about her all guns blazing approach to the disease.

John-Powell, who is the wife of former WI cricketer Ricardo Powell, found out she had breast cancer earlier this year, on a family trip to Disney Land.

Since then, she has undegone chemo and a bilateral mastectomy (removing tissue from both breasts - done for patients considered to have a high risk of reoccurence).

She has also used her high profile and media outlets to push a message of hope for others with cancer.

Her mastectomy is set to be shown on the Basia TV show at a later date. She explained to the Guardian that she wanted to demystify the disease and educate people.

“I had sad moments, I cried, I had different people hold my hand at different stages. I want to expose things people don’t tell you about, like the early menopause. I know I will save lives and people will discover lumps and go to the doctor.”

She has also formed the Basia Support Network, which was launched last Monday in Trinidad. The theme of the network is 'Maintaining Happiness'  and the network will seek to do that for cancer patients and survivors, through a  different means, including medical sponsorship, therapeutic yoga, inspirational lectures and diet consultations.

 

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John-Powell explained the thinking behind the theme at the launch:

"I am living proof that it’s not always that bad, with support and love you can win the battle and that is what the network is about."

We at Islandista say 'fight on!'

 

Islandista we love- Sharmadean Reid

 

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Sharmadean Reid is one of the coolest girls around.

Says who?

Well, us for one and that should be enough for you. :)

  But if you insist... the New York Times' The Moment Blog said pretty much the exact same thing about the 25 year old islandista-descended Brit, who is the sportswear editor of Arena Homme Plus.

 Dazed and Confused loves her hot online magazine WAH (as in wahgwan or in her words 'we ain't hoes'. Good to know).

 The Independent listed her as one of the '15 People who will define the future of arts in Britain' (no pressure!)

 And Elle UK loves her nail bar, WAH Nails. So does style.com.Good enough?

 Ok, so why do they love her so much? Well, she's just effortlessly cool. Despite being the editor of a menswear magazine, she's still girly, which is why she opened the WAH nail bar, as she told Elle:

"I love menswear, I was brought up on Arena Homme Plus, but at the end of the day I’m a girl!"

Her style, as reflected in WAH the online mag and WAH the nail salon is a tongue in cheek mix of street style and high end style.

For instance, you can get a Balmain-inspired nail design or even the classic Chanel logo, as seen below.

 

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The style influences and trends she champions are right on the cutting edge of what's hot - early 90s hip hop culture and style, vintage, body con, Shoreditch (it's a London thing) and hot sneakers - among other things!

Not to mention - did you check the line up of all the girl has going on right now? Magazine editor, nail salon owner, online magazine publisher ... oh and she's a stylist and a consultant for Nike, as well.

Really, who can top us islandistas for drive and hustle?

Islandista we love - June Ambrose

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Jay-Z calls her his "secretary of style".

 

In addition to Jay, she has worked as a stylist for Mary J. Blige, P.Diddy and Janet Jackson - among others.

 She has crafted some of the hottest and most memorable looks in hip-hop - and that is no hyperbole.

Remember Missy Elliot's inflatable 'bag' suit in the music video for The Rain?

Or Puffy and Biggie's shiny suits in Mo Money, Mo Problems?

That was all the work of June Ambrose, hip-hop's ultimate stylist and style influencer.

Oh, and did we mention she's an island girl? That last name was a dead giveaway, wasn't it? Of course, she hails from Antigua.

UK music tidbits - Leona, Alexandra and Keisha

All kinds of things going on with our UK islandistas this week.

First, the follow-up to the shocking attack on Leona Lewis - apparently the attacker, 29 year old Peter Kowalczyk, was a bitter X-Factor reject.

His father told UK tabloid the Sun:

"He wants to be a singer. He went along and queued at X Factor. How far he got with it? Nowhere."

Apparently Kowalczyk waited FIVE HOURS in line at the book signing just so he could get at Leona.

Who is of course now terrified. The Sun quotes a source as saying she is terrified to go out, thinking the  next crazy attacker could have something more deadly than a fist.

In happier news, fellow X-factor winner Alexandra Burke is heading for number one with her first post- X-factor song - Bad Boys.

And she's beating Brit pop legend Robbie Williams handily in the race for number one too.

She has sold 89,384 copies so far as compared to 42,751 for Robbie's Bodies and her tune is number one on itunes.

Oh, and the tune is the fastest selling song for 2009 too.

Cos that's how we islandistas do it. Get um Alex!

And in more islandista news, Keisha Buchanan may well have the last laugh in the Sugababes war of 09.

She is in hot demand for collaborations and is already back in the studio, with Ne-Yo apparently on the list of would-be collaborators.

Meanwhile, Amelle Berabah, whose dramatic disappearance that wasn't, was the spur that forced Keisha out of the group she founded, has entered a clinic, suffering from severe nervous exhaustion.

Poor thing, apparently the stress of backraising Keisha and getting her own way in forcing her out, has been very 'traumatic'.

Hmm. Karma is a bee-atch.

Preggers Jourdan Dunn walks for Jean Paul Gaultier

Even though she's six months' pregnant, Jourdan Dunn still made an appearance during Paris Fashion Week over the weekend - walking in the always hotly anticipated Jean Paul Gaultier show.

Dunn made an appearance in an outfit that was JPG-redux - a bronze conical bra a la Madonna in the 80s, but this time, updated with a belly pad for her  baby bump!

Check out the pics below.

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Island folk honoured by Congressional Black Caucus

 



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Islandistas and islandistos were all up in the do two weekends ago when the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation held their annual Phoenix Awards and dinner in Washington D.C.

 

As ever, the event was a high-wattage gathering of true black star power and this year was topped off by an address by President Barack Obama.

Several island folk were honoured at this year's awards - Jamaican-born actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, Haitian-born musician and humanitarian Wyclef Jean were among the honorees, as were islandistas by descent Cicely Tyson (born to Nevisian parents) and Susan Rice (of Jamaican descent).

Bermudan Premier Ewart Brown also turned out for the event, as did former Essence head honch Susan L. Taylor (Kittitian and Trini through her parents).

Makes you proud to be from one of these little rocks, doesn't it? : )

Check The Black Socialite and Fab Empire for more pics and coverage!

Rihanna rips the runway ... front row @ Paris Fashion Week

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Lawdamercy!

Who send de red girl from Westbury Road fuh dem in Paree?

Rihanna chose Paris Fashion - the most elite of the fashion seasons to kill. it. with her all-black everything fashion game. Not to mention she's hitting several of the other hot new trends for the  season- sporting dark lipstick again at Gareth Pugh and over the knee boots at Vivienne Westwood (please Lord, do not let this trend make it to the Caribbean - I will slap the fool I see in knee highs in this heat).

No lie - we don't agree with every one of the choices but yuh gotta give  her points for effort. She has the paparazzi and fashion folk in Europe going mad with her style choices - popping up at the hottest shows in outfits that put the rest of the front row (what front row?) to shame.

Check out some of the looks from Rihanna's Runway below.

Islandistas working the runways at New York Fashion Week

Islandistas, do you know what's in style this season?

ISLANDISTAS!

That's what.

Maybe it's just us, but we are definitely seeing changes in the colour of the catwalks of New York Fashion Week. As you would know we have been tracking this for some time and the last season (Fall/Winter 09) definitely looked more colourful than it had in ... ever?

And it seems the trend is continuing. We have been poring through style.com to get an idea of how models of colour are being represented and thus far, we are pleased to report that out of the 32 collections we've reviewed thus far, all but four designers have included models of colour.

The four offenders so far are Preen, William Rast, Lyn Devon and Helmut Lang - though Lang might get a bligh since he only used two models and one was the Asiatic looking Russian Ranya Mordanova.

Anyway, these more colourful catwalks have been a boon to Caribbean models and there are islandistas all over New York Fashion Week. Honestly, we  have never seen so many.

And what is interesting is that it is not just the more familiar faces like Arlenis Sosa and Jeneil Williams that we are seeing popping up.

Check out more pics and the info on their island connections after the jump.

Islandista Fashion Notes - Fashion Night Out & Alex Burke's saucy dress

Oh islandistas, so much is happening right now in the world where islandistaness (yeh, just made it up), and fashion intersect, that we can scarcely keep up!

New York Fashion Week is on like boil corn and you know we will be giving you the news from the runways and red carpets.

And of course... the parties. Vogue did it big like only they can last night when they hosted the global Fashion Night Out (FNO) - a night of retail therapy, model mingling and retail recovery in every city and country where Vogue is published.

Naturally, some of our fashionista islandistas made appearances at various FNOs - Rihanna and Estelle were spotted at events for the New York City FNO while supermodel preggy Jourdan Dunn was at the London FNO.

Oh Ri-Ri, what have you done? Fools in the club are still stumbling around wearing those Kanye West shutter shades all two years after the 'Stronger' music video - now you give them this?

Another soca mummy - Destra pregnant

Wha de jail...!

How on earth did we at islandista miss this?

Soca songbird Destra Garcia is joining the line of soca mummies as she is pregnant with her first child.

She revealed this in an interview with the Trinidad Express last week.

She told the Express she did not even realise she was pregnant for a while as she "always had a bit of an iregular cycle" and she had no morning sickness.

However, she did notice that she had become a bit more bountiful up top, as she had gone up by two bra cup sizes.

The father to be is her long-time boyfriend, Brian Morris, who is the sound engineer for her band, Atlantik. He says the couple is planning marriage to go with baby in the "not too distant future".

However, like the other soca mummies - Alison Hinds, Denyse Belfon and most recently, Fay-Ann Lyons, Destra does not seem to intend to stop performing.

At a recent show at Adam Smith Square in Woodbrook, Saucy Wow coached Destra on how to do de wickedest preggers wine, much to the delight of all the fans.

The baby is due in January 2010 - right, right before Carnival 2010 and it will be interesting to see how Destra copes with the public pressure that is sure to come to bear on her.

You know how we West Indians like to act like pregnancy is a illness that requires a woman to be bed-ridden.

In the meantime, we at Islandista offer our congrats to the mummy to be!

Islandista who keeps rising - Soledad O'Brien

Everyone wants a piece of Soledad O'Brien.

Seriously.

The famous CNN journalist and Special Investigations host was born in the United States to a black Cuban mother and white Australian father of Irish descent.

Looks simple written there but when you hear that she is a member of both the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and that she has been awarded by the NAACP once,  named as one of 100 Top Irish Americans twice and awarded a prize as Groundbreaking Latina of the Year, you see what we mean.

Everyone - black people, Hispanics, Irish folk, Aussies and yes, now islandistas - proudly stake their bit of a claim to this fabulous islandista by descent.

Yes, we're claiming Soledad too - as a Cubana doing well in the world, she makes us proud to claim her.

Her documentaries are smashes. Both Black in America and Black in America 2 were the most-watched documentaries of the year on CNN in 2008 and in 2009 (so far).

The follow up will be (of course) Latino in America, set to air in October this year.

Could 'Irish in America' and 'Australian in America' be far behind? We kid, we kid...

The story of Soledad's unique, multi-cultural ancestry goes back to John Hopkins University in Maryland in 1958 where interracial marriage was still against the law. That didn't stop Soledad's father Edward, from pestering Estella, the alluring Cubana he saw every day at Mass (both were Catholic).

Solead told Irish Central (of course!):

"As students at John Hopkins in Maryland they used to both go to daily Mass. My father would ask her every day if she would like a ride home, and every day my mother would refuse – you didn’t take a ride from a man you don’t know. But one day she eventually said yes, and that’s how they started dating."

Of course, their dating was severely hampered by segregation - they couldn't go out to most restaurants, bars or even the movies, so Estella cooked for Edward at home. One year later, in 1959, they got married - going to neighbouring Washington D.C. since they could not legally marry in Maryland.

Soledad is well aware that everyone sees a little bit of their culture in her and want to claim her and she's cool with that.

In the interview with Irish Central, she says:

"Every culture sees their own culture in me. I remember my uncle from Australia said, ‘You look so Australian.’ It’s the freckles.

"I look like an O'Brien. If you saw my dad you'd agree. When I was filming Latino in America and I interviewed a wife who was Dominican and her husband who was Puerto Rican and she said, 'I read your mother's Cuban, I knew you were one of us!'

“I love that in the black community that people consider me to be someone who contributes on all fronts."

Her multi-culti background has also helped her very nicely as a journalist, which she owns to.

" There’s something very nice about being an insider and an outsider. As a journalist I think there’s a plus to that. “Whether it’s working moms, or Afro Caribbeans, or Latinos or Irish people or Australians, you can see the inside story and the outside one.”