Colour Me Beautiful, Colour Me Fashion

Spring outside my front door this morning

Beautiful day today. I am inside again, with the books. My room is a disaster, with books literally, EVERYWHERE, but it has to be done, right? This dissertation is not going to do itself. Sigh. Bummer.

The SITSgirls are also have a spring photo challenge for the next couple of weeks and I signed up to be part of it. Now I am no photo-take-outer, but I love photos, and I think this may be the only way to force me to walk with my camera and take some photos of London. I have been here more than 6 months and I have taken very few photos. Granted, this is not my first time here and I have loads of London photos I have taken before, but it would be a great aside from the books and Daddy Disso anyway. Good luck to me.

So yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine, who was going to a Caribbean themed party hosted by non-Caribbean people. He said to me "I have nothing Caribbean to wear". I immediately rolled my eyes, shook my head, and told him if he had a nice shirt in anything but grey, black or brown, and some nice casual trousers, he would be fine. I begged him not to wear any loud printed shirts - with coconut trees or sunsets. I told him if he took my advice, he would be the best dressed man in the place because my next words to him, in my best British slang were:

I will bet you that there will be someone in a naff tropical shirt and a straw hat looking like a complete knob!

He emailed me after 9pm, and it simply said "I just walked in to the party. You would laugh".

I should have bet him money. The photo he sent from his BB was worse than I thought - bright, hideous tropical shirts, straw hats, hideous tie dyed sarongs, coconut earrings. Hideous. The typical, scary stereotype of Caribbean fashion that Europeans typically seem to have. It's not funny. It's downright wrong!

If you have ever been to the Caribbean, you would be surprised that we dress pretty much like everyone else. We love style. Love. Style. We do love colour though - I love colour. I know what colours suit me and which don't. Black close to my face does not suit me so I never wear very dark shirts or jackets, without something in my key colours - I would look like a walking shadow. But I look good in reds and yellows especially, though my favourite colours are blues and purples.

Photo credit: Fashion Week of Trinidad and Tobago. Caribbean fashion is modern, fun and vibrant! No tropical shirts!

I am trying to get another Brit, who I shall call, the Nutty Scientist, to abandon his myopic love for brown jumpers, and invest in maybe a blue shirt. He claims he hates blue - blue is for the sky, he says. He also does not wear jeans. At all. I am aiming to get him into a pair of  grown-up jeans, as opposed to ratty, torn, jeans or skinny jeans. A Brad Pitt finish perhaps. If Brad Pitt, a man just a couple years shy of 50 (can you believe it?), can wear some jeans, then a young, 30-something, good looking, albeit nutty scientist can wear a pair. Can't he?

Brad Pitt - just awesome looking in general!

I can see Nutty shaking his head at me, but if not the jeans, then God - a non-brown shirt; a shirt that speaks more spring and less winter. There is nothing wrong with a bit of colour. I am not saying spray paint your entire wardrobe in neon pink, but a touch of it can really liven up your look. Do you hear me England? The browns and greys get old. I can wear a bright yellow sweater without blinking an eye and not care what anyone here thinks about it. It is who I am. Bright, sunny, warm.

With spring here and more sunshine, and thus no need for the ridiculous huge jacket I have been forced to wear since November, I can exercise my love for colour more often hopefully. And show off my ass.

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What Chilli Wants, What Black Women Want

I like reality tv. Not all - you won't catch me watching Tool Academy for example, but I love some reality tv. I watched the season finale of What Chilli Wants today and was happy with her choice cause I thought Bill was hot. I know that there are some black people in the blogosphere who don't like her choice, mainly because Bill is a white dude.

I personally thought Bill was kinda hot and an all round nice guy. Of course this is tv and he could be a total ass, but the point is, there are still so many hang ups about black women dating white men. I see black men, dating non-black women all the time - the white models, the Latina actresses, the Hawaiian pop artistes. This equation does not seem to be an issue. But let the black woman be checkin' on a blue eyed, wavy haired Caucasian, and all hell breaks loose.

Why do we still do this? And this is not only coming from the black men, but also from the black women. I saw a tweet that said something like I want to slit my wrists after watching this show. Chilli makes me ashamed to be a black woman.

Because she had a nice date with a white man? That is so stupid. Chilli is a beautiful woman, and why should she sit around the house, twiddling her thumbs waiting on this perfect black man, if there is a perfectly good white or Latin or Asian man waiting at her doorstep, ready and willing to sweep her off her feet. And guess what, she was totally feeling Floyd Mayweather at first and was willing to see where that could go and then Pretty Boy Floyd left her ass waiting at the dinner table. Soooo...she had a choice - sit around waiting for Floyd, or get going and try something else. C'mon people, get serious.

Regina King, another gorgeous black celeb notes

Black women are the least likely group of women that will date outside of their race. When you have everyone else who is willing to explore but a Black woman is like, "I want me a brother," well, if the brothers are out and they’re open to date everybody and the majority of Black women aren’t willing to look twice when a man outside of their race is sending them messages, then that makes our percentage rate lower and the chances of finding love, because we’re only looking in one specific place for finding love—with Black men. -  Vibe

I have a lot of friends who have married outside of their race, and hell...outside of their countries, thus not limiting themselves. I thought love was far reaching and all encompassing. I thought it was about finding that person who gave you butterflies, who stood by you and supported you through thick and thin, who could make you laugh and be comfortable in your own skin, who you saw a future with - regardless of race. But I guess still for some, it's about race and colour and another blog entry on the topic is ultimately pointless so I will stop here.

She was a little anal and picky, making even the pickiest of us look like Mother Mary, but I think she got the picture soon enough that the long list would not get her any lovin' anytime soon. I still think Bill was kinda hot, except for the little bump on his nose, which a good plastic surgeon can fix, so you go Chilli.

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