Art Bytes

DESIGNERS OF JAMAICAN DESCENT GET VOGUE FEATURE

 

Two fashion designers of Jamaican descent are included on Vogue Magazine’s top 15 black designers to know about in 2020.

Vogue compiled the list to mark Fashion Week and Black History Month. According to Jamaicans.com, the designers on the list have taken strong stands on societal issues with their designs and have often refused to follow traditional fashion industry demands. 

Fashion editors have praised Carly Cushnie, who relies on her Jamaican identity in her work, for her first solo collection. She is known for her signature high-slit dresses and jumpsuits with peek-a-boo silk lines.

The other designer, Aurora James is  founder of Brother Vellies, a firm she created to introduce the world to her favorite African footwear and to develop sustainable jobs for craftspeople in Africa. Her fashion footwear line includes boots, shoes, and sandals made in South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Morocco. A trip to Jamaica has also inspired some of her designs.

 

Art Bytes

Jamaican-Canadian Stella Meghie will direct the Whitney Houston feature film “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” She’ll team up with Oscar-nominated screenwriter, Anthony McCarten, and Grammy Award-winn

Fashion photographer Nadine Ijewere, of Jamaican descent, recently shot legendary supermodel Naomi Campbell for the current July-August 2020 cover of Spanish Vogue.

Jamaican teen Sule Kamu Thelwell has been chosen as one of 18 out of nearly 5,000 applicants to be accepted for the Bachelor of Arts in acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama at the

Jamaican Radcliffe (Ruddy) Roye has been named one of nine 2020-2021 National Geographic Storytelling Fellows.

British actor of Jamaican heritage Clint Dyer is set to direct an upcoming Bob Marley musical, Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Story.

Breakout Film Festival is currently accepting submissions for its July short film contest.

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