Bits and pieces - Lara fete back on, socially aware fashion and more...

Yes islandistas, I have another pelau post here for you - a bit of this and a bit of that and you know seh it always good!

First up - apparently Brian Lara's all-inclusive Crop-Over party is back on. The Prince changed his mind over a week ago so all systems are go once again.

No details on what caused him to change his mind and work the party into his schedule but we're guessing that some fervent pleading from Bajan party-goers may have gone down.

In other news, Barbadian fashion designer Toni Thorne of Bouik is bringing social awareness to fashion with the launch of a new campaign to promote HIV/AIDS awareness, called Wear The Issue.



[caption id="attachment_1282" align="aligncenter" width="450" caption="Photo source: Wear the Issue Facebook page"][/caption]



The main focus of the campaign is the Wear D Issue contest where young people will have the opportunity to design either a garment or a t-shirt that is inspired by the HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. The winning designs wil be showcased at a catwalk event in December.

Thorne kicked off the campaign with an  event of her own in Bridgetown last week, using the contestants of the Miss Barbados World contest.

According to Thorne:


The focus of the ‘Wear-D-Issue’ Competition will be to utilise creativity and by extension fashion, as a medium to promote awareness to the Barbadian youth of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. What better way to capture the youth market’s attention by using something as readily accepted as fashion to address a serious issue.
It is our intention to make this an annual process and a developmental program for young persons. We do not want this to be a project that is deemed as frivolous. This is the stigma often attached to ventures particularly in the fashion industry and by extension, the creative sectors.


And in Rihanna/Chris Brown news, though there is still no reaction from Rihanna's camp, her mentor Jay-Z has spoken out on Chris' video apology the other day. In an interview with British DJ Tim Westwood, Jigga said:


“We Are all flawed human beings. All a person can do is apologize. Everyone should be allowed to make mistakes. It happens.”

Post Title

→

Bits and pieces - Lara fete back on, socially aware fashion and more...

Post URL

→

http://nickiminaj-tdr.blogspot.com/2009/07/bits-and-pieces-lara-fete-back-on.html

Visit nicki minaj for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

Which all-inclusive will run tings this year?

We know that islandistas STAY partying - even though the recession is real, we still need to ease the tension with a li'l fete. And this is the season for it - summer!

In Barbados, the Crop-Over season is just hitting high gear - three more weeks of frenetic partying to go! With the demise of one beloved all-inclusive party - Brian Lara's Crop-Over party; and the demise of another not so beloved so-called-inclusive event - C&W-now-LIME's eNVy, the market for Crop-Over all inclusives is wide open and a number of folks are stepping into the breach.




High on our islandista radar are four events over the final weekend of Crop-Over.



 Two of them - Esquire Entertainment's Bliss and Island Mas' Breakfast Party are familiar and have been on the scene for a few years now. Bliss in particular has a great reputation and is a hot draw for young professionals who come from all over the region.

Drawing on their own experiences from living, studying and working in Trinidad and Jamaica, the directors of Esquire have been showing Barbados how proper, genuine all-inclusives are supposed to be held, since their first one back on Old Year's Night 2005. They do hot venues like Lion Castle's polo club and the Barbados Concorde Experience headquarters, good food and nuff drinks and wuk-ups. What more could you ask for?

Island Mas is a combination of Bajans and Trinis in Barbados - hence their slogan "a TrinBajan experience". They held their first breakfast party (and the first breakfast party on the Crop-Over scene) back in 2007, seeking to bring a Trini Carnival season staple to Bim.




 

 Following hot on their heels this year is yet another breakfast party - a new introduction to the Crop-Over scene called Sunny Side Up. Again this is another Bajan-Trini connection, as it is being hosted by BashBrothaz from Barbados and the Sunny Side Up crew from Trinidad. You know we're all about regional love and unity on Islandista - which is what nearly all these events have in common. U-ni-ty!

 


 
 

Right now the menu looking real Trini-ish - the website says the breakfast will include:

"Hot tasty doubles, Spicy Corn Soup, fresh succulent fruits, various breakfast items."

They do promise that the menu will be updated soon so we expect to see some fishcakes and bakes up in dey soon! SSU is billing itself as 'the premium all-inclusive breakfast party' and at US$75 for singles and US$130 for couples, we trust it will be!

 That like it is an intro price to hook Bajans, because the Trini Carnival version is even more expensive. Another new event is the Bathsheba Experience - an all-inclusive party at a villa in one of Barbados' most beautiful and rugged East Coast villages.




There is not much more information on this event other than it is up Bathsheba which is gorgeous. We hope the promoters will forward with some more details in short order!

So islandistas what do you think? Who will run t'ings on the Crop-Over all-inclusive scene this year?

Post Title

→

Which all-inclusive will run tings this year?

Post URL

→

http://nickiminaj-tdr.blogspot.com/2009/07/which-all-inclusive-will-run-tings-this.html

Visit nicki minaj for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

A bit of Crop-Over suss - no Lara fete, no eNVy

Just a quickie here about one of the most hotly-anticipated parties on the Crop-Over fete scene - Brian Lara's all-inclusive at his plantation home - Ebworth.

It's not on this year.

Sorry folks.

Islandista has it on very good authority that Lara's all-inclusive do which has been in Barbados the last 3,4 years or so will not be coming off this year.

The reasons are not exactly clear as yet but it seems to be a matter of planning and schedules not working out.

Lara's all-inclusive is not the only one that seems to be no more.

We have not heard a THING about LIME's big eNVy fete which they held last year. Moreover, it is not included in the lineup of events in LIME Contact's band brochure.

That one is perhaps not so surprising. People were NOT happy about how eNVy came off last year. For US$125 per ticket, folks do not expect to be waiting in a long-ass buffet table line for over an hour. Worse, when they get to the table, they discover that the food is quite ordinary.

Fishcakes and hamburgers for a US$125 ticket? Eh...no.

They really tek Bajans for poppets but I know lots of people said LIMe could not get their money again this year. Worse it is a recession

Barbados may not hold a lot of all-inclusive parties like Jamaica and Trinidad but for damn sure the people that shelled out their good money for eNVy last year are well-travelled islandistas and islandistos that have been to them in other isles and know how it is supposed to be done.

And eNVy was not how it is to be done.

So maybe they are wheeling and coming again?

We'll let you know.

Post Title

→

A bit of Crop-Over suss - no Lara fete, no eNVy

Post URL

→

http://nickiminaj-tdr.blogspot.com/2009/07/bit-of-crop-over-suss-no-lara-fete-no.html

Visit nicki minaj for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection