Sugababe Keisha Buchanan: I'm not a bully

[caption id="attachment_1409" align="alignright" width="315" caption="Photo credit: WH Photography"][/caption]

What a piece of passa passa... Sugababes' founding member Keisha Buchanan had to leap to well... her own defence today via Twitter.



 

This is after her bandmate Amelle Berrabah buggered off for several days-  to the point that her family feared she was missing.

And the rumour is that the reason Amelle went AWOL is because she had a huge row with Keisha over her UK No.1 collaboration with Tinchy Stryder (no, we've never heard of a tinchy either but the UK celeb scene is like a whole different world).

Anyhow, after Amelle skipped out on two back to back performances in London and Glasglow and couldn't be reached, her family feared she had been kidnapped and sent police to her home. The suss is that she told them she was fine but just needed to get away from the band after her big fight with Keisha.

However, Keisha has denied it all strenuously, tweeting:

A completely made up story about me bullying Amelle, not being supportive, blah blah blah...

'In the past, I've let members talk c**p about me and tried to laugh it off because I know the truth, my friends, family and MOST of all God...

'But not any more. I may come across as a hard nut sometimes, but I'm actually really sensitive and it destroys me to think that people today are going to read that and believe it.

'They see me as the longest standing member and assume that I'm the b**ch who causes people to walk, and its totally untrue and unfair. All I've ever done is work my a**e off, trying to keep the dream alive, because I love the fans and my job.'

The thing is, fellow Sugababe Heidi Range said since Wednesday in Scotland, that the real reason for Amelle's no-show was that a friend of hers had been in a serious car crash and Amelle was "broken up about it".

And Amelle is on the record as being a bit of a drama queen - last year she was arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to a car (no charges were brought) and the year before that, she was arrested on allegations that she had assaulted an 18 year old girl (again, no charges were brought).

Buuut of course, the preferable rumour for the English press is that big, scary Keisha is at it again and that is the one that has been making the rounds.

Truth is, Keisha has always been the one targeted as 'the bitch' in the Sugababes. Part of it could be as she said - that  since she is the last original 'Babe standing in the revolving door that has been the band, she got smeared basically through a process of elimination.

Of course, it couldn't have anything to do with the mainstream media being so fond of pushing the meme that black women are aggressive and mean, could it?

Worse, Keisha is of Jamaican descent... whooooo.... scary! Intimidating! We know how scared the Brits are of the yardies. The commenters over at the Daily Mail are having a field day slagging her off right now.

Hm!

Post Title

→

Sugababe Keisha Buchanan: I'm not a bully

Post URL

→

http://nickiminaj-tdr.blogspot.com/2009/09/sugababe-keisha-buchanan-i-not-bully.html

Visit nicki minaj for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection

An islandista conundrum - Jourdan Dunn and tokenism in Milan

So anyone reading this blog would know that we here at Islandista   Jourdan Dunn. We really do. We love how she's both fierce and gazelle-like, we love that she freely admitted she wished she had a big bamsy when she was younger and we love her refreshing frankness on the paucity of black models in high fashion.

So we are torn... torn we tell you! at her recent success on the catwalk and what it means. On the one hand, Jourdan has been tearing it up - from Vogue and Elle editorials to dominating New York, London and Milan's Fashion Weeks thus far. And we love it.

However it is her dominance of Milan Fashion Week that raises yet again the troubling question of race in fashion for Jourdan was often the token black on the runways at the recently concluded Milan Fashion Week.




[caption id="attachment_755" align="aligncenter" width="320" caption="Lonellly... I'm so lonnelly... on my own... Jourdan Dunn was the sole black model at Etro's Fall RTW show during Milan Fashion Week. (photo credit: Marcio Madeira for style.com)"][/caption]

 

New York Magazine pointed it out in a much-commented on piece last week, noting:



While New York's runways were more diverse than in seasons past, Milan was quite the opposite. Top Italian designers Gianfranco Ferré, Giorgio Arman, Jil Sander, Marni, Missoni, Moschino, Prada and Salvatore Ferragamo featured all-white casts of models. And the few times when designers did book ethnic models, they picked from a small, highly-selective pool of girls:  Jourdan Dunn, Liu Wenn and Marina Peres (Dunn, Wen, and Peres were the most requested girls from their respective groups.)

And therein lies the rub. While we revel in Jourdan's success and love that she was the top model in London's fashion week, walking in 14 shows, we bemoan the fact that designers are using her as the token black.

The figures from Milan, which NYM collected, bear this out in grim detail. In six out of the ten shows she walked in, she was all on her own to represent the million shades of black beauty that there are out there. In the other four, she was accompanied by Chanel Iman, who seems to be the only other black model in the world as far as most designers are concerned. She walked in seven shows but only walked two on her own as the sole black model - the others were of course with Jourdan and one with Arlenis Sosa.

So ... they say a word to the wise is sufficient so leh we try a t'ing here.

Friends, Milanese, designers - lend me your ears!

Jourdan Dunn is NOT the only black model in the world.

It is ok to use more than one black model at a time. It will not scare anyone. In fact, it could do great things for you. (see Italian Vogue, all black).


All black women and/or black models do not look alike. (Androgynous Eastern European models now... that's another story). We have diverse complexions, features and even hair types - not that I am so hopeful as to see a model rocking dreads anytime soon - but it's an idea!

 

 

Post Title

→

An islandista conundrum - Jourdan Dunn and tokenism in Milan

Post URL

→

http://nickiminaj-tdr.blogspot.com/2009/03/islandista-conundrum-jourdan-dunn-and.html

Visit nicki minaj for Daily Updated Wedding Dresses Collection