Adventures In Black Hair Philosophy

i've never been much of a hair person. i mean, i am a girl and admittedly as vain as any other, but i have never had the patience to tend to overly dramatic or exacting hairdos. until i was 16, my mother did my hair for me every sunday afternoon. i would unloose the tiny corkscrews she'd neatly crafted the week before, wash my hair, and sit between between her legs with a fine toothed comb and tub of grease in hand, preparing for her to start the cycle all over again. 

after my form 5 graduation my mother informed me that she would no longer be doing my hair for me. frankly i was upset. firstly, this was our ritual. i was her only daughter and this was something that we shared. secondly, if she wasn't going to do it who would? CERTAINLY not me! the solution was that i would relax my hair. this however, was not particularly something i wanted to do. the idea of beating my hair to death with toxic chemicals had never really appealed to me; but it was an answer to my laziness.

as a direct result of my impatience for time consuming activities, my hair had mostly remained in tightly pulled back ponytails and buns for 3 years. through the rest of high school and into my freshman year at BU, my hair lay bored on top of my head, with the occasional foray into curls, whenever i remembered that i owned a curling iron. my hair remained relaxed until the summer i turned 19.

when i got home, i cut all it off. 

i HATED it at first. i'd never even had a haircut before, and now i was virtually bald. i thought i looked like a boy and i actually hid in my room for a week. (not that it was difficult. i was on vacation and my car was out of commission at the time. i didn't really have to leave the house) but as drastic a decision as it might seem, there was actually a method to my madness.

i had decided that i wanted to grow dreadlocks. the long tight spirals of cultivated locks appealed to me, and were similar to the style i had had when i was wearing my hair naturally. even though dreadlocks sometimes attract negative stereotypes, it's something that i'm willing to deal with, because i honestly believe that it is important for me to be proud to wear my hair the way that God intended; ie. naturally.

i never did get around to locking my hair that summer though, and i settled on a dye job in the end (a blonde dye, turned brown and bleached red in the sun....) and for the past year i have been wearing my hair in an afro. i have grown accustomed to the kinky texture of my hair and am happily reacquainted with the tiny curls atop my head. i have actually spent a considerable amount of time kicking myself for ever relaxing my hair in the first place. there is nothing more fun to do than twirl already tight curls when you are bored.

but it is now the last week of classes i am leaving BU in 9 days to go back home to trinidad. dreadlocks are the first thing on my agenda and i can't wait. soon i'll be joining the ranks of lisa bonet, and lauryn hill, but i will never forget my year long foray into embracing and accepting my natural hair with janelle monae and shingai shoniwa by rocking an afro.

CollegeFashionista: The Campus is Your Runway

Amy Levin is a twenty-three year old pioneer. As a recent college graduate with a passion for fashion, Amy used her limited resources to create a website that brought her love affair with fabric to college students around the country. She started with an idea, and out of it, collegefashionista.com was born.


College Fashionista is an online forum geared towards college-aged students. The goal of the site is to provide a sounding board for budding 'Fashionistas' to discuss current trends, receive fashion advice from fellow classmates, and keep track of fashion events on their respective campuses. With over 30 campuses involved nationally, and 4 international campuses, College Fashionista is well on its way to becoming the authority on college fashion.

After taking a class on trend forecasting during her London study abroad program, Levin became more aware of street style, and how much it influenced the fashion industry as a whole. This experience inspired her to intern with a trend reporting company in Los Angeles the following summer. At the same time, she was interning with a wardrobe studio's LA office. The experiences she had between both internships allowed her to greatly deepen her understanding of the fashion industry and how all its different components worked together.

At the end of that exciting summer, Amy found herself a senior at Indiana University and well on her way to receiving her degree in Apparel Merchandising. Confused as to what her next step should be, she met with a professor at IU and was advised that starting her own fashion blog would be an effective way to get her ideas about fashion out into the world while simultaneously boosting her resume. Levin took his advice and started on her fashion project, shooting pictures of her peers on campus, posting them to her blog, and giving advice on how to achieve the same look. Her site snowballed, and became popular among her friends, not only on IU's campus but at other universities as well.

Driven by the encouragement of her friends and family, Amy sought to expand her website into all the Big Ten Universities, with a writer at each campus replicating the format she had established at IU: Style Advice of the Week,Trends, Fashion News, Boutique of the Week and Weekend Forecast. After her graduation, Amy got her brothers involved in the technical side of her project working to develop the site into a legitimate business. Amy concentrated on spreading her idea through word of mouth and establishing 'Style Gurus' in each of the new schools. Starting with 15 Gurus in 7 schools, CollegeFashionista officially launched on August 1st, 2009.
In the 8 months that College Fashionista has been live, the site has expanded into 30 schools and now works with 120 gurus. The site not only acts as a forum for college students to expand their knowledge of fashion, but provides a opportunity for aspiring fashion journalism and photography students like myself to establish their writing portfolios and showcase their growing talent. The site also helps to expose its readers to other online fashion resources, and to foster their experiences with fashion.
Having been an intern at College Fashionista for the last 6 months (along with fellow Quad writer Renee Trilivas) I can honestly say that my experiences with the site have helped expose me to the wider fashion community online. Through College Fashionista, I've discovered other online fashion authorities like The Sartorialist, Jak&Jil, and4thandBleeker. It's also encouraged me to pay more attention to my own fashion photography blogs that until then had remained severely neglected.
Amy hopes that in the coming years, the site will continue to expand and will be established as the foremost source on college fashion. The college-aged demographic has such a commanding influence on the fashion industry that it is not a far stretch to believe that this might eventually happen, with the site gaining as much notoriety and  influence as other notable fashion authorities.
When asked about the ideology behind her site Amy stated, "I never ever want the website to turn into a criticism site where people show photos of what not to wear. That is not the point of the site. The point of the site is to show how a trend can’t be defined on college campuses, since there are so many students and such a large demographic of people that there isn’t one set look that everyone follows."
The world is now set up in such a way that it is extremely easy to find other people who share the same interests as you. College Fashionista is essentially an aggregate source of all the most astute fashion enthusiasts at various college campuses. Amy's vision and drive has helped to promote fashion as a legitimate career path for aspiring Fashionistas. We can see from her story that all you need to make a name for yourself is an idea, and the commitment necessary to see it through to fruition.
You can interact with CollegeFashionista on Facebook, Twitter, Lunch.com and BlogLovin. Anyone interested in joining the College Fashionista family can apply at apply@collegefashionista.com

Be A Lady. Wear Some Lipstick.

My grandmother thinks it most unlady-like to leave the house with bare lips.
I disagree, but I have found a recent fascination with lipstick.
I've always been a burgundy girl, sticking to the more red tones of lipstick when I did opt to pick up a tube, but recently, I purchased L'oreal's Colour Riche Lipstick from CVS in "Spice" which is a deep reddish-brown shade, and I think I'm now a permanent convert.


Darker shades may not work for everyone however. As it is, I had to spend a great deal of time convincing myself that the slightly washed out look my new "Spice" lipstick gives me is just a new edgy style, but there ARE a lot of shades that will look good on any stylish Fashionista.


The classic red lip is a fashion staple. It suits everyone, regardless of skin tone. It also usually suits most outfits as well. If you like the traditional, this is the way to go. Other great colors that suit most girls are a deep maroon or a bright pink.


I have been noticing though, that for the spring 2010 season, color is in. I recommend that if you want to stand out, vary the shades of more than just your eyeshadow. Lipsticks are one of those beauty products that can stand alone. If you're rushing out of your room and don't have time to do a full face, a bold lip color can make all the difference between look drab all day and looking like a trendsetter.


Try this purple lipstick to stand out from the crowd, or thisdaring black shade to show your fearlessness. A nice deep green in guaranteed to get you some attention, but a  bright blue shade will definitely turn heads. Lastly, yellow lips will set you so far ahead of the fashion curve that people will stop you in the street to ask you where you got your spectacular shade.


Essentially, wearing lipstick is a personal choice. It took me years to get comfortable with the idea of color on my lips and I only very recently graduated from clear gloss. But no matter what your style or preference, there is likely a shade out there that will delight you and make you giggle with glee!


In any case, be a lady. Wear some lipstick.

Photography Spotlight: Mark Gellineau

As an aspiring fashion photographer, I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at pictures. Whether it be in magazines or onlne, I try to find photographs that inspire me or evoke a strong emotion. I am thrilled to say that I have found both of these things in a vast majority of Mark Gellineau's work.


For those who know me, my getting excited about something isn't anything new or even anything necessarily interesting. With my tendency towards extreme giddiness, very few of my friends take me seriously anymore when I rent about my latest fascination. The difference between then and now, is that I have genuine reason to be excited. Mark's work is emotive and touching; something that appeals to my hidden sensibilities. His composition and eye for detail help him to create images that arous such tangible sentiments, that it is almost impossible not to admire his obvious talent.

It's hard to believe that Mark has only been behind the camera for 3 years. It's even harder to believe that he is almost completely self taught. After completing his high-school education, and receiving his first DSLR camera, he discovered his passion for photography. In the years since, he has managed to simultaneously hone his craft and gain recognition for his developing talents.

A citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, Mark has managed to use his limited resources to create a personal style of photography that is distinct and tasteful. Though he pursues photography full-time, he has refrained from obtaining formal training, feeling that the academic route would dilute his uniqueness and distinguishable individuality. He believes that learning the craft on his own has given him a deeper sense of pride and a greater personal connection to his work. Though he has considered applying to schools at a later date, he thinks that for now, he is doing well on his own.

Mark credits much of his growing skills to his mentors Wyatt Gallery, Mark Lyndersay and Brendan Bhagan. Between them, he gets constant feedback, which he says has significantly contributed to his growing skill set.

When he first began, the reason photography appealed to Mark was his tendency to identify patterns in the spaces around him. He soon began focusing in on the smaller "pictures" and elected to "take away a piece of the scenes" that he saw. Though he now shoots mainly people and portraits, he began photographing animals and the environment around him, capturing the places he'd been and the things he'd seen. He quickly grew preoccupied with "pocketing the space around him" and "stealing pieces of time".



As for his inspirations, Mark says that he draws his inspiration from the people that he photographs. He says that when he shoots people, the pictures he takes are generally the best pictures they have ever seen of themselves and it makes them feel good, in turning making him feel good. With respect to the frequency of his work, Mark says that creating is not optional for him and that he has to work or he falls into a funk. He hopes that with persistance he can one day join the ranks of other internationally known black photographers.

Mark's method is dynamic. He seldom has a very concrete idea of what he wants to capture when he goes into a shoot, preferring simply to try to capture people he thinks are interesting. He chooses to shoot people who are either very outgoing and full of character, or more quiet and shy typesin an attempt to "pull away their social masks."

An avid flickr user, Mark gets his ideas for shoots from other photographs he might see. While he says he has only ever wanted to replicate a photograph wholesale on one occasion, he will often try to mimic different aspects of pictures that he admires. Additionally, he might see a location he finds fascinating and resolve to shoot there, or he may feel compelled to shoot a particular person because of their features.

Black and White is Mark's favourite medium. Preferring it to colour photography, he says that the lack of colour infuses a greater sense of identity into his work. He thinks that unless color enhances the interpretation of a photograph, it should remain in black and white. His favorite collections, Fragments and Soul Windows are both in black and white.

Mark has big dreams. He hopes that one day he will be successful enough to have the luxury of being discriminating about which jobs he takes. He hopes to own his own studio one day, and to have the resources to help other young photographers who are in the position he is in now.Mark Gellineau's work is the kind that makes you stop and think. He creates images that are so tantalizing and palpable that they cannot be ignored. I am confident that he will only continue to find success.