New York Fashion Industry Women Heavyweights Launch Major Campaign For Planned Parenthood

New York Fashion Industry Women Heavyweights Launch Major Campaign For Planned Parenthood

Vogue US editor Anna Wintour set the pace for the New York Fashion industry's support for Planned Parenthood. Sitting in the front row at the Brock Collection's New York Fashion Week presentation. Thursday February 9. The brand, headed by Laura Vassar and Kristopher Brock, won the CFDA Fashion Fund Award in 2016. The coveted prize was presented to by creative and romantic partners by Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. 

In a spectacular announcement that will benefit countless poor women across America, CFDA -- which organizes New York Fashion Week -- announced a partnership with Planned Parenthood, which is in the crosshairs of the Trump administration anyway they can defund it. With their domination of Congress and the Presidency, President Trump will sign the legislation that President Clinton would have vetoed. 

Read on to learn more about the campaign for Planned Parenthood, the significantly increased threats of domestic terrorism against women entering Planned Parenthood clinics and my own history of being hunted for a year by one of this white male terrorists, who threatened to kill me.

My crime was saying on TV that I supported the Roe v. Wade decision, an admission that put me in police protection for a year. One cold fall night, my stalker flew across the windshield of my car in an nightmare confrontation in which I truly didn't care if I killed him. ~ Anne

ANNA WINTOUR (C) ATTENDS THE BROCK COLLECTION FASHION SHOW DURING, NEW YORK FASHION WEEK: THE SHOWS AT GALLERY 3, SKYLIGHT CLARKSON SQ ON FEBRUARY 9, 2017 IN NEW YORK CITY. (PHOTO BY NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES FOR IMG)

US Art Shows Celebrate Black History Month

Mickalene Thomas Sista Sista Lady Blue (2007). Courtesy of the artist, Artists Right Society, SFMOMA and the Museum of the African Diaspora.

February is Black History month, where we celebrate the countless contributions that African Americans have made to defining and creating the United States. ArtNet surveys 11 shows in New York City and around the country, featuring the work of prominent African-American artists. 

Mickalene Thomas Sista Sista Lady Blue (2007). Courtesy of the artist, Artists Right Society, SFMOMA and the Museum of the African Diaspora.

Amal & George Clooney Are Pregnant With Twins! | Meet Amal's Client Nadia Murad

Human rights lawyer Amal and actor George Clooney have twin babies in their future. The well-dressed duo prefers to champion causes they care deeply about, not their glam lifestyle. Most notably, writes Vogue, Amal Clooney appeared at the UN in New York with client Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman enslaved by ISIS. In an act of feminist poetic justice, Murad is now suing her former captives. 

Last week, it was twins for Beyonce and Jay Z. What is going on here!!!

Related: Nadia Murad Is Taking On ISIS With the Help of Amal Clooney Vogue

Motherless, displaced, traumatized, grief-stricken, and the ongoing recipient of ISIS death threats, Murad counts herself among the lucky: Of the 6,000 Yazidi women and children taken during ISIS raids, she estimated that more than 3,200 are still being held in captivity. The activist highlighted one person in particular: Lemya, a neighbor and the little sister of close friends, who was only 14 when she was taken and held in the Iraqi city of Mosul by a 34-year-old man, who both raped her and told her, confusingly, that she remained a virgin. “That always sticks in my mind,” Murad explained. “That this happened to her, and she never knew what had happened to her.”

Lemya, like so many other Yazidis, remains missing. And it’s largely for their sake that Murad has sought the help of London-based human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Together they’re attempting to remind the world that the organized killing and enslavement of Yazidis constitutes genocide. Their goal is to wrangle the assistance of the U.N. in hopes of holding ISIS accountable in international court.

“It is a genocide, and it needs to be recognized,” Murad told me through her interpreter, Murad Ismael, executive director of the Yazidi-supporting nonprofit Yazda. “That must be acknowledged, not just for Yazidis, but for any community that suffers through this. When genocide is committed, it must be seen. People must look at it with open eyes, not minimize its impact.”

USA Joins Russia, Pakistan, Iran On Top 10 Censoring Artists Countries By Freemuse

In its annual report titled 'Art Under Threat', Danish free speech advocacy group Freemuse has documented a rise of 119 percent in violations of artistic freedom throughout 78 countries in 2016.

The non-profit divides its findings into categories, including “serious violations,” for killings, attacks, abductions, imprisonments, and threats; and “acts of censorship.” In 2016 the organization counted 840 incidents of censorship and 188 serious violations, writes ArtNet. 

Iran, responsible for 30 cases, was once again the worst offender for serious violations of artistic freedom, making it the worst violator of artistic expression since Freemuse began recording data in 2012. Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, China, Malaysia, Syria, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan also recorded dismal artistic freedom records, collectively making up 67 percent of globally recorded serious violations.

The worst practitioner of censorship in 2016 was Ukraine for its blacklist of 544 Russian films banned in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

Notably, the USA in on the top 10 censorship list -- and now that the Trump administration is in power,  artistic censorship will surely increase in 2017.  Other offenders making up the top 10 for recorded cases of censorship were Kuwait, China, Egypt, India, Russia, Turkey,  Pakistan, and Iran. Together these countries accounted for 88 percent of global censorship cases.

Burberry Celebrates Sculptor Henry Moore At London's Makers House Feb. 21-27

Models wearing Burberry’s February collection in front of Henry Moore’s Sheep Piece (1971–72). Courtesy of Burberry/Josh Olins.

Art and fashion are merging again with an ambitious collaboration between British giants: sculptor Henry Moore and Burberry. The pairing is yet another celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Henry Moore Foundation

"The show, running from February 21 to 27, will take place in Burberry’s Makers House space, right in the heart of London’s Soho. Admission is free for the exhibit gathering 40 works by Moore, including sculptures, working models, and drawings."

“I have been fascinated by the great British sculptor Henry Moore for as long as I can remember—his work has always had a powerful influence on me. Looking at, and thinking about, his work set up a series of conversations as we began working on our latest collection,” Christopher Bailey, Burberry chief creative and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“Moore’s work on display will be a shining example of the creativity and enormous contribution he made to the development of contemporary art in the UK and way beyond, and I’m excited to be showing our February collection alongside the remarkable work of the artist that inspired it,” Bailey added.

Josh Olins shot Burberry's Spring 2017 ad campaign at the Henry Moore Studios & Gardens in Hertfordshire. 

Henry Moore, Draped Reclining Mother and Baby (1983). Photo Martin Davis ©The Henry Moore Foundation.