Yasmin Shiraz

As I perused the internet tonight, I came across a magazine entitled, ARISE. According to their publicist, it’s the “leading global African-themed style and cultural magazine.” I don’t know how long its been around, but I’ve never even heard of it.

This week ARISE selected top African designers Black Coffee, Loin Cloth and Ashes along with Deola Sagoe to showcase Fall/Winter 2010 designs during the publication’s AFRICAN COLLECTIVE PART III Mercedes Benz Fashion Week runway presentation.

On Saturday, February 13th at 8 p.m., show producer Jan Malan will transform Bryant Park’s largest venue, The Tent, into a living African landscape with elaborate staging inspired by award-winning poet Ben Okri. Models will walk through a virtual day and night on the great continent flush with excitement as South Africa gears up to host the FIFA World Cup and many states celebrate a half century of independence as well as economies poised for rapid growth.

I encourage all of us to check out ARISE and see what they are all about. As a former magazine publisher, I have love for anybody who decided to walk that line. Its not the easiest job that you can take on. Here’s a link to their website: www.arisemagazine.net

A colleague of mine, Mwaalkebu-Ian Akil, recently shared the video below with me. It was so good that I had to share it with you. You probably have heard that Morehouse University recently implemented a new dress code that bans among other things, sagging pants. So I wanted to write this post that details the history of the sagging pants, Morehouse’s policy and hey a picture of Lil Wayne and Jay-Z.
Morehouse’s new policy details 11 expectations of students, including:

* no caps, do-rags and/or hoods in classrooms, the cafeteria, or other indoor venues

* no sun glasses worn in class or at formal programs

* no jeans at major programs, as well as no sagging pants on campus

* no clothing with derogatory or lewd messages either in words or pictures

* no wearing of clothing usually worn by women (dresses, tops, tunics, purses, pumps, etc.) on the Morehouse campus or at college-sponsored events.

And since the media has been talking about this dress code, I thought it’d be a great thing to share the history of the sagging pants. So here’s a video. The first 2 minutes the inmate explains what sagging pants indicates in prison.

My attorney, Excel Sharrieff, is a Morehouse man so I asked him about how he felt about Morehouse’s new dress code. He said:
“For a private institution such as Morehouse I think that it is extremely fair and necessary. The Morehouse tradition and mission is bigger than five students or even the current student body. Its about building certain type of leaders for tomorrow. Morehouse is about business and leadership I have no problems with anyone’s lifestyle but Morehouse is a PRIVATE institution like a private club and its members MUST abide by the rules or attend a public institution.”

What do you think about the sagging pants? Why are we still rocking them? Now when I look at Lil Wayne and Jay-z with their pants half around their knees, I don’t like it. Shouldn’t the history of the sagging pants make a difference?