Hello Afro fashionistas, come in here and check out these super cute lace styles for children that you can also make with the ankara African print fabric for your little angel. It looks like a lot of African designers are not making enough lace styles for children. But don’t worry. If you have been searching for some lovely lace styles for your little girl without success, these super cute lace styles for children will help you with some inspiration to make them with the ankara African print.
For most of these styles, all you have to do is to replace the skirt part of the dress with your ankara African print fabric, and voila, you have a super cute ankara lace style for you little girl. You can also make them with the African lace fabric. You can choose to make the full lace with African lace or also combine it with the ankara chitenge fabric.
What do you think of these super cute lace styles for children, that we have shared with you? Did you find any piece that is interesting enough for you to add to your little princess’s wardrobe? Share your views by leaving a comment below.
If none of these styles made it to the list of what you are looking for, or you are looking for more styles to add to your collection, please take a tour around the site and you will find loads of styles to out-rightly copy, combine to create your unique look, or use as a source of inspiration for a fresh and custom made look.
1. The Embassy of Nigeria, the Hague wishes to inform Nigerians resident in the Netherlands that it has commenced computerisation of its records. In this connection, it would be appreciated if our compatriots could register now or those who have registered before to renew their registration with the Embassy to enable us produce reliable statistics of Nigerians living in the Netherlands.
In addition, the computerized record will help to improve the Mission’s delivery services to our nationals. It is also aimed to serve as a reference point for informing our nationals about major events in the Embassy as well as important developments in Nigeria.
You are therefore kindly requested to download and forward to us the completed form titled “Registration Form For Permanent / Temporary Residents In The Netherlands” on our website, The address of our website is www.nigerianembassy.nl
Anita Quansah London and Adebayo Jones are some of the designers that the organizers of Africa Fashion Week London are pleased to announce as the first set of designers confirmed for this year’s closing show on Saturday 4th August, of the two-day fashion extravaganza set to bring the best of African fashion to London Spitalfields on 3rd-4th August 2012.
Amongst the designers who will be showcasing at the closing show is the international designer of Ghanaian and Nigerian descent, Anita Quansah London whose exquisite jewellery has recently graced the limbs of Alicia Keys on the cover of Vibe Magazine. Another stellar name in the closing line up is the Nigerian King of Couture whose breathtaking designs are set to dazzle the audience.
“We are absolutely delighted to attract the support of such established names in the industry as well as emerging designers; Africa Fashion Week not only provides a platform for African and African-inspired designers but also one that brings together established and emerging talents,” said Ronke Ademiluyi, founder and CEO of Africa Fashion Week London, of the partnership.
In just over a month, London Spitalfields Market Halls will play host to AFWL where on 3rd and 4th August 2012, African and African inspired designers from all corners of the world will showcase their work to a 10,000 strong audience in London’s hip Shoreditch district. With back-to-back catwalk shows and exhibitions showcasing clothes, accessories, homeware and jewellery, AFWL promises to be a fashion extravaganza like no other.
Tickets are now available to purchase from the Africa Fashion Week London website. Do visit the site to get your tickets to attend the biggest African fashion event in Europe and see pieces from Anita Quansah London, Adebayo Jones, and several other African and African inspired designers.
Now that you are here, take a few seconds to click on these links and follow Afrocosmopolitan on Instagramand like the AfroCosmopolitan Facebook page. If you have some time, also check us out on Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. We can’t wait to connect with you and start interacting with you on another level. In the meantime, take care and keep on slaying like the true fashionista that you are.
A Parliamentary Motion which asked MSPs to get behind Refugee Week Scotland and celebrate the contribution of refugees to Scotland has attracted 43 signatures from politicians from a range of parties.
The motion, presented by Humza Yousaf, of the Scottish National Party at the start of this month, was given further prominence by a Parliamentary reception on 21 June, organised as one of this year’s key events during Refugee Week.
The annual event is organised by Scottish Refugee Council and was hosted on our behalf by Christina McKelvie MSP, a staunch advocate for refugees in Scotland.
The reception aimed to ensure MSPs were kept up to speed with refugee issues and got the chance to meet some people involved in Refugee Week Scotland 2012.
This year the audience heard from two of the ‘Glasgow Girls’, Emma Clifford and Amal Azzudin, about their experiences as young activists and the musical that is being developed by Cora Bisset about their story.
‘Thank-you Glasgow’
Another speaker was Aras Sheikhipour, a young refugee from Iran, who has been supported by the Scottish Guardianship Service, a pilot project run by Scottish Refugee Council and Aberlour Childcare Trust, since his arrival in Scotland.
The audience also heard a performance by the Congolese musician, Jethro Kinavuidi, who played his song ‘Thank You Glasgow’, about his experience of finding sanctuary in the city.
Refugees who have been working with Scottish Refugee Council throughout the year had an opportunity to speak directly to MSPs and other decision makers about the issues that affect them and their communities.
The motion in full:
Motion S4M-03235: Humza Yousaf, Glasgow, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 08/06/2012
Refugee Week Scotland 2012
That the Parliament welcomes Refugee Week Scotland, coordinated by the Scottish Refugee Council and partners, from 18 to 24 June 2012, a festival of arts, culture and community celebrations highlighting the courage and contribution that it considers refugees bring to Scotland; recognises that the festival is part of Creative Scotland 2012 and holds events all over Scotland embracing the theme of spirit of the individual, of community and of Scotland, and welcomes the contribution of refugees to Scotland who have fled persecution and horrific treatment in their own country to seek a new life and opportunity in Scotland and the work of countless groups around the country in helping refugees settle and become active citizens.
Supported by: Paul Wheelhouse, Kevin Stewart, Patricia Ferguson, Richard Lyle, Aileen McLeod, Stuart McMillan, Iain Gray, John Mason, Joan McAlpine, Annabelle Ewing, Rob Gibson, Margaret Burgess, John Finnie, Bill Kidd, Anne McTaggart, Patrick Harvie, George Adam, Hugh Henry, Claudia Beamish, Bob Doris, Angus MacDonald, Mike MacKenzie, Roderick Campbell, Drew Smith, Fiona McLeod, James Dornan, Adam Ingram, Malcolm Chisholm, Margaret McDougall, Jackie Baillie, Alison McInnes, Jean Urquhart, Jamie Hepburn, Colin Beattie, Richard Simpson, David Torrance, Alison Johnstone, Gil Paterson, Colin Keir, Chic Brodie, Stewart Maxwell, Linda Fabiani, Dave Thompson.
Police forces are up to 28 times more likely to use stop-and-search powers against black people than white people and may be breaking the law, new research from the official human rights body reveals.
The research from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) looked at police stop powers where officers do not require suspicion of involvement in a crime, known as section 60 stops.
The power is used most by the Metropolitan police, which carried out three-quarters of the stops between 2008-11, some 258,000 in total. The next heaviest user was Merseyside with 40,940 stops. Some forces barely use the power.
Thus what the Metropolitan police does can skew the national picture and the data shows a Met officer is about 30 times more likely to use section 60 to stop a black person than a colleague outside London.
The figures show how often black Britons experience stop and search through section 60 alone, never mind the more commonly used other stop-and-search powers. The EHRC found that in 2008-09, the Met stopped 68 out of every 1,000 black people in its area. This fell to 32.8 per 1,000 by 2010-11. In the rest of England, the figure was down to 1.2 stops per 1,000 black people by 2010-11.
Section 60 of the 1994 Public Order Act was introduced to target originally brought in to tackle people going to illegal raves. It gave police the power, if they feared violence or disorder, to stop and search suspects at a specific time and place.
Most stops in England and Wales require an officer to have “reasonable suspicion” that someone is involved in crime. Section 60 gives an officer maximum discretion and privately police fear its wide-ranging nature and the discretion it gives officers, plus the allegations it is being abused, may lead the courts to strike it down – as happened with section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which had to be reformed after the courts ruled its provision allowing stops without suspicion was too wide-ranging.
The EHRC notes that while the overall use of section 60 had fallen, excessive use of the power against ethnic minorities, known as racial disproportionality, had continued or even increased. The report found a rise in the percentage of ethnic minorities among those stopped under section 60 between 2008-11, from 51% to 64%.
The commission said the police may be breaching their legal responsibilities, known as the public-sector equality duty: “Any continuing and serious disproportionate use of these powers against ethnic minorities may indicate that the police and Home Office are not complying with their public-sector duties obligations.”
The worst rates of racial disproportionality were outside London, according to the EHRC. An officer in the West Midlands was 28 times more likely to stop and search a black person than a white person, in the Greater Manchester force the figure was 21 times, in the Met 11 times, and for British Transport police the figure was 31 times.
Nationally, the EHRC said black people were 37 times more likely to be stopped and searched under section 60 than white people in 2010-11. From 2008 to 2011, the racial disproportionality worsened for the Met and West Midlands forces, while Greater Manchester’s disproportionality rate in 2008-9 was 44.9 times greater, which had been halved three years later.
Racial disproportionality meant an officer was 10 times more likely to stop Asian Britons than a white person, with the worst offender being West Midlands police.
The EHRC said through section 60 alone ethnic minorities underwent more than 100,000 excessive searches over 2008-11.
Figures also show that section 60 may be ineffective in fighting crime. According to the report: “In England as a whole, only 2.8% of [section] 60 stops and searches resulted in an arrest in 2008-09 and this decreased to 2.3% in 2010-11. Of these, fewer than one in five arrests were for offensive weapons.”
The fact that arrest rates are similar for black and white Britons suggests problems in how police use the power, the EHRC said: “The lack of a significant difference does not prove that black people are not inappropriately targeted.”
Simon Woolley, a commissioner at the EHRC, said: “Our research shows black youths are still being disproportionately targeted, and without a clear explanation as to why many in the community will see this as racial profiling.
“Moreover, police data itself questions the effectiveness of this practice. Some forces are using 200 or 300 stops before arresting an individual over a weapon.
“We are encouraged at least that the Met seek to review the practice with a clear objective that avoids the crude measure of racial profiling and focuses on intelligence-led policing.”
The Met is being threatened with a legal challenge over allegations that it discriminates in its use of section 60 stop and search. The commission has previously said it believes the Met’s use of section 60 is unlawful.
The Met said it was reforming its use of the power and would aim to make it more focused on tackling violence and reduce the number of stops carried out.
However, in a statement, the Met’s deputy commissioner, Craig Mackey, who speaks on stop-and-search issues for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “Chief officers support the use of stop and search as these powers are critical in our efforts to tackle knife, gun and gang crimes.
“It is important that there is a debate about the effectiveness of these police tactics as we seek to balance the impact of powers, like section 60, on our communities with the need to protect communities from serious crime.
“The police service is firmly committed to working, both locally and nationally, to ensure all sections of society have confidence in the police service and we look forward to working with EHRC to better understand the evidence shown in this report and how it can influence our decision making.”
Eight forces did not provide information to the EHRC or claimed exemption under the Freedom of Information Act; they are Avon and Somerset, Cleveland, Essex, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Sussex, West Yorkshire and Wiltshire.
The new French parliament following Sunday’s election will have only 10 MPs from minorities in the 577-seat chamber, a number deemed inadequate by a rights group.
Deputies from minorities constitute “barely 1.8 percent overall, while blacks, Arabs and Asians represent more than 10 percent of the population” in France, the Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN) said in a statement.
In France, a former colonial power that has historically drawn many immigrants, the model politician “remains a white man over 50 years old,” the CRAN said.
The government of Jean-Marc Ayrault sworn in after Socialist President Francois Hollande was elected last month nevertheless has a record seven ministers from minorities in a cabinet of 34.
The new National Assembly includes 155 women, or 27 percent of MPs, a record and much higher than the 107 women elected the last time round in 2007.
A 2000 law obliges parties to put forward as many women as male candidates or pay a fine, and the CRAN called for a similar law to ensure ethnic diversity in politics.
Video of MP Seybah Dagoma. Dagoma (33) is a member of the French Socialist Party.
Hello Afro fashionistas, come in here and take a look at these amazing apparel from Korto Momolu. The Liberian-American designer showcased the pieces at the 2011 edition of Arise Magazine Fashion Week that took place in Lagos, Nigeria a while ago.
The last time Korto Momolu was in Africa before going to showcase her amazing apparel in Lagos, was 23 years ago. She was also no alone in the continent as her mother was among some of the audience at the elegant fashion event.
The American based designer was a contestant in season Project Runway, a popular American reality television program for fashion designers. In addition, she was the goodwill ambassador for the Tigerlily Foundation, a breast cancer organization providing full lifecycle, service-oriented assistance to young women.
She also designs a range of custom-made handbags that are usually auctioned off with proceeds going to the National Food Bank for New York. For her collection showcased at Arise Fashion Week, we saw long elegant dresses beautifully done in colour blocks and some mixed with prints. Sequins and metallic’s were on show and dresses in asymmetric hems. There were also some chic LBDs. According to the designers she looks up to established designers including Daine Von Furstenberg of DVF. Her clothes made for the curvy and fashionable woman.
To the beat of drums, the models strutted down the runway in fluid floor-length dresses with daringly plunging necklines. The collection featured a mix of black, print and sequins which created a delicious palette of texture and dimensions. Other standouts include a trio of black sequined dresses and a stunning long coat dress with a long slit and a structured peplum waist detail.
Take a peep at the Afrocosmopolitan Youtube channel and subscribe to it so you can get our video updates as soon as they are uploaded. You can also follow and like Afrocosmopolitan Facebook Page. We are also on Twitter, on Pinterest, as well as on YouTube. We cannot wait to connect with you and start interacting on another level. In the meantime, feed your eyes with various African celebrity styles and update your wardrobe with some of the looks.
Chris Brown sustained a nasty gash on his chin — apparently a wound from a bottle attack — after his entourage allegedly clashed with Drake‘s crew in a NYC nightclub brawl.
TMZ has confirmed with the NYPD that the two singers’ crews got into a fight at WIP nightclub — 5 people were injured in the melee.
NYPD arrived on the scene after receiving a call between 4 and 5am. Chris and Drake were not present when cops arrived.
We’re told there were no critical injuries … just bumps, bruises and lacerations. No arrests were made.
After the fight, Brown tweeted a photo of his injury … along with the message, “How u party wit rich n**** that hate? Lol… Throwing bottles like girls? #shameonya!.”
The photo and the message have since been removed from Brown’s Twitter page.
There are reports the two started throwing blows (and bottles!) over Chris’ ex girlfriend,Rihanna, who Drake is rumored to have hooked up with.
A few hours before the brawl, TMZ shot footage of Drake leaving the London hotel … surrounded by some diesel-sized hired muscle. No word if they were involved in the bar fight, but wow … that would be scary.
A picture of Chris Brown’s Transformers-themed SUV taken after the fight has surfaced — with what appears to be blood splattered on the back.
Home Office has changed Immigration Rules for non-European Economic Area (non-EEA) nationals applying to enter or remain in the UK on the family migration route.
From July 2012, only those earning at least £18,600 will be able to bring in a non-EEA spouse or partner, fiancé(e) or proposed civil partner.
Home Secretary Theresa May
Those with children will need to earn £22,400 for one child and an additional £2,400 for each additional child.
The Home Office has also extended the minimum probationary period for settlement for non-EEA spouses and partners from two years to five years. This is being done, according to the Home Office, to test the genuineness of the relationship and to deter sham marriages.
Immediate settlement for migrant spouses and partners where a couple have been living together overseas for at least four years has also been abolished.
From October 2013, all applicants for settlement will be required to pass the Life in the UK Test and present an English language speaking and listening qualification at B1 level or above of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages unless they are exempt.
Under the new rules, adult and elderly dependants will be allowed to settle in the UK only where they can demonstrate that, as a result of age, illness or disability, they require a level of long-term personal care that can only be provided by a relative in the UK. They’ll also be required to apply from overseas rather than switch in the UK from another category, for example as a visitor.
The Home Secretary Theresa May said: “To play a full part in British life, family migrants must be able to integrate – that means they must speak our language and pay their way. This is fair to applicants, but also fair to the public.”
Family visit visa appeals have been restricted, initially by narrowing the current definitions of family and sponsor for appeal purposes. Should the Parliament approve the Crime and Courts Bill which was published on 11th May 2012, the full right of appeal against refusal of a family visit visa will be removed.
The Home Secretary has also announced what the Home Office described as “decisive action to protect the public from foreign offenders who try to abuse human rights legislation to prevent their removal from the UK.”
“It is unacceptable that foreign nationals whose criminal behaviour undermines our way of life can use weak human rights claims to dodge deportation,” Ms. May said. “We want these new rules to make it clear when the rights of the law abiding majority will outweigh a foreign criminal’s right to family and private life. By voting on this in the House of Commons, Parliament will define for the first time where the balance should lie.”
For the first time, an African has been elected Deputy Mayor of North London’s borough of Harrow.
The new Deputy Mayor is Ghanaian-born Cllr Nana Asante who has been a councillor since 2002.
Cllr Nana Asante, Deputy Mayor of Harrow Council
Cllr Nana Asante, Deputy Mayor of Harrow Council
Cllr Asante and her Deputy Mayoress Awula Serwah, a Ghanaian-born barrister, received their medallions of office at Council’s annual meeting last week at Harrow Civic Centre.
“I thank you for the honour you have given me of serving as Deputy Mayor,” Cllr Asante said in a short acceptance speech to fellow councillors and well-wishers. “As a Christian, my example is the Servant King, so I hope I will do Him proud by following His example in serving this borough. Our borough’s motto is ‘Salus populi suprema lex’, the welfare of the People is the highest law, and I hope that with your help, I will support our Mayor Cllr Nizam Ismail in his year of service to the people of Harrow. Thank you once again for giving me this honour and privilege of serving as Deputy Mayor.”
After the enormity of the job had sunk in, Cllr Asante added: “It is a real privilege to become the Deputy Mayor of Harrow. It is an opportunity for somebody from the African continent to represent the people, and serve the people for a year. So I’m looking forward to my year in office.”
Asante, who is a Labour councillor for Edgware, and the Caribbean-born Conservative councillor for Pinner Lurline Champagnie OBE, who has been a councillor since 1986 and elected Mayor in 2004, are the only elected representatives in Harrow Council of African heritage.
