Fashion & Fiction

Last week I met with my new seamstress (another one!) who is constructing the designs for my sister, Ashanti, to wear for Full-Figured Fashion Week beginning June 16.  I am not at liberty to reveal any details just yet, but, in true Wilbur fashion, the looks are classic, with bold touches.  Angela (that's my new seamstress' name) seems to be a lovely woman who hails from the island of Jamaica and she seems to be all about business. Time will tell if she can REALLY bring the heat, but I'm placing all my bets on her.

Deborah Gregory surrounded by the actresses
who played "The Cheetah Girls"

On Thursday past, I found myself crossing the threshold of Hue-Man Bookstore in Harlem. Invited by Deborah Gregory,  a longtime colleague and creator of The Cheetah Girls book series, I was there for a reading by the new and dynamic novelist, Darlyne Baugh.  I noticed the air was filled with the scent of celebration as Darlyn greeted me like we were old friends.  And then Deborah, a flurry of coral knit, caramel curls, and bedazzled butterflies, fluttered into the bookstore greeting everyone in her path with the kind of salutations only Wendy Williams or someone very close to the gay community would know about.  After crackers and cheese and champagne and cupcakes, the rapt audience settled in to hear the writers read juicy excerpts from their books.

Darlyne's first book, Black Girl @ The Gay Channel, is a very fictionalized account of her own stint working for Logo TV.  So far,  it is a breezy, smart, and funny  read detailing the drama-filled ups and downs of corporate culture at a cable network.  Black Girl. . . is proving to be quite the page turner, in fact.



Author Darlyne Baugh



After the reading, I purchased the book and had Darlyne write something fabulously intimate on the inside cover.  Seeing this as an opportunity to network, I then made my way around the room introducing myself to people whom I admired but had never met.  There in the audience were Lisa Cortes, the Executive Producer of the Oscar-winning film "Precious" and Lisa Villarosa, the author, journalist, public speaker, and professor who wrote an article for Essence magazine many years ago that has stayed with me since.

Besides the obvious benefits of the evening, I was also inspired by the fact that another writer had taken pen to paper and created characters and a story that captures the mind of its reader.  And I hope I am able to do that through my forthcoming book, too.  Stay Tuned!

Peace & Fashion!