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B Michael on the happy fashion memories he shared with icon Cicely Tyson

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Fashion designer B Michael recalls a memorable moment with his effervescent fashion muse, legendary actress Cicely Tyson. The incident occurred on the morning of Aretha Franklin’s funeral, when Tyson didn’t agree with the size of the hat he was offering, fearing it could block guests sitting behind her. “She rejected me,” he says on the phone. In response, she remembers telling Mrs. Tyson, “I don’t think anyone sitting behind Cicely Tyson is going to complain that they can’t see through your hat.” He added: “This is Aretha Franklin. She was the queen of soul and you’re the queen of culture. You must wear this hat. According to Michael, she eventually wore the hat and it was well received by those attending the funeral.

This story highlights the fun and joyful moments that B. Michael and Tyson, for whom he has been designing clothes since the age of 80, experienced. Their bond, launched in 2005, resulted in the creation of decadent gowns for the historic award ceremonies the actress attended. Michael compares their friendship and closeness to the iconic duo of Audrey Hepburn and Hubert de Giverchy: “It’s a really visual way to see how we saw ourselves as a designer and a muse. What sets us apart is the fact that we had a very spiritual and wonderful relationship,” he notes.

The inspiration for Michael’s recent book, Muse: Cicely Tyson and me: a relationship forged in fashion, results directly from their relationship. “We know this is who we are,” Michael says. It expresses that there may be all the time a bond that connects two people and fashion is what brought the duo closer. Their shared interest in textures and patterns became a major aspect of their collaboration, allowing them to mix Tyson’s identity with Michael’s creativity.

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Ahead of the book’s release, we sat down with B. Michael to debate the historical memories he shared with Ms. Tyson, his joining Council of Fashion Designers of Americaand more.

B Michael reflects on his fashion kinship with Cicely Tyson and his new book
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ESSENCE.com: What’s the happiest moment you have experienced recently?

B.Michael: I’m grateful that the book is finished and now going out into the world. It allows me to share the narrative and voice that is a component of our history. I’m grateful for this chance and all the wonderful reactions we receive. And that once I am long gone, this narrative will still be a part of our story and the telling of that story.

Can you tell me what it was prefer to turn out to be a member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1998?

When I got here onto the scene as a designer, I never considered myself as anything apart from a fashion designer. Then, in fact, you realize that you simply are a rare breed of an already rare breed since you at the moment are a black American designer. This was what I used to be told, after which I used to be told [began] to comprehend the responsibility for this and the importance of this, it has turn out to be and continues to be something that I take to heart and recognize that we now have a responsibility for excellence, which we all the time do, but we also must make certain that we again provide a path for many who will follow us. So I’ll turn out to be what Arthur McGee was to me. I used to be sponsored by Oscar de la Renta. This was very significant for me

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B Michael reflects on his fashion kinship with Cicely Tyson and his new book
Courtesy of B. Michael

What was your first moment with Ms. Tyson?

Yes, that is the moment you’ll all the time remember. [In 2005] Joey Mills, who was a famous makeup artist, especially in his day, called me and said that Cicely Tyson was there with him and wanted to return over to see if I could make her a dress for Oprah Winfrey’s upcoming Legend Ball and that she knew about me through Susan Fales-Hill. I said in fact. He said, “Well, she would like to come to us right away.” She actually did. She showed up after about half-hour. I’ll all the time remember once I opened the door and there stood Mrs. Tyson, by no means what I expected. I’ve only seen her in movies.

Now standing here is Mrs. Tyson dressed very casually, as I describe in the pages of the book. He has a pad with him, involves the studio and tells me that this event took place [a few] days and might you dress me? Of course I had no selection. That’s where it began. The event called for black and white, so I dressed her in a shirt and evening skirt. She liked the idea of ​​an eclectic style. When I met her, it made perfect sense. So that is how we began. But I’ll all the time do not forget that moment once I opened the door and he or she stood there.

B Michael reflects on his fashion kinship with Cicely Tyson and his new book
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I saw in the book that Beyoncé wore the same skirt to Oprah Winfrey’s Legends Ball in 2005 that Ms. Tyson wore on the album cover, and I believe that is form of a full-circle fashion moment.

Yes, absolutely. And what I like about it’s what they each represent. However, they each represent something very powerful, but they’re very different. As a designer, I like the incontrovertible fact that I can reach each of those areas in this manner. I mean, it makes me feel like that is what I’m alleged to do. When Mrs. Tyson [first] she got here to me, she was 80 years old, but I hadn’t seen 80. I just saw this amazing woman. [It’s] the same thing once I see Beyoncé, she’s just an incredible woman. I’m delighted that I managed to attain this [what I did] with each and one skirt.

What made Ms. Tyson walk the runway during your 2011 New York Fashion Week show?

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It was an amazing moment. So Mrs. Tyson said to me, “I would like to walk down your runway. and I would like to wear this dress. That’s the way it was. During this time, she really liked the set of dresses I created [for] BET honorable mention. One was black in the front and with a white back, and the other was white in the front and with a black back. I actually liked each versions I created and wanted to offer her the selection of which one to wear. She loved each. On the day of the performance, audience members accustomed to seeing her in the front row noticed that she was not there. This caused confusion at the front and everybody wondered where was Mrs. Tyson? When she finally appeared on the runway, there was a roar from the audience, which was quite exciting.

Once again, it was about the muse and the designer and what that meant. We’re at New York Fashion Week, we’re on the calendar. I mean, it was an important moment, and at the same time very intimate for us.

I have to mention the stunning dress she wore to the 2018 Governor Awards, where she received an honorary Oscar. What led to this moment?

Mrs. Tyson and I talked on the phone on daily basis, first at 9:30 a.m. And then, depending on what was going on, we’d talk all day if we didn’t see one another. But in the evening I often say, OK, I’ll talk over with you tomorrow morning. And this particular evening she called me and I used to be like, oh, what is going on on? When I answered the phone, she was emotional and almost lost control. Once she calmed down, she told me that she had just talked on the phone with the president of the Academy and her manager. They just informed her that she’s going to receive an honorary Oscar.

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And then, in fact, I responded and now we’re each touched. Finally, she added her humorousness. When she accepted her Tony, I joked that I had prayed to God for a vision of her dress. So she interrupted our emotional moment by saying, “Well, you went to God for Tony, so where are you going to the Oscars?”

B Michael reflects on his fashion kinship with Cicely Tyson and his new book
Steve Granitz/WireImage

What happened next?

I recognized, and he or she jogged my memory, that the world would need to understand how she can be portrayed at this point in her profession, after so many many years of labor. All fashion houses [wanted] dress her and [were] offering their services. [But] released an announcement: “If they know who I am, they know that B. Michael will be making my Oscars dress.” And I did. Let me let you know, I knew it couldn’t just be a dress and it couldn’t be, it needed to be a part of the story.

Several years [prior]I purchased a material that was very rare in Europe in a factory at the moment [that] he made all the couture fabrics when the House of Dior was with Mr. Dior and Saint Laurent was Yves Saint Laurent and so on. I purchased this item and put it in what I call my fabric library, pondering I would want it sooner or later. And that is the fabric I selected to create her dress. The dress is made up of 144 pattern pieces and every bit needed to be redone because the fabric itself is vertically striped and I didn’t want it to simply be a striped pattern. So, to create the abstract striped pattern, every bit needed to be taken with a stripe running in a unique direction.

If we’re talking about a very old fashion, and it’s a dress, it consists of two parts. This bolero is cropped at the front, [has] buttons at the back, the train is asymmetrical. The wonderful thing about the train was that when Mrs. Tyson walked through the huge auditorium towards the stage, where the side of the train faced the audience, it was just wonderful. The dress truly is a component of history in every way, in every stitch. That evening, Mrs. Tyson was a giantess in a royal dress. [Afterwards] it was reported in the press and now we all know as a incontrovertible fact that it was me the first African-American designer to decorate an Oscar winner. Once again, in a single evening, in an enormous way, Ms. Tyson and I remade history together in each of our industries.

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What is the biggest lesson you learned out of your time with Ms. Tyson?

I might say it has to do with loyalty. And loyalty, but take it a step further, because what Mrs. Tyson represented and what united us was intentional and that word could be very vital. Ms. Tyson had many options, but this was her intention. So her intentions when it comes to the roles that she selected, I mean, that was an important operational factor for her. In terms of what we achieved, that was the intention. This is one great lesson that stays with me. Loyalty is the intention that drives it and perfection because ability is one thing, nevertheless it is the perfection that must sustain it and offer you the right to it. So perfection can also be a really, very vital lesson.

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This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Health and Wellness

Why the quality of gait is important as it ages

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Walking is one of the most important things that we do for our quality of life. In fact, Research shows It contributes greater than another physical activity in how well we live overnight. Already one in three People over the age of 60 report some difficulties in walking.

With age, gradual changes in our bodies and health can change the way I walk, often without realizing. But the way we go, known as our gait pattern, is more important than we might sound. Poor gait not only makes walking harder and more tiring; It can result in joint deformation, instability and greater risk of falls.

Think about your walk like a heart rhythm. Like electrocardiogram (EKG) shows whether your heart works properly, your walk also has a rhythm. When this rhythm is turned off, it will be one of the earliest signs that you’ll not age as well as you’ll be able to.

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Thanks New technologyWe can now easier and thoroughly measure the quality of gait. One promising tool is Heel2toe wearing sensor. This small device attaches to the shoe and follows the movement of the ankle while walking, grabbing the series of gait in real time.



A healthy step begins with a heavy heel impact. Your weight moves on the sole of the foot, ending with pushing out of your toes. When the foot rises, it changes cleanly – without dragging or drawing. This smooth sequence creates a rhythm in the movement of the ankle, which, when it is coherent, resembles the type of “walking ECG”.

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But with time, Many individuals are unknowingly accepting Less efficient movement patterns. These modified gaits could appear normal, but they are sometimes unstable, tiring or dangerous.

The older man fell to the floor while walking
A weak gait can increase the risk of falls.
https://www.shtterstock.com/image-photo/asian-senior-palling-on-grund-2147078055

Weak gait reduces confidenceIt increases the risk of falling and might discourage people from walking in any respect. The less we walk, the weaker our muscles turn out to be – deterioration of the problem. This is a flawed cycle.

Giving as much as walk well

The excellent news is that we are able to Losing our gait.

The Heel2toe sensor not only monitors your movements – that is also Encourages higher walking. When he detects a superb step (the one which starts with a heavy heel impact), provides audio guidance as positive feedback. Over time, the following pointers help discover a stronger, more stable walking pattern. Good gait becomes your latest norm. Tools such as Heel2toe help people tune in to their body signals and achieve sustainable progress.

The goal is not only to maneuver – it’s higher.

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Of course, being physically energetic is Only one aspect What does it mean to live well as you aged.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjujlrx9GC

To get a more complete picture of healthy aging Researchers have developed A tool that measures how often older adults experience key facets of well -being. This tool – a tan measure (elderly people to energetic life) – goes beyond tracking what people do. He asks how they feel about their lives.

Opal may help people understand their very own well -being and offers decision -makers and communities a option to assess how their services support older residents – not only physically, but in addition socially and emotionally.

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For people, which means that even small improvements, such as higher gait, can result in significant changes in how you’re feeling: more confident, more mobile and more independent.

For the community, it is a reminder that promoting physical activity is important – but insufficient. We also need programs, spaces and services that support the combination, goal, creativity and joy.

What does “active life” really mean?

IN International study 2024Older adults in Canada, Great Britain, the USA and the Netherlands shared, which suggests “active life” for them – in 4 languages ​​and cultural contexts.

They identified 17 different “ways of being” that contribute to activity. Physical health was just one part. Others included the feeling: self -confidence, combined, creative, energized, encouraged, engaged, glad, mentally healthy, independent, interested, mentally, motivated, resistant and self -sufficient.

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In other words, energetic life is not only taking (or counting) steps, it’s about how you’re feeling while taking them.

Aging is inevitable. But is getting old well? This is something that we are able to shape – step-by-step.

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This article was originally published on : theconversation.com
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Health and Wellness

The star Jones says “indignation” about the health of the heart will save your life

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Star Jones was pioneering in lots of industries, including in law, television and health, and is an energetic volunteer of the American Heart Association.

Considering that that is the national month of women’s health, he works with MedtronicAn organization coping with medical devices, in an effort to increase awareness of heart disease in women and throwing light to a brand new study of women aged 30-50, sponsored by an organization that shows that heart health is a smaller motivator of biological renewal for ladies than maintaining the physical appearance or body (10%), despite the primary of the women’s killer. The study sheds light on the gap in the field of awareness and open discussions on heart health, despite over 60 million women in the United States living with some form of heart disease.

Jones is deeply conversant in women’s heart disease, because she was diagnosed with heart disease in 2010 and she or he was told that she would want operations on an open heart. Although Jones said that she was obese for a few years and worked on accepting weight, she was surprised by the specific symptoms she experienced, even when the weight disappeared. “The types of symptoms I had were not symptoms that normally would make the woman think about heart disease at least at the time. I fought with symptoms such as shortness of breath, fatigue and dizziness or a garden when I was moving from sitting to standing,” he says to the essay. “I lost 150 pounds. I ate correctly. I got a huge number of exercises. I did what I should, but the symptoms were so annoying that I couldn’t just ignore them.”

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Fortunately, Jones listened to her body and decided to go to her cardiologist, after which diagnosed in not heart disease. “My doctors conducted tests that were necessary, listening to my body, explaining my symptoms, and we found that I had an aortic valve failure, which caused my heart to work optimally, so I had to have an open heart surgery with the purpose of repairing aortic valve, so that we would not replace it or receive a heart transplant,” she shared. “So I literally saved my own life, knowing enough about myself and knowing that something is wrong.”

Although Jones got here from a family with a protracted history of heart disease, their health was not a subject. “I can rightly say that until I had an open heart surgery, she became the subject of conversation,” he says. Her experience and lack of open communication together with her family inspired her participation in a letter to my mother’s campaign, which inspires women to priority to heart health, starting with a conversation together with her mother or woman of their lives, about family history, risk aspects and symptoms of heart disease. The campaign, which is a component of Medtronic’s continuous involvement in conducting and developing clinical trials for ladies’s health, goals to scale back the gap in the awareness of heart and risk diseases, particularly heart valve failure and hypertension in women.

This month, Medtronic encourages women to commit to check with moms or women in life about the health of the heart and signs of heart disease they need to search for, equivalent to hypertension and irregular heartbeat.

The national coalition for ladies with heart disease, the leading voice of a nation for ladies living with heart disease or risking to risk, has discovered the following statistics:

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  • One -third of women (30%) didn’t check with the doctor about heart health.
  • While greater than half of women are afraid that their old mother will ignore the symptoms or will not tell them when something is improper (53%), additionally they inform (56%) that they never talk about the health of the heart with their mother or other women in the family.
  • Almost half of women (45%) would favor to debate politics, money or relationships with mother or grandmother before discussing the history of family health.
  • Women argued preventive health care, equivalent to demonstration and routine controls, as the most vital conversation with mother or mother, since it still ages (35%) in comparison with funds (12%), pensions (5%) or plans at the end of life (16%).
  • Of the women from the sandwich generation with the family history of heart disease, only a 3rd (35%) asked the doctor to evaluate the risk of heart and only 44% talked about it with the family.

Although it will possibly be annoying, Jones encourages women, especially black women, to talk and tell their health. “Earlier I talked to a friend from Medtronic about underestimated communities, colorful people and women who are nervous about these conversations, which they mean in their lives, how to approach them, and even have access to doctors, and treatment that would allow them to support themselves for themselves. As we know, heart disease is really a number of deadly all women. I thought that this is a disease of an old white guy.”

Jones continues: “The numbers tell us that more than half of the risk of heart disease is hereditary. Therefore, it is really important to understand the history of your family. So you want to start with when you speak behind. And that’s why the letter to my mother’s campaign is so important, because it is a way to combine to start asking family members about health history and so it will start with a potentially reviving life.”

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This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Health and Wellness

Al Roker shares his journey into prostate cancer and offers an encouragement to Joe Biden

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Al Roker makes sure Joseph Biden knows that he will not be alone amongst his recent diagnosis of prostate cancer.

On Friday, May 18, Biden’s personal office announced that the 82-year-old former president was diagnosed with prostate cancer with a rating of 9 Gleason on 9.

“Although this is a more aggressive form of the disease, cancer seems to be sensitive to hormones, which allows for effective management,” he read the statement. “The president and his family are looking at the treatment options for their doctors.”

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The next day Roker, 70, thought of his journey with the disease that began in 2020. TODAY show.

“When I was diagnosed, I had 8 on Gleason’s scale, but they said they caught it early, even though it was aggressive, so I had a fairly wide range of treatment options,” said Roker.

Television personality for the primary time announced that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in November 2020. Later this month he underwent surgery within the New York Sloan Sloan Cancer Center to remove its prostate and some surrounding lymph and absorbent nodes.

According to Cleveland ClinicThe Gleason result’s a system of assessing prostate cancer, which ranges from 1, when cancer cells look essentially the most like normal cells, to 10, when cancer cells look very different from healthy cells. The lower the result, the slower the cells will probably grow.

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In May 2021 ROKER’s Six months control Nothing detected at the extent of a prostate -specific antigen (dog) was found, which suggests that it was in clarity. At that point he said People magazineHe was “grateful” to have the ability to see his first grandson.

“If there is a reason to make sure you are as healthy as possible, it is,” he said.

Roker, who fought all his life with constant health problems, also shared the words of encouragement to biden within the post on X.

“Mr. President. When I found out from my battle with prostate cancer, you are part of a group in which no one wants to be a part,” he wrote about Rak, which plague, On average, one in eight men. “But knowing you, you will face this latest challenge with courage, humor and grace.”

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Al Roker becomes a grandfather, he insists that the child's name is not related to his work

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This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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