A year ago the FLOS visiting Jim Saphin in the U.K

Who'd have thought The Supremes would want to save our cliff...

CAN THE Former Ladies of the Supremes stop Fairlight's cliff erosion in the name of love?

The three current members of the legendary Motown act stepped assuredly into the debate surrounding the area's encroaching coastline when they struck a pose atop the receding cliff last week (left).The trio - comprised of Freddi Poole, Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne - made the surreal appearance on their way around the UK on a two-week tour.

The Fairlight Coastal Protection Trust, set up by residents to force action on the crumbling cliffs, probably weren't expecting this sort of star power to become involved in the cause.But the coup was no accident, thanks to an association dating back nearly 40 years between the act and Fairlight Cove resident Jim Saphin.

Jim became president of the Diana Ross and The Supremes Fan Club Of Great Britain in 1966 (pictured right). In his four years in the role, he enrolled almost 1,000 members from Great Britain and Europe, and had the opportunity to meet the ladies whenever they visited the UK.He said: "In January of 1968, The Supremes were booked to play a two week engagement at London's Talk Of The Town. During this time I arranged a fan club reception at EMI House in London.

Original members Diana Ross and Mary Wilson together with Cindy Birdsong (who replaced Florence Ballard) gladly signed autographs and posed for photographs with many of the fans."In 1970 when my career jeopardised my continuation of the fan club, I was obliged to resign as President, although my admiration for their music has never died to this very day."I have managed to stay in touch and maintain my friendship with almost the complete line-up of The Supremes, and there was eight Supremes in all."

Jim was pleased to welcome the support of the trio for the trust, which must raise £57,850 by mid-September towards a geological survey integral to the prevention of cliff erosion.

The scheme will also be funded by DEFRA and Rother District Council.If this does not go ahead, the trust fears 200 homes could be lost to the sea in the next century.Jim said: "It was a real thrill for me to have Lynda, Scherrie and Freddie come visit in my hometown. They asked me to offer their sincere support to the members of The Fairlight Cove Preservation Trust and hoped that a speedy resolution would soon be found to save the cliffs."
11 August 2005

From www.defamer.com

Friday, 7/28, 1pm. At Pico Restaurant at Shutters at the Beach in Santa Monica. We were having lunch, when my co-worker leaned over to me and pointed out a lady at the entrance who was wearing big sunglasses. He jokingly said, "Hey, it's Diana Ross!" We all laughed a little. Then she walked by our table with her companion. Turns out it really WAS Diana Ross. I guess we sometimes forget that in L.A., that when you think someone looks like a celebrity, there's a good chance it is a celebrity. I had to leave the lunch early, but my dining companions said that as Ms. Ross was leaving, she got her sunglasses caught in her weave before she could finally get them on.

Tracklist New cd "I Love You"

01) Remember
02) More Today Than Yesterday
03) I Want You
04) I Love You (That's All That Really Matters)
05) What About Love
06) The Look Of Love
07) Crazy Little Thing Called Love
08) Lovely Day
09) To Be Loved
10) Only You
11) I Will
12) You Are So Beautiful
13) Always And Forever
14) Remember Reprise

From www.defamer.com

I work at the Beverly Hills library every Saturday and see celebrities there infrequently. This weekend I was approached by someone I didn't recognize, except that she's been in the library before. She asked me to help her find a video about "wild street kids," since some racks have been cleared out for reorganizing, but I couldn't track down the video about homeless children that she was looking for. Then she gave me her name, "Diana Ross" and asked me to find the tape in her records. I tried not to betray anything in my face...it really was her! She was wearing all white, no makeup, looked "pretty good, considering," as a coworker put it.
Although I wasn't able to help her any further with that video, she did check out "Being John Malkovich."

The Dutch Diana Ross photoshoot soon!!

I was at The Dutch Diana Ross' photoshoot and make some great backstage pictures.

It was very nice to be there and see how she was dressed in different outfits.

I took some great pictures as well who looked like professional photos.

Soon more on my website www.dianarossfanclub.net

and of course on www.dutchdianaross.com

Jim

ET/ PEOPLE's Emmys Party 2004 / DIANA ROSS & THE QUEER EYE GUYS

Who's the biggest diva of them all? Three of the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Fab Five (from left: Kyan Douglas, Carson Kressley and Thom Filicia) celebrate with Diana Ross at the Mondrian. Their show took the prize for outstanding reality programming.

Wilkerson's designs strike contemporary note

New York fashion designer Edward Wilkerson's got presence -- he has a look that grabs your gaze and doesn't let go. It's why, when in town last Thursday to pick up Fashion Group International of Chicago's Superstars award, a fellow Peninsula Hotel guest asked if he was one of Madonna's dancers (her crew was also staying at the hotel). And why, even on Chicago's downtown streets, women stop him for on-the-spot fashion advice.
Wilkerson is practical when it comes to giving his Lafayette 148 ladies what they want -- looks that are "contemporary and sophisticated at the same time." With a collection that sells at Nordstrom, Mark Shale and Saks Fifth Avenue, Wilkerson adds ethnic touches such as hand-beaded accents and bold embroidery to separates while including staples like tie-waisted white blouses and wool-blend pencil skirts in the line.
An avid photographer who never leaves home without three cameras and a sketch book, Wilkerson found inspiration for his Fall '06 collection in Venice, Italy. And specifically, in late philanthropist and art collector Peggy Guggenheim, who turned her home on the Grand Canal into an art museum. "She was a patron of the arts and had incredible style," he says. "The fall collection is very elegant, very luxurious. We use a lot of velvet trims, fur trims, boucles. Our tweeds are mixed with cashmere, and everything kind of sparkles and shines."
We talked to Wilkerson, who also has hosted photo exhibitions near his Brooklyn home, about style, Africa (he loves it) and Oprah (he dressed her in 2003 for an Essence magazine cover shoot).
Q. What's the most unusual thing that has inspired one of your collections?
A. What always influences my collections is travel, exotic travel. I love Kenya; I love Morocco ... I also love Europe and Asia. I remember going to Milan and driving with a friend to Portofino [on the Italian Riviera] for lunch, 1-1/2 hours away. I said, 'This is great and all, but this [place] needs a little salt. Diana Ross would have been fabulous here. She would up it a notch.' So this past Resort collection was 'Diana Ross-goes-to-Portofino.' I photographed the buildings, the boats in the marina, some of the villas. I made a [fabric] print out of my photographs, and it's the 'Portofino print.' "
Q. You've traveled throughout Africa. What fascinates you most about the diverse continent?
A. I'm always inspired by places with a deep, rich cultural heritage, and what amazes me about Africa is tradition. This is also evident in China, also evident in Bali, that life is pretty much the same as it always has been. You go to some parts of Kenya -- they may have a laptop but they're still in their traditional Masai dress.
Q. What's one of Americans' biggest misconceptions about Africa?
A. That they're always fighting and that there's poverty. But there's poverty two blocks away from me [in Brooklyn]. We're so focused on the negative things that happen in the world that we don't look in our own backyard.
Q. You were on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in 2003. What stands out most about meeting her the first time for the Essence cover shoot?
A. [The fact] that she was so approachable threw me. We basically talked nonstop throughout the photo shoot. [With] her travels to Africa and my travels to Africa, we really had a shared interest. We both love interiors, so we talked about that. Clothes, traveling, food.
Q. You spend months each year traveling. What do you always carry with you on the plane?
A. I'm never without my cashmere shawl because I'm always cold. My portable DVD player. My own selection of teas. My selection of CDs -- I mix a lot of my own music, and a lot of it's very meditational. I always travel with scented candles. I like to create my own environment.
Q. If you weren't a fashion designer or photographer, what would you be?
A. An architect, because to me building a house and building clothes are altogether the same thing.

Stylebook: Sexy, romantic & stylish Designer inspired by a beautiful country and a beautiful woman

Sunday, August 13, 2006By LaMont Jones, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Edward Wilkerson, design director for the chic bridge label Lafayette 148 New York, likes to spend a few weeks each year visiting markets across the United States, where he meets store managers, sales reps and customers, and notes local differences among women who like to wear his clothes.
During his first visit to Pittsburgh in 2003, he observed that his typical client here "is sophisticated, but also has an artsier side to her. The way she was put together, it wasn't so matchy-matchy. It was more separate dressing, mixing special pieces together."
Mr. Wilkerson will have his eyes wide open when he returns to Pittsburgh for an appearance at a fall-winter trunk show at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Saks Fifth Avenue, Downtown.
The Art Deco period inspired the line, with rich jewel tones such as crimson, amber and jade against a black backdrop, with silver and gold accents "for extra shimmer," Wilkerson said. "It conjures images of film noir and smoky jazz clubs of the '20s, where artists and musicians came together."
The brand brought in Barbara Gast to supervise design of the collection's 120 knit pieces, which she described as "practical but chic." Handcrafted embellishments sprinkle the line, from the cropped, bead-trimmed "Betsy" jacket that took 35 hours to complete to the "Sandra" sequin skirt that required 241 hours of hand-beading.
Wilkerson has named Lafayette 148's spring 2007 collection "Diana Ross Goes to Portofino." It was inspired by a trip to the Italian coastal town last year, where he said cobblestone streets, clear blue skies and waters and stylish Italian women walking by in high heels "engulfed my imagination."
"And the image of Diana Ross in the '60s came to mind," he continued. "I felt what was missing was a little soul. What I mean by that is rhythm. Watching the women walk by, I started to put it to music. And 'Baby, baby, where did our love go?' came to mind. Sexy, romantic and stylish. My mission was to mix the colors of the clay and the gold and blue buildings that lined the street. So I photographed them and made a print called 'Portofino print.' "
The designer's keen sense of design, drape and color -- and his ability to translate elegant, wearable looks into plus and petite sizes -- have won him many celebrity fans, from Halle Berry and Katie Couric to Oprah Winfrey and Queen Latifah.
The 10-year-old Lafayette 148 label is growing, and Wilkerson hopes within two years to expand his designs to handbags and shoes. Other possibilities are menswear, jewelry and a fragrance.
A New York native, Wilkerson attended Parsons School of Design and worked for Anne Klein, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan. An avid photographer and world traveler, he is seeking a publisher for "Tribal Knowledge," a photo-driven book it took him seven years to complete.