Queen of the Empire

If someone told me 10 years ago that I'd be watching a series classified as DLSV (suggestive dialogue, coarse language, sexual situations & violence) with a heavy serving of hip-hop (my least fave genre), I'd have said "no way".

Then I saw Cookie Lyon strut out of prison to get her piece of the #empire and I kept tuning in.

Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon leaves prison after 17 years.

While I like "Jamal's" pop sound, it's not the music that makes me a fan. It's actually the story-line. The story of a a hip-hop music mogul who strives to stay on top in the music business - having created an "empire" from mostly foul gain and on the sacrifice of a wife who lovingly and trustingly did some of his "dirty work" for him, gets caught and does 17 years of time, only getting out when she rats on what she knows of the underworld. Now Cookie's back to take what she's owed!

She proves to be a mother who loves her sons dearly and falls back in love with the still bad boy Lucious, now dapperly turned out in expensive suits, living in lavish splendour and dating a sassy debutante nearly half his age. 

The Lyon Family
 

That was season 1. Over the remaining seasons Cookie, known for her loud mouth,

 

Cookie Lyon's fashion style is bold and colourful!

bold fashion choices but excellent ear for sound, soon proves her worth in the music industry eventually clawing her way back onto the executive of Empire.

Cookie gets her seat on the board of executives

 But the real draw for me was Taraji P. Henson herself. I'd seen her work in a couple of Tyler Perry's dramas - The Family That Preys, I Can Do Bad All By Myself for example - and Think Like A Man. So I watched Empire out of curiosity and kept tuning in like millions of fans everywhere to see what new trouble Cookie was causing - and she caused lots. None more so than for a young man to lose his chance in politics, thus earning the eternal ire of his conniving bourgeois mama, played by another female powerhouse of an actress, Phylicia Rashad.

The Grand-dame of the '80s sitcom, Phylicia Rashad, plays the arch enemy of the Queen of the Empire, played by Taraji P. Henson

What really interests me though is Taraji's story of making it against the odds - graduating college as a young, single mother, packing up to go to the other side of the USA to be an actress with that child in tow and well into her 20s.

  Taraji tells her against the odds story

 

Her rise to success was anything but overnight and now as a middle-aged Mom, her career is rising with the Cookie Lyon role and the portrayal in the highly-acclaimed film, Hidden Figures for which she and the entire ensemble received a Screen Actors Guild Award earlier this year.

Receiving the SAG Cast Award for the film "Hidden Figures"

Here's to Taraji P. Henson - a true winner against the odds.  

When mum's the word...

Well, we live in a very dynamic age and there is so much I would like to talk about - but can't as an employee of the state. I was recently reminded that by law, public servants are unable comment openly on matters of policy or administration, unless designated to do so.

Yes, employers like loyalty - and being loyal is highly commendable. Nobody likes a whistle-blower - but then how would all of those corporate abuses have been discovered in the international business environment a few years ago?

Frankly, an individual should be entitled to speak his/her mind (without disclosing state secrets) on matters of concern. No-one agrees with every decision made by the government of the day...or an employer's for that matter. Sometimes one has to sacrifice for the good of the state. Sometimes one disagrees with the approach that an administration is pursuing.  Leaders need to understand it's not a personal attack, and when it is that should not be, so commentators should not make it personal.

So instead of commenting on what I agree or disagree with, I'm showing photos of my Fleurs des Antilles collection from back in 1991/92 - when I dabbled in fashion design. For those who do not know, I am trained in Fashion Design but my interest has always been theatre-costume design for which there is no market in Barbados. So, I was happy to do fashion writing for a time.

I intentionally cropped out most of the models' faces as I have no idea what's become of them over the last 25 years. The only faces shown are two models in my actual graduation collection as that was a matter of public record.

Presenting Fleurs Des Antilles...

The graduation collection

 

Beaded tube dresses and flouncy satin

 

White velvet

Black velvet