A night of superlative beauty

Chester Francis-Jackson, Contributor

For some style is seasonal; being fashionable even more so and these two perennial harbingers of good taste are trotted out ceremoniously on special occasions.

Style, like good taste is becoming very much of a rarity these days. The introduction of each new technological gadget reduces interpersonal interactions and cultural fertilisation, as more and more people retreat from their social interactions in deference to their new gadgets.

Over the years, there have been few men and women of great style. More people seem to have mistaken their desire for applause, ability to spend and conspicuous consumption for style. More often than not, they equate their purchasing ability with not only style but as a sign of good breeding!

Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth. Alas, many continue to posture from these platforms, as if they were the bible of good taste.

There have, however, been great ladies and gentlemen of style. Such personalities like socialites Michelle Bovell, Ruby Martin, Ambassador Madge Barrett, Sandra Kennedy, Maurice Facey, Chris Blackwell, John Issa and Kingsley Cooper come to mind. Men and women of distinguished style, whose charity lies in the fact that they are too honourable to lay any such claim, but by their examples have demonstrated a great sense of style. As has the absolutely charmingly fabulous Maureen German.

leading style arbiters

Dears, German is undoubtedly one of Kingston's leading style arbiters. Her sense of chic, decorum, poise and grace earning her the professional distinction of being anointed the unofficial style governess of the annual Miss Jamaica World beauty pageant. She has been its principal organiser for many, many years until she decided on moving back to London, England.

As 'style governess' for the pageant, German was the grooming mistress, preparing many young women for their debut on the national and international stage. She reaped much success as many of her charges went on to distinguish themselves both nationally and internationally.

Well, recently, the lovely German shocked her friends by announcing from her London home that come February 12, she would be celebrating her 60th birthday in Kingston and that her friends should save the date to join her on the occasion.

And so my dears, on February 12, her friends and admirers gathered at Studio 38, Pulse Complex, along Trafalgar Road, in New Kingston, to break bread and make merry in celebration of the 60th milestone of the style maven, and pumpkins, what a charmer of a night it was!!

Luvs, whomever coined the phrase "60 is the new 50", never really met German. Dears, on the face of it, (and she confides that she has never been under the scalpel), the lovely Ms German does not appear to anything but in her mid-40s. And while those who have known her for many moons can accept her celebrating her 60th, it still does not compute.

Anyway my dears, two Saturdays ago the belle of the ball was the fab Maureen German and dears, what a ball it was! Luvs, friends came, saw and celebrated like everybody's business!

Luvs, the celebrations got under way at 8 p.m. and went into overdrive around 11p.m. post toasts, cake cutting and serving, and by 2 a.m., the mandatory winding down time, a good time was definitely had by all, and then some!

Dears, it was a night of Champagne toasts, traditional Jamaican foods, served as finger nibbles and liberal doses of laughter, punctuated by spirited partying and celebrations. But what a night!

Dears, talk about beauties on parade!

Well luvs, many of German's past charges and friends in were attendance. The celebration was destined to succeed as the occasion was a first of its kind, in that it was easily the gathering of the most former Miss Jamaica World beauties ever before seen in a non-pageant gathering.

Luvs, talk about "forever young". Well, it was that kind of a night as the ageless Joan McDonald as the evening's compère and such notables as 'queen makers' Mickey Haughton-James of Spartan Health Club/Miss Jamaica World pageant; and Kingsley Cooper, of Pulse Modelling and Talent Agency and former franchise holder of the Miss Jamaica Universe pageant in attendance, you know we are talking a beauty offensive here.

It was like that - a night of superlatives and unequalled beauty, as with the birthday girl radiating (among no less than eight or so former beauty queens in attendance). There were also runners-up and a musical tableaux that ran the gamut of the heady days of late '60s reggae; flashy disco nights of the '70s; the turn of hard /soft rock of the '80s; alternative sounds of the '90s and new age mixes of the 2000s, it was a beautiful night!

Among those out celebrating were Justice Ingrid Mangatal and her colleague, Justice Nicole Simmonds; Dr Winston Whyte; Dr Shonari Bullock; cricketing legend Maurice Foster; the eminent Lloyd Tomlinson; musical icon Beres Hammond; Jean Haughton-James McCulloch; Dr Kurdel DaCosta-Espinosa; music industry personality Robert Livingston; Clinton Burrowes and partner Vivia German; the fab Melody Aarons; Harry Smith; the lovely Ingrid Green; Garth Watson; the charmingly lovely Dollis Campbell; Winston and Carla Newell; Dwight Gray; the stunning Nurma James; Colin and Pat Bullock.

We saw Kingsley and Vivia James; the lovely Donna Harpaul; Marlon James; the fab Millicent Lynch; Scott Graham; the beautiful Christine Straw; Dwight Ramsay; Claudine Shoucair; the beautiful Dawn Ruddock; the gorgeous Laura Butler; Sherie Peart-Ranston; Mezanne Grant; Arlene Nelson-Sinclair; Stacey Harriott; Jillian Henry; Jordana Matthews-Kumst; Danielle Bullock; Barry Johnson and wife Cheryl-Ann Turner-Johnson; Sophia Rhoden-Bullock and her children, godchildren, Frances and Omar; Joy Lindo-Smith and Gina Gray, who both flew in from Florida for the event and Carol Saunders who shares the same birthday as German, making it a double celebration. A fab one it was too!