In Bed with Leroy | Czarinna Bravo Tabobo Part II
Dear Readers,
Hello Vancouver! My name is Leroy Wan and for the past months, every Thursday, I dive into the metrosexual metropolis we call Vancouver and try to find you someone driven, someone in our “hood” that is so hungry for success and respect in their artistic communities, that dreams become realities an arms reach away or just the matter of doing it.
If you follow my blog, you would know that I captured into my haute hands weeks before a young lady named Czarinna Bravo Tabobo. You can catch the interview as well as many other exclusives at http://youtube.com/hausofkolbee or http://czarinnabravotabobo.com
She is a photographer/videographer who is prominent in the queer communities of Vancouver, and on a hot and humid summer day, we sipped Jasmine tea and talked about the way she approaches photography not only as a way to capture a moment but also for her to expose what she thought was truly beautiful: realism.
Further explaining how she didn’t believe in the “idea” of a “perfect body”; she also began to tell me how being the daughter of hardworking disciplined immigrants, and a prominent activist for the LGBT community affects her voice as a photographer of fashion as well as her many many other artistic endeavors. She candidly talked to me about how sometimes, those worlds can collide. But never one to back down, Czarinna Bravo Tabobo will not allow anything to censor or silent her artist voice.
In fact, she began to interview me! She asked me what I saw fashion as. What potential was there?
Why was fashion so important to me? And it seemed we both had some great values in common.
I treasure fashion, the art of presenting one’s self visually and physically, as something that is sacred because growing up in the macho-praising East Vancouver and having being told your entire life I couldn’t grow up to be this, wear that, eat this, act like that. I didn’t really have, could have or was supposed to have this way to express myself.
And most importantly, in the freedom of being able to show your true self, there is the art of articulation. The knowledge of what you do and putting yourself together for the world to gaze upon you. Like it or not, the world is a runway, you are always going to be a statement. So why not have fun with it?
So, Czarinna Bravo Tabobo and I decided, we would create FREEDOM FASHION. Fashion to liberate others. Examples of true articulated beauty that might show others: it is affordable, accesible, certainly not daunting, fearless and most importantly, fun.
Through, H.A.U.S of KOLBEE, a group of designers/artists whom style, do hair/makeup, create concepts dedicated to exposing honest and fearless beauty; Tabobo decided to start with YOURS TRULY a line of photoshoots where we do just this. FREEDOM FASHION.
So here are a few tidbits of what we have done. These are actually stills because Czarinna insisted this to become an outrageous fashion video. So hopefully you all like it and there are many to come.
Please visit http://vfwblog.com often and if you would like to be a part of our FREEDOM FASHION project, and be in a safe supportive environment dedicated to glamourizing all the different and diverese beautiful things in the world instead of a particular idea of beauty. Fashion can empower. LET’S MAKE IT A MOVEMENT! Send us a message @ hausofkolbee@hotmail.ca or ‘like’ us @ http://facebook.com/hausofkolbee today!
