It is absolutely vital for you to know your credit score if you plan to buy a car, house or any other such big assets on credit. A person who has a good credit score depicts that he pays his dues on time, in full and does not have too many loans to his name. However, a person with poor credit does not have all this and represents a potential risk to the lender. Bankers and private lenders don’t like to lend money to such persons and even if they do, they charge exorbitant rates of interest.
Therefore the best thing for you to start doing from today itself is to improve your credit score rating. Let me give you some tips how you can do this:
1) Pay off your credit card debt
Don’t try to pay off all your loans at the same time. It is better to concentrate on one at a time. Pay off your credit card debt first as it not only carries high interest but is also much more immediate in liability.
2) Know your credit card limits
Call up your credit card company and know your actual limits if you find them fluctuating in your statements.
3) Reduce your spending
Credit card companies raise the limits in case of people who go on wild spending spree. Check which the closing date for your card is and try to pay it off immediately. Never spend an amount of money that you cannot manage to pay off. If you cannot afford to pay your credit card dues every month, then you are in serious trouble. Lock up your cards and stop spending.
4) Use your old credit cards too
The older your credit card is, the better it is for you as it shows that you have been making timely payments and are maintaining your credit position securely for quite some time. Use your old credit cards some times at least for some small purchases. Thus, the good credit in the card will improve your credit score.
5) Do not forget your past
The past dues that had gone to collection are sure to haunt you now. While you cannot change the past, don’t forget it. Try to do some damage repair. Protest that it was unfair or unjust or that you did not understand the consequences then, etc.
Remember, if this is very much in the past, then most agencies wouldn’t bother about it. However, you need to demonstrate with adequate proof that the situation has changed. Make timely payments, reduce the use of your credit cards and avoid extravagance. All this is sure to improve your credit score adequately.
Good Luck!
Seemingly endless fame and fortune equate the biggest names in the fashion world. They are being looked up to and consulted for fashion tips by people whom even they look up to! Heard of prime ministers and country presidents without their own personal stylists? Hardly ever, for sure.
Fashion designers, particularly couturiers, have a way of seeing the best fitting outfits to almost anyone. They have the eye to determine what looks hot and what looks not. Experience teaches the better part of fashion designing, but admittedly “it’s innate; a gift,” a famed Hollywood designer once said.
While it takes more than gained knowledge, most of the world’s greatest fashion designers have attended some kind of school. Some designers are known to take fashion courses at fashion schools outside their countries which they believe can provide them the best training. Fashion hops globally, after all.
Probably the most well known fashion training centers worldwide is London. Most notable is its Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, where its alumni include Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan and Stella McCartney. Some others in London are London College of Fashion, The University of Westminster and The Royal College of Arts. Its famous alumni are Christopher Bailey, Stuart Vevers and Vivienne Westwood.
In America, Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.) and Parsons, The New School for Design both in New York City are highly commended. Similarly, Drexel University and Moore College in Philadelphia and The Lasell College in Newton, Massachusetts are popular fashion design schools. In the Los Angeles area, The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising and A.I.U. in Los Angeles once had Uriel Saenz and Ashley Paige as students. A more specialized school, particularly in the posh French Haute Couture method, is the Academy of Couture Art in West Hollywood.
Recently, a U.S. News annual survey revealed that The School of the Art Institute of Chicago has shifted up as the top U.S. school for fashion art programs. After several changes since its inception, The Art Institute has transferred to an iconic location along Michigan Avenue, which maintains its spot as the biggest and most famous museum-school in the United States. Cynthia Rowley, Halston and Gemma Kahng used to study in these institutions to further their craft.
In the Indian subcontinent, the National Institute of Fashion Technology is known to be the best fashion design school, which offers fashion technology curricula, from which a three-year course in fashion design for apparel can be acquired. The Pearl Academy of Fashion, with a center in UAE tucked under its belt, is also noted for its approach toward fashion studies.
Fashion school insiders relate that professional instructors educate on the technical and artistic aspects of the fashion subjects. A few related courses even include one year of working for the fashion business, as immersion and exposure to the industry. Fashion houses are also visited abroad as part of the program.
Most of the time, people who want to become top designers will work with other designers and gain hands-on experience.
According to statistics, most fashion designers earn an average of $13,000 to $93,000, depending on how in-demand their products are. Apparel, notions and price goods industries employ the largest numbers of fashion designers.
So if you want to end up in the fashion business, bear in mind that it’s not just about luck, but about hard work and a whole lot of dedication.
Since its conception, art in all of its various forms has been created for the sole purpose of the artist describing for the world his or her personal visions of a person, event, or place. As a result visual works of art leave the viewer with an impression of an extreme emotion. Whether that feeling is joy or the deepest pits of despair, the artist has done their job if something of their reality shows through their work. Painters of all races and ethnic backgrounds can surely relate to the “starving artist” theory. But for black artist the struggle has been a little more intense. Not only in the U.S. as the children of freed slaves, but unfortunately in their mother continent of Africa, Black American artists have faced discrimination and censorship. Fortunately both sets of unique, gifted artists are beginning to see some of the attention and praise they deserve. Black art painting is finally being seen for the huge contribution to history and the art world that it is.
Both sides of the world have produced amazingly gifted artists. In the Western hemisphere there are certain black men and women who paved the way for the African American artists of today. Horace Pippin is one of those men. After an injury in WWI, Pippin discovered his underlying talent for rich, historical painting. While he avoided the unpleasantness of life for a black man in the U.S. during that time period, he did produce black art paintings that spoke volumes to the viewer. His work was displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in 1938. A less known black artist that contributed to the black art movement in the United States is Walter Ellison. His most famous work is “Train Station” located in the Art Institute of Chicago. That painting is an honest look at the difficulties facing black families as they migrated north in the hope of a better future than the south could or would offer. These two exceptional black artists help give hope of recognition to the many gifted black artists that were to follow.
The scenario for artists from and living in Africa is different though. Despite the struggles with racial discrimination and inherent prejudice in the U.S., African artists are faced with even more difficult issues. Apartheid and censorship have long plagued this long suffering group of artists and painters. While expressing their views of the political unrest and unfair treatment, African artists have been subjected to severe punishment and censorship unheard of in the West. Thanks in part to the academic world’s growing interest in the work of the modern black artist, black art painting is receiving more attention and registering in the minds of museum curators and art galleries alike. Most of the credit belongs to the fortitude and artistic expression of the African artists themselves.
From its humble beginning in rock painting to its depictions of slavery, apartheid, and injustice, black fine art is an expression of the feelings and emotions of a diverse, racially unified community of artists. The rest of the world now has the opportunity to see and experience this unique form of painting.
Mr. Moyo Ogundipe has a Bachelors of Arts degree in Fine Art from the University of Ife, Ile-Ife, Nigeria and a Master of Fine Art degree in Painting from The Hoffberger School of Painting, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, USA.
One of Africa’s most celebrated and renowned contemporary black American artists, Mr. Ogundipe has exhibited extensively in Africa, Europe and the USA. His paintings have been described as hypnotic, colorful and densely patterned.
In 1996, Mr. Ogundipe was awarded the Pollock-Krasner Fellowship. And in 2005 he was invited to become a member of Africobra, an organization founded in the 1960s and whose membership comprises of distinguished African-American artists.
Find and buy black art prints from Moyo Ogundipe at www.Maigida.com.