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| Senator Wayne James | |||||
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District: St. Croix Date of Birth: September 14, 1961
Place of Birth: St. Croix
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In March of 1987, while in his last semester of
law school at Georgetown University, St. Croix-born Wayne James
presented his first collection of fashion at the Anita Shapolsky
Gallery on Spring Street in New York’s SoHo. Bergdorf Goodman,
arguably the world’s most discriminating retailer, purchased the
exclusive rights to the new designer’s first collection, and Nina
Hyde, fashion editor of the Washington Post, declared James “one of
the rising stars among young New York designers.”
James graduated from law
school in May of that year, shipped his first collection in July,
and he has been designing fashion and accessories under his Wayne
James label ever since, having created garments for such luminaries
as Pope John Paul II, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Diana,
Princess of Wales. In addition, the designer has sold his
collections to national department stores such as Nordstrom; the
esteemed French boutique chain, Victoire; and prestigious specialty
stores like Saks Jandel in Washington, DC. Since emerging onto the
fashion scene in the late 1980s, James’ career and collections have
been featured and chronicled in practically every important fashion
publication, the New York Times, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, Essence
Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Elle Magazine, and Women’s Wear Daily
being just a few.
Rather than following the designer tradition of marketing a
fragrance, in 1993 James drew upon his Caribbean heritage and
created Carnival Seasoning, an island-inspired herb-and-spice blend
which is sold in stores ranging from gourmet supermarkets to gift
shops to military commissaries.
Fashion and its related businesses are not James’ only interests. In
1998 James founded the Homeward Bound Foundation, its mission being
to encourage world-wide, multi-racial healing from the ravages of
the Transatlantic Trade of Enslaved Africans. On July 3, 1999, as a
key step towards realizing its mission, the Homeward Bound
Foundation lowered a monument onto the floor of the Atlantic Ocean
in recognition of the estimated millions of Africans who died en
route to slavery in the New World upon European slaving vessels,
thereby placing a gravestone on what had been previously described
as “the worlds largest--yet unmarked--graveyard, the Atlantic
Ocean’s infamous Middle Passage.” For its efforts, James’ Homeward
Bound Foundation was awarded the International Humanitarian Medal in
Paris, and the foundation is in discussion with various nations
regarding the placement of replicas of the Middle Passage Monument
in key cities around the world.
Over the past 20 years, James has amassed a large
collection of the decorative arts of the U.S. Virgin Islands (the
former Danish West Indies): mahogany antiques and rare books,
photographs, documents, and paintings. In addition, the designer is
building a collection of oil portraits of black people from the 18th
and 19th
centuries which will go on a world tour during the next decade. And
plans are underway to construct on the island of St. Croix The Wayne
James Museum for the Preservation of Virgin Islands Culture.
On
November 4, 2008, James was elected Senator of the United States
Virgin Islands; and on December 8, 2008, James was named Senate
Liaison to the White House, thereby adding politics to his
multi-faceted career.
James is presently working on two books:
Fashionable Foods--the
guide to modern Caribbean cooking;
and
We Are Who We Were,
a book on the socio-cultural history of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Born
on September 14, 1961, Wayne James is the son of Evelyn Messer James
and the late Gustav A, James, Sr., of Frederiksted, St. Croix.
Contact
Information for Senator Wayne A.G. James, Esq.
Name: Wayne
A.G. James, Esq.
Officer Title:
Liaison to the
White House
Committees:
Chairman –
Education, Youth & Culture
Vice-Chairman
– Appropriations & Budget
Housing, Sports &
Veteran Affairs – Member
Financial Services,
Infrastructure & Consumer Affairs – Member
Public Safety,
Homeland Security & Justice – Member
St. Croix Address
100 Lagoon Homes, Suit 2
Frederiksted, St. Croix,
Virgin Islands 00840-3912
Tel 340-712-2216
Fax 340-712-2376
E-mail:
wagj91461@hotmail.com
St. Thomas Address
Capitol Building
P.O. Box 1690 Charlotte Amalie,
St. Thomas Virgin Islands 00804
Tel 340-693-3600
STAFF
St. Croix
Chief of Staff
Hortense
Rowe,...........................................................712-2216
Chief
of Staff
Staff............................................................................712-2303
Staff............................................................................712-2202
Staff............................................................................712-2326
Staff.............................................................................712-2269
Staff.............................................................................712-2215
Staff.............................................................................712-2214
Staff.............................................................................712-2305
Fax................................................................................713-2376
E-mail................................................................wjames@legvi.org
St. Thomas
Staff.................................................................................693-3600
Fax..................................................................................693-3632 |
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