COOPER’S 65TH
Fashion greats head home to celebrate
PULSE CHAIRMAN Kingsley Cooper turns 65 this weekend, and several of Jamaica’s fashion greats are headed home to help him celebrate, along with a wider group of friends and well-wishers. As the visionary responsible for the creation of a modern modeling and fashion industry for Jamaica and the Caribbean, Cooper will play host to many of the stars whose careers he has launched and developed, including those who have been recognised as having “changed the face of global fashion” (Vogue – Jeneil Williams and Nadine Willis) and “shook society and changed the world” (CNN – Nadine Willis for Gucci). Stars arriving in Jamaica for this weekend’s celebrations include fashion designer The Vessel; double Vogue covergirl, author and artist Lois Samuels; Vogue covergirl, Karl Lagerfeld and Nike star Jeneil Williams; multiple Vogue and Gucci star Nadine Willis; Ralph Lauren Polo star, Vogue model and world top 10 fitness trainer Oraine Barrett; Vogue covergirl, Calvin Klein, Gucci and Ralph Lauren superstar Alicia Burke, currently one of the hottest models in the world, among several others.
For more than four decades, Cooper has been at the forefront of the development and expansion of Jamaica’s entertainment industry. A pioneer, Cooper has played a key role in the music and lifestyle sectors, as well as fashion. In addition, he has been focused on the development of creative entrepreneurship, with his beloved Pulse becoming the first entertainment entity to be listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in 1994. Cooper has spent several years extending public service to Jamaica and the Caribbean. He chaired the committee that managed Jamaica’s inaugural presentation at the Midem music market in Cannes, France, and was first chairman of The Jamaica Entertainment Advisory Board and the Caribbean Fashion Industry Association. He also headed such key entities as The Entertainment Development Enterprise of Jamaica.
MUSIC VENTURES
His ventures into music spanned artiste management, development and production, seminal of which was the acclaimed Reggae Superjam concert series at which the great Peter Tosh gave his last concert performance. In recent years, he has been the driving force for the establishment of the Peter Tosh Museum at the Pulse Centre on Trafalgar Road.
Over the past two decades, Cooper has paid significant attention to lifestyle projects at Villa Ronai in Stony Hill and the Pulse Centre at Trafalgar Road. These include boutiques and spas, celebrated Japanese restaurant Majestic Sushi (Japanese owned), their use as venues for internal and external events, nightlife experiences such as PULS8, and Peter Tosh Museum.
Most recently, he completed the new Pulse Rooms, a 20-guest room facility at Trafalgar Road. Fifty suites are currently under construction at Villa Ronai.
Through Pulse, he has created a plethora of innovative institutions, many of which have been copied locally and internationally. These include the Pulse Fashion and Lifestyle TV titles, Caribbean Fashionweek (CFW), the Caribbean Model Search, and The Pulse Model Agency. Over the years, the company has also managed such events as Miss Universe Jamaica, Supermodel of the World (Jamaica), Elite Model Look (Jamaica) and many others.
His latest innovations are the Pulse School Search Tour, a model search set to galvanise high school hopefuls across Jamaica this summer, and the new Resort Fashion Week, a product of CFW.