Editor’s Pick: The Sheila Johnson Holiday Collection

Okay, cultural experts say that with advances in technology, medicine and healthcare and new ways of looking at family, life and career, 50 is the new 30. Very few people are employed on the same job for 30-plus years, and the cultural, yet cheeky phenomenon of May/December romances, has forced modern women to continually redefine and re-invent their lives.

Sheila Johnson, co-founder of BET, has practically done it all.  She’s been a producer, a network executive, and a philanthropist.  “For over 30 years I have been involved in the entertainment industry, founding a television network and more recently producing movies and documentaries. I’ve always had a tremendous interest in all of the arts and in particular, photography,” details Johnson.

And with this passion for photography, Sheila Johnson has combined her love of painting and water colors to produce wearable art as evidenced through the Sheila Johnson 2013 holiday collection of digitally printed scarves. “Now I have the opportunity to share my vision, enthusiasm for nature and passion for photography by creating luxurious scarves that also function as ‘wearable art’,” explains Johnson.

Produced and manufactured in Prato, Italy, the scarves are made of 100% modal, a natural yarn that results in a smooth, supple, color-fast fabric. Each scarf is produced on an old-fashioned wooden loom, digitally printed and then skillfully cut and fringed by hand. And with names like Solace, Joy!, Elina and Felicity, each scarf captures the joy, peace, magnificence and beauty inherent in the natural environment.

The collection retails for $475 and a portion of proceeds will be donated to the Lady Salamanders, the first national all-women’s Street Soccer USA team, which aims to end homelessness through sports. (Please visit www.streetsoccerusa.org.)

For more information, to view or purchase the holiday 2012/resort 2013 collection, please visit www.sheilajohnsoncollection.com.

—William S. Gooch