style speak | little yellow jacket.

So my chica mejor and I are having some inspirational conversation about social mobility, and economy boosting, and large scale business in Nigeria and I was unbeknownst to her re-acquainting myself with Virgos Lounge A/W '12 collection. OH YEAH!!! I can multi-task business and fashion in one phone conversation. Total 'I talk like this cos I can back it up' moment...haha!

Anyway, I spotted this YUMMY jacket. Forget Karl's Little Black Jacket. Black is boring but ...

YELLOW is fresh, 

YELLOW is optimistic

YELLOW is so 2012 (I just made that up;-)) and I know a yellow loving fanatic that will agree with this statement...

With all that fire in my belly from our social change/economy boosting convo, I was spurred on to created a little mood board for the different ways which we would rock the LITTLE YELLOW JACKET.

How would you rock this baby?

THE WIN - PAIRED UP CHIC

THE BIM - PAIRED DOWN CHIC 

 Image 1  -  Little Yellow Jacket  (Virgos Lounge), Skirt (Topshop) and Clutch (Topshop) 

Image 2 -  Little Yellow Jacket  (Virgos Lounge), Shorts(Topshop) and Clutch (Topshop) 

style speak | concrete 360 degrees.

It was so sunny on Saturday and I went out for brunch with the roomies in a barely-there sun dress...yes it is October and I am still deluded about the summer that we never had in the UK. Post-brunch, my delusion wore off a bit and I figured it was prudent to change into something more sturdy, more suitable for a schizo weather, more sensible before running over to the other side of town to meet a friend at the 'Everything was moving' exhibition at the Barbican. I literally threw on the first thing and it turned out to be just right for the Barbican.

The Barbican is famously debated to the be the ugliest building in London. With its domineering and rather harsh presence, it belongs to the Brutalist style of architecture from the 50s - 70s which sought to create functional and low cost structures. Making our way through the rear entrance, I couldn't help but notice a certain marmite-like charm to this building. I mean you either love or loathe the damn thing. However, as this outfit seemed so right, I wanted to mirror the functional and possibly the austere spirit of the building in these images. I have also kept the retouching of the photos to a minimum so as not to dilute this effect. xx

                                                                            Top (H&M), Lace slip (Topshop);  Jeans  (Zara) and  Shoes (Aldo) 

style speak | combat truck.

Park life in the big bad NYC >> buff boys throwing frisbees to each other >> pimp my bicycle sighting >> voyeuristic endeavours >> post standard east roof top malaise >> corn bread eating>> combat pants but on a truck >> OOO YEAH! My friend, Josiah and I had quite the time hanging out  in the NYU part of town. I got so excited when I spotted that cool truck. It went so well with my shirt which was a present from a friend - she got a truck load of them made by her tailor in Nigeria (THANKS TORI). At first I wasn't sure about this colour but I think it makes quite the companion for those leather shorts. xx

Shirt (Nigerian hand made);  Leather shorts  (Topshop) and  Shoes (Zara) 

art speak | nude with joined hands.

Whilst we are on the topic of New York, I came across this piece of Picasso's (Nude with Joined Hands, 1906) at the Metropolitan Museum. I don't really know all that much about Picasso, so I won't attempt to wax lyrical too much about my own interpretations but I this is simply exquisite and reminds me of quiet confidence.

Wawa x

                                                                                                               

style speak | the guggenheim and me.

So the BIG APPLE... never been my whole life and I get to go TWICE in one year and this time around I even got a marriage proposal in Penn State station and a taxi cab confessional. The stars are aligning... things are looking up ... my stock is up people!!!
I got to finally visit the Guggenheim Museum and my favourite new york ciddy printed pants came in tow. Remember them?! Back to the Guggenheim, I love the way the spiral effect causes that entire dome to look like a large hat/a bit like that dress Audrey Hepburn wore in My Fair Lady. Do you see it?

Wawa

                                                     Top (Uniglo);  Printed trousers (H&M); Shoes (Zara) and Necklace (from my roomie's jewellery stash)

style speak | black and gold.

I don't care much for summer dressing. There is not much intrigue or mystery is there? Now autumn/winter is a different thing altogether - all those layers, rich colour and texture is enough to get me giddy. Of all the trends this season, I am looking forward to the Baroque/Rococo period inspired trend the most - all that opulence, decadence and pure sensuality, yuu-mmmmmy! Dolce & Gabbana's Autumn/Winter 2012 collection does a pretty damn good job at capturing the sentiment. In short, cannot wait to deck myself out like an 18th century courtesan. In anticipation, I have put together this collage, scrumptious feast of my baroque inspirations, from pictures from my European travels to modern interpretations from favourite designers....enjoy!!!

What's your favourite trend for the upcoming season?

art speak | where are you from?

Sometimes it can be rare for the subject matter of art to strike a familiar chord, or at least, this is the case for me anyway. I mean it can make me feel a certain way, it can make me feel happy or sad, sometimes both at the same time, it could provoke certain thoughts in me or even challenge me to consider uncharted waters but it is rare to find a topic that is so relevant, so close to home, you know?

I recently came across Njideka Akunyili, an Nigerian born, US dwelling artist and was very intrigued. I sort of left her website page open for weeks and kept returning, each time becoming even more captivated by the detail in her medium and topic of choice. I am sure I wouldn't be alone in saying that her work spoke to me in a way no other artist had ever done before. 

The connection with the detail in the collages, a mixture of family portraits, traditional Nigerian wedding photos, African prints and familiar architectural styles was of course a given for me. However,   the subject matter which she tackles, the joining of two cultures is one which I feel resonates deeply with myself, my friends and anyone who was born in one country but spent their formative years in another.

For instance at one point or the other we may have felt like we were tossed right in the middle of the culture ingrained in us from birth and the new culture of country which we reside, we may have been at the receiving end of parential nagging about not 'forgetting our culture' and similarly may have truly been at a loss for words to describe to an unsympathetic crowd, the reasons we do certain things a certain way. 

Njideka is frequently cited as saying, 'my art addresses my internal tension between my deep love for Nigeria, my country of birth and my strong appreciation for the Western culture'. She is also talks a lot about the third space and hybridisation, both of which point to the emergence of a new culture born out of multiculturalism. It seems to me that this idea of an internal tension is not about to go away anytime soon, not with globalisation redefining our cultural identities as we know them anyway. Case in point is a good friend of mine, half Italian/half Filipino, born in London, living in Amsterdam and soon to be married to a half Belgian/half Moroccan. Makes you think, doesn't it?!

5 umuezebi st., new haven, enugu {acrylic, charcoal, pastel, colour pencil, xerox transfers on paper}

thread {acrylic, charcoal, pastel, colour pencil, xerox transfers on paper} 

efulefu: the lost one {acrylic, charcoal, pastel, colour pencil, xerox transfers on paper}

nwantinti {acrylic, charcoal, pencil colour. collage, xerox transfers on paper}

[Image credits: http://njidekaakunyili.com/]