
Category: MY FASHION WORLD


My outfit for the day determines what hair I will be wearing,” says Olayinka Titilope, a Nigerian wig-maker. She has a different peruke for each day of the month. The weather also influences her choice. On cooler days she might opt for long, thick locks. During the summer she tends towards lighter bob-cuts. Ms Titilope hopes her hairdos will inspire the customers who visit her wig gallery in downtown Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital. She sells wigs for between $60 and $800. Those at the top end are made of human hair from Cambodia, she says.
She is not alone.
The almost universal trend of human hair wigs at least among Nigerian women is simply awesome and it is not limited to the slay queens, celebrities and influencers. Virtually every woman from the age of 16 to 60 and even older, students or workers, rich and not so rich – must have at least 1 wig in her wardrobe.
And wigs today are not the massive beehive, drenched in multiple layers of toxic clouds of hairspray creations our mothers used to wear. Oh no! The modern day wig is long – or short, stylish, realistic and easily maintained that is if you can find the time to watch series of “How to” take care of your wig” on YouTube
There is a common joke among Nigerian men that if you cannot afford the cost of at least 1 Brazilian wig, do not approach a lady. And as a husband, you must put aside a quarterly wig allowance for the missus. For the wig has gone beyond being a simple fashion accessory. It is a staple part and parcel of the daily dressing just as much as the flick eyebrow or artificial eye lashes. My 20 year old daughter will not as much as step out to the corner shop without donning and brushing her “hair”. That’s right. Most ladies do not even call it wig anymore. It is “my hair” because as one lady explained – “I bought and paid for it, so it is mine. When you pay for an expensive vehicle, you do not call it “the car”. You call it “my car”!
The obsession with wigs among Nigerian women stems from the desire to reduce the use of harmful chemicals on the natural hair, while still maintaining a sleek, coiffed and glamorous look. Many ladies including myself who favour wigs do possess full length natural hair underneath. But the natural look is reserved for the indoors at evenings and weekends. Most ladies will not be seen dead or alive in public without their Brazilian or Peruvian! The global campaign against the use of harsh and dangerous chemicals in hair straightening products has brought about a turning away from chemically straightened hair to processed human hair. And the backlash is the growth of a lucrative global trade as human hair dealers search the corners of the globe for the best quality human hair destined for the Nigerian market. A good wig made of authentic human hair can set you back anywhere between $150 and 400 but you can get a much less expensive synthetic wig from $40; and they all come as a lace-front or full-lace wig. These ones are favoured by students, ladies on tight budgets and those who for religious or spiritual reasons, stand against wearing someone else’s hair… However, most synthetic wigs are nowadays so well made that it can be sometimes difficult to tell they are not human hair.
According to the Economist article, Some African feminists argue that to wear a long, straight-haired wig or hair extension is to grovel to Western ideals of beauty. Yet wig-buyers in Nigeria seem to enjoy variety. Sellers advertise hair from everywhere. Brazilian is praised for its sheen and durability; Vietnamese, for its bounce; Mongolian, because it is easy to curl. One seller in Lagos offers “Italian posh hair” which is supposedly odour-free. Whatever the label says, much of the hair really comes from elsewhere, often China, a source some buyers deem downmarket.
In any case, it really doesn’t matter what feminists or other groups of critics say. The Brazillian has come to Nigeria – and it is staying.
Excerpts from economist.com
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The day after I landed, I left my Lower East Side hotel and headed out to the store on Howard Street, buzzing. A sales associate introduced himself and let me know that they don’t always have all the sizing/styles out on the floor and that I should let him know if I needed anything in particular. I thanked him and started to pull pieces off the racks that I wanted him to get in my size. The shop’s extended sizing went up to a US24, so I was confident that I’d find something.
I’m a US14-18 (UK18-22). I’m three sizes, sometimes more. Trying to find clothes in “my size” is honestly hilarious. I basically have to go to a shop and request its biggest sizes, and then work my way down to see what fits. It’s very rare that I can just buy something in a US16 from somewhere and have it be suitable—even though it is technically my size.
Read more @ Harper’s Bazaars

The editor-in-chief of British Vogue on activism, hope — and how he’s making a modern, multicultural magazine “Racism is a part of my life whether I like it or not,” says Edward Enninful, the Ghanaian-born, west London-raised stylist who became the first black editor-in-chief of British Vogue in 2017. It’s a light, sunny Monday in August and a momentous occasion for the 48-year-old, who in just a few hours will reveal the cover of the September issue, the most important of the year. He is nattily dressed in signature black-frame glasses and a navy wool Burberry suit, ready for a day of TV appearances — first Sky, then CNN — and a photo shoot with the FT, for which he will soon change into a black suit. But we aren’t at present talking about the September issue, a well-thumbed copy of which lies on his office desk. We’re discussing an incident that Enninful tweeted about on July 15, when he walked through the front door of Condé Nast Britain’s headquarters in Mayfair and was told by a security guard to use the loading bay at the back. “I’m a black man — it isn’t the first time I’ve been profiled and won’t be last,” he says now. (The security guard, who is employed by a third-party contractor, is no longer working in the building.) Drawing public notice to such events is a relatively new thing for Enninful, who in a 2018 interview said he tried “not to pay attention” to racism. “When I was younger I would have been so nervous,” he says. “But at my age, I feel I have to voice it so people didn’t have to go through that and think it was OK.”

Enninful has recently read André Leon Talley’s memoir, which details the systemic racism the 71-year-old former American Vogue creative director encountered in the fashion industry. Did Enninful, who broke into the industry as a model at age 16, find his depiction accurate? “Yes, though André came before me,” he says. As Talley did, Enninful learnt early that “If you were black, you have to work 10 times as hard.” “I did that from studying more, looking at more images, owning my craft and educating myself,” he says. At a time when Condé Nast’s US operation is under scrutiny for its treatment of people of colour — leading to the resignation of two executives and a company-wide memo from American Vogue editor Anna Wintour conceding that her magazine “has not found enough ways to elevate and give space to black editors” in June — Enninful has shown what a modern Vogue can look like: inclusive but luxurious, multicultural in its outlook and the make-up of its staff, fashion-first but with an eye on the wider world. It’s not enough putting an image on your Instagram feed, or showing a picture in a magazine. The infrastructure behind the scenes has to change His issues have celebrated activists and cultural “changemakers”, and expanded the brand’s historically narrow definition of what is beautiful, stylish and aspirational. He has been the first editor to introduce covers featuring subjects in a hijab and a durag, and pushed the ceiling on age, making 85-year-old Judi Dench the title’s oldest cover star in June. Clocking in at 352 pages, his latest issue travels in that same vein. September is the most important issue of the year for fashion magazines and the one that holds the most advertising. It’s also typically used as a lure for the least attainable of celebrities: last September’s issue was guest-edited by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in a celebration of “trailblazers” that proved a real press coup. For the first time, all 26 international editions of Vogue have agreed on a common theme for their September/October issues: hope. “For me, I knew that with everything that had gone on, our interpretation had to be about activism and education,” says Enninful. He enlisted the Nigerian-born photographer Misan Harriman — the first black man to shoot a British Vogue cover in its 104-year history — to capture model and mental-health activist Adwoa Aboah alongside Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford, who in June wrote a moving letter that persuaded the government to extend its free-meal vouchers to disadvantaged schoolchildren through the summer holidays. The cover folds out to reveal individual portraits of 20 activists featured in its pages, including Angela Davis and Alice Wong.

Enninful has made a name for himself with timely covers that resonate on social media. In a period when the audiences of magazines and their websites are a mere rounding error relative to that of Instagram and WeChat, which each reach more than 1bn people a month, that is all the more important. He has also changed the people behind those covers. Most of the crew on the cover shoot were black, says Enninful, adding that “the clothes are by BAME [Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic] designers” including Martine Rose and A-Cold-Wall’s Samuel Ross. It was important “to have input not only in front of the camera but behind it” — something fashion brands need to do more of, he says. “It’s not enough putting an image on your Instagram feed, or showing a picture in a magazine or shoot. The infrastructure behind the scenes has to change,” he says.
Original article published in the Financial Times

Joebolexquisite Cosmetics London


Kylie Jenner may be the youngest sibling of the Kardashian/Jenner clan, but she is also the family member bringing in the most cash.
Jenner, who’s on the cover of Forbes’ August 2018 “America’s Women Billionaires” issue, is worth roughly $900 million, according to the magazine.
According to Forbes’ calculations, that makes her not only the Jenner or Kardashian with the highest net worth, but the 27th-richest self-made woman in the United States. For comparison, Forbes estimates that Jenner’s older sister Kim Kardashian West is worth roughly $350 million.
The 20-year-old’s net worth has skyrocketed thanks to the success of Kylie Cosmetics. Forbes conservatively values the company at $800 million, with an estimated $330 million in sales last year. Jenner is both the face of the company and the sole owner.
Read also: How Kylie Jenner built a 900 million fortune in less than 3 years
Forbes’ Natalie Robehmed detailed how Kylie Cosmetics has found success by harnessing Jenner’s immense social-media following and slashing costs by outsourcing labor. There are only five full-time employees, with Jenner’s mother, Kris Jenner, handling finances and public relations in exchange for a 10% management cut, the report says.
Kylie Cosmetics is dealing with slowing growth – Forbes reports that revenue grew just 7% last year, with lip-kit revenue dropping an estimated 35%.
However, the magazine says it would take more than a slow year of sales to stop Jenner from reaching billionaire status and making history.
“Another year of growth will make her the youngest self-made billionaire ever, male or female, trumping Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire at age 23,” Robehmed reported.

CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN’s quest to protect his famous red soles has taken him back to court.
The Frenchman’s attempt to prevent Dutch high-street chain Van Haren from selling iterations of his red soles went awry, however, when Maciej Szpunar, an advocate general at the European Court of Justice, advised The Netherlands court that Louboutin’s trademark protection rulings on the shade of red, which date from 2010 and 2013, might be invalid.
“A trademark combining colour and shape may be refused or declared invalid on the grounds set out under EU trademark law,” the ECJ said in a statement, outlining Maciej Szpunar’s advice to the judges hearing the case.
Szpunar expressed “doubts as to whether the colour red can perform the essential function of a trademark, that of identifying its proprietor, when that colour is used out of context, that is to say, separately from the shape of a sole,” the statement, according to the Business of Fashion, continued. In other words, Louboutin’s signature shade of red could not be considered separate from the shape of the sole, and shapes are usually not protected under EU trademark law.

“This could mean that Louboutin would not be able to stop its competitors, including haute couture fashion houses, from offering shoes with red soles. The red sole could therefore become ubiquitous, which would seriously reduce the cachet associated with the Louboutin brand,” Kapur clarified.

Louboutin battled Yves Saint Laurent in 2012 in a New York court over similar trademark issues, and won the US trademark as a result. The ECJ’s new statement, however, is likely to be highly influential on the judges’ current decision on European brand guidelines, which has yet to be made.
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