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Cheer

Friday, May 18th, 2012

What

Kenzo floral print jacket | Alexander McQueen dress | Kenzo pants | ALDO Rise heels by Preen

Why

Pink pants guarantee good times. This I am sure of.  That is to be expected with their loud ‘you cannot miss me’ presence. They are kind of the life and soul of a party. I had to pair their action starting form with something equally enthusiastic and thought the Kenzo floral jacket made for  a good match.
 
The life of a party always needs a main cheerleader, a right hand man as it were to champion their cause.

 

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Print Happy

Tuesday, April 24th, 2012

What

Spotted pants | Kenzo stripe tunic dress | satin turban | vintage fur fur jacket | Preen x ALDO Rise heels

Why

Because prints are always happier in the company of other prints.
 
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Plastic Twisted Fantastic

Sunday, April 1st, 2012

Photos by Tokyobanhbao

What

Manoush sequin & beaded knit | Nicole Farhi sheer plastic & leather jacket | Theory check pants | Cos oversize check scarf as head-wrap | KARL, Karl Lagerfeld sequin collar | Preen x ALDO Rise heels | gifted Wendy Brandes silver boleyn M necklace (not seen in above shots) | gifted Maria Francesca Pepe gold plated oversize M necklace | vintage silver cross

Why

I had no idea that the sunshine was in full-blown-glorious-summer-territory in Milan before landing there midweek. Those rays made the gold tone beads (each flanked by two gold sequins that jut like butterfly wings) bedecking the cheerful Manoush knit seem that bit more reflective. 
 
It was the the same sun dance played by the bright rays on the Nicole Farhi jacket.  Like the plastic fantastic glisten of the foil wrapping of candy bathed in sunshine.
 
It was lust at first sight when I first the spring 2011 blue jacket. The  frenetic mix of semi sheer blue with accents of  plastic (seen in details such as around the cuff and the belt) and leather had a bedlam spirit that felt ‘so off – that it was completely and totally on’. To me I see certain elements of that same spirit in Marc Jacobs’s spring 2012 collection.
 
The Theory pants are a favorite, as are most checks (including the re-purposed here as a turban meets head-wrap). Checks remind me of regimented institutions and uniform; schools, hospitals and so on. That theme has always intrigued me. Not the normal conventions of what they represent but rather the twisted unexpected elements harbored under the surface. There is unlikely fascination in the displacement of that which seemingly connotes normal or ‘safe’.  Subjects that are fairly pedestrian and PG friendly in their conventional environs but swiftly take on new form when the bubble wrap is removed and they are taken out of the safety proofed nursery walls.
 
Interestingly that same mood is what I get from Farhi’s jacket. The unassuming trench blueprint is perverted with unexpected fabric and material. It goes from being a simple mid season cover up to offering a voyeuristic peer-through-me experience.
 
The addition of the temporary sequin collar is just what the doctor (or would that be shrink?) ordered. As a stylist translating my personal daily outfits is primarily led by an unconscious mood that I translate visually via garments and accessory. The darkness of the black sequin Peter Pan collar lent further to the twists on the naive. There is a certain craziness about wearing two collars at the same time that has always appealed and helped me visualize further the mood of the outfit.
 
Bedlam met try-me-out-of-my-usual-boring environment with this outfit and I could not resist its lull.
 
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Journey

Sunday, March 25th, 2012

Photography courtesy and copyright of Matthew Hinchliffe of Flyer News

What

Costume National silk trench | Kenzo tunic dress | spotted crop pants | vintage leather shoes | Gucci belt | Cos scarf as headwrap | Genevieve Jones Four Corner Necklace | Monki bead necklace | Céline bag

Why

This week I was interviewed thrice. One questioned that cropped up each time was my definition of my personal style. In defining and helping carve the style of others, I rarely turn the microscope inward. So this interview question always affords a pause for reflection. Reflection on what I wear and how I wear it.
 My response was that my style is an emotive experience, a physical manifestation of my experience and person.

The makings of where I have been. My journey.

The loves, the likes, the places, people, my West African ethnicity and experience meets the cultural assimilation of a Western upbringing…

Elements of each come together in the bright ‘flip through it as fast as you can for the full picture’ book that is my style. It is all the above.

What I wear by way of sleeve, bold lip, wayward or textured collar is a reflection of me with relation to a current headspace.

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Abandon

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Photography copyright and courtesy of Skip Bolen.

Kenzo jacket worn beneath Kenzo blouse | Jena.Theo dress | Lanvin pants | Nicholas Kirkwood x Peter Pilotto shoes

Photobucket

There is something joyful about The Plaza Hotel in New York City. The grand walls and spaces speak of many a happy moment. It no doubt has seen more of these than can be counted since opening in 1907.
 
Coincidentally it was a feeling of joy that inspired the outfit of layered Kenzo florals.
There is something quite exuberant and hopeful about flowers.
 
With those thoughts on flora and The Plaza in mind, this image taken by the wonderful Skip Bolen (who I met at the Thakoon fall 2011 show exactly a year ago) in the hotel’s Ballroom after the Thakoon fall 2012 show feel like joyful abandon.
 
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Tribe

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

Photography copyright and courtesy of Hannan Saleh

Rings (amethyst ring on index is custom design gifted by designer) by fine jewelry designer Wendy Brandes | scarf as headwrap by MOMO | silver spike necklace | black tubular necklace by Maria Francesca Pepe | print dress by Helen Steele | purple and black racer back scuba dress by Lisa Marie Fernandez | vintage faux fur | vintage sunglasses | Nicholas Kirkwood x Peter Pilotto shoes
 
I am a product of my life experience.
 
I was born in The Gambia, West Africa to Ghanaian parents who then went on to live in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Ghana and full circle in The Gambia again.
 
I now live in London, United Kingdom and travel as much as possible.
 
I am fascinated by people, cultures, destinations, the fabric of our lives. I live for tasting, seeing, being in new destinations. Each place I see affects my person in some small but tangible way.
 
I carry the places I have been, the parts that make up my whole in the way I wear my clothes. My urban experience is translated via my culturally rich, West African heritage.
 
Look closely at the way I wear my vintage, Helen Steele, the Alexander McQueen, Lanvin, Teatum Jones, Costume National, Kenzo etc and you see my story; where I have come from and my life experience.
 
In these images by Hannan Saleh (who has been capturing my outfits at New York Fashion Week Fall 2012) taken at the Lincoln Center take you into my style, which is really my life journey in garment form.
 
I carry my life experience in the way I wear my clothes. Who we are, what we’ve seen and where we have been informs our lives and invariably, how we dress.
 
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A New York Moment

Sunday, February 12th, 2012

Photography copyright and courtesy of Hannan Saleh


Rings by fine jewelry designer Wendy Brandes | scarf as headwrap by Helen Steele | rings by Maria Francesca Pepe | Nicholas Kirkwood for Peter Pilotto shoes | tubular necklace and large M letter necklace by Maria Francesca Pepe| jacket by Teatum Jones | vintage faux fur | top by Teatum Jones | dress by Alexander McQueen | leggings by Helen Steele

I like these photos of me by Hannan Saleh, as to me, nothing says New York quite like a yellow cab.
I’ve had memorable moments in them, hailing them and incredible moments at events arriving in them.
 
I like that my outfit lends a bit of all things creatively British (via the designers such as Helen Steele, Alexander McQueen and Teatum Jones) to an American backdrop at New York Fashion Week.
 
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Tropical Storm

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

Photography copyright and courtesy of Hannan Saleh


Rings on index and fourth finger by fine jewelry designer Wendy Brandes | T-shirt by Helen Steele | rings on middle finger by Maria Francesca Pepe | Nicholas Kirkwood for Peter Pilotto shoes | tubular necklace and large M letter necklace by Maria Francesca Pepe| gifted silver Boleyn M neklace by Wendy Brandes | vintage skirt

Sometimes like flowers, we must form buds and blossom open with joy.
 
The greens of my zingy green burst into the throes of hue found in the T-Shirt by Helen Steele. Peaking into the pinks of my stole and satin turban.
In these photos by Hannan Saleh, there is a strength captured; an explosion into full bloom takes courage and courage takes strength.
In this vein of thought, the silver Boleyn M necklace by Wendy Brandes (as inspired by Anne Boleyn, the second wife of English King Henry VIII) set the tone of this outfit.
 
Anyone who was married to King Henry VIII had to be strong.
 
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Pink Haze

Friday, February 10th, 2012


Photography copyright and courtesy of Hannan Saleh

Rings by fine jewelry designer Wendy Brandes | scarf as headwrap by Helen Steele | rhinestone necklace by Joanne Hynes | Metal on velvet necklace by Maria Francesca Pepe | Nicholas Kirkwood for Peter Pilotto | Teatum Jones cape top | Kenzo pants

This outfit is the by-product of a dream I jolted awake from. In my dream I was running in a billowing pink haze.
These images by the wonderful Hannan Saleh (who will be very kindly capturing my full style diary at New York Fashion Week Fall 2012) could not better capture the dazed mood of that inspiration.
The surreal direction of it fed their way through into my outfit via the Joanne Hynes collar, the Teatum Jones cape meets top meets all things wonderfully draped and the Nicholas Kirkwood for Peter Pilotto shoes.
There is a duality about the rings I wore today that fit into the puzzle that was my dream inspiration. Designed by Wendy Brandes, they like me are at once soft and hard, feminine but intriguingly androgynous.
Like the makings of a memorable dream, they become whatever you want them to be.
The amethyst encrusted silver ring on my index finger (seen worn with the Swan ring) is a generous gift from Wendy. The bespoke custom design encapsulates all that I am drawn to; the many faceted with hidden depth. The amethyst simultaneously blends into my dream extension and stands out as all great designs do.
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Transition

Sunday, January 29th, 2012

Satin turban | KARL, Karl Lagerfeld biker leather vest | faux fur | Kenzo dress | Nicholas Kirkwood x Peter Pilotto heels | faux leather legwear | green cupro trench | Ozi neckpiece by bespoke jewelry curator Anita Quansah

The power of an interesting outfit is its ability to transform, adapt and transition. My outfits (usually layered to the hilt) are in a constant state of metamorphosis with elements being added, adapted and removed through the course of the day.

The black and white KARL, Karl Lagerfeld vest looks like a part of the above outfit but in actual fact a piece I only tried on briefly at the NET-A-PORTER preview of the collection.

A reminder that a great outfit is in a constant state of transition.

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