Oscars 2015: Best and Worst Dressed

“That’s how you fashion people are, very critical and judgmental” Ah! I’ve had my fair share of ‘fashion people’ bashing but I think without fashionable critique and scrutiny, people might very well walk  around in rat eaten clothes in the name of fashion – oh wait, Kanye’s been there and done that.

The 2015 Oscars for me was a mixture of all things good; I had exciting, jaw dropping and breathtaking moments. Celebrities brought their A-game (most of them anyway) and stayed slaying on the red carpet. My critical side was almost starved into extinction; hardly any bad fashion feast for the eyes. But of course, my ‘fradar’ (fashion radar) caught the good, the bad, and the in-betweens.

Best Dressed

Lupita Nyongo

Lupita Nyongo

Yes, I had to start with the African beauty. Last year, we were in awe when lu’ donned her impeccable ice blue Prada dress for the 2014 Oscars. This year, she was definitely a beauty to behold in her custom Calvin Klein pearl dress designed by Francisco Costa. The detailed dress adorned with 6,000 natural pearls must have weighed a ton, but it definitely did her figure right and hung on her effortlessly. Unfortunately it got stolen; I’m guessing the thief couldn’t resist its charm either.

Keira Knightley

Keira Knightley

The preggers star styled her baby bump in this fun-print, sheer Valentino Haute Couture dress. This was definitely a breath-of-fresh-air moment. Her minimal accessory and wavy locks brought the look together perfectly.

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez

This woman is hot! End of discussion.

Her dramatic, pro-cleavage, blush-hued Elie Saab dress could trigger a number of expressions, one of which is WOW!!!

Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga

Weirdly, I really like this custom Alaia gown. The structured silhouette is unconventional, but edgy and flattering. Lady Gaga has come a long way from her famous raw meat dress to her egg shell appearance at the Grammy’s, we should all be glad that phase is over – I hope. I however wish she didn’t forget to leave the red dish-washing gloves in the kitchen where it belongs.

Worst Dressed… drum roll

Solange

Solange Knowles

No way!!! Yes way, sadly. This is a heartbreaking choice because I think Solange is a style Icon who almost never gets it wrong, but not this time, unfortunately. This outfit, though colorful, has no wow factor, looks bland and a little clownish.

Marion Cotillard

Marion Cotillard

At first glance, this dress looks insignificant. At second glance, it still looks insignificant. At third glance? Sorry, there’s no taking the insignificance away. Not even her perfectly done hair and makeup could save the drabness of the outfit.

This post is based solely on my subjective preference, so disagreements are welcome. Which celebrity style tickled your fashion fancy and which would you rather overlook?

Photo Credit: USMagazine

Arise, O' Compatriots

'Made In China'. Familiar?

Growing up, I was visually schooled by every utensil in the Kitchen and every functional and dysfuntional equipment I came across, on how valuable China is to the world. 'Made In China' seemed to be the perfect marketing-strategy-slogan for every product made everywhere but China - as per Nigerians no fit carry last. Well, we've given China a deserved breather.

Recently, the term 'buy Nigeria' rapidly circulated the social media streets. No, Nigeria isn't up for sale, relax. 'Buy Nigeria' is a campaign aimed at invoking the spirit of patriotism in Nigerians toward Nigerian brands. I know we all love our Gucci's, our Prada's, our Fendi's, our H&M's, our Zara's, even our 'bend-down-select second-hand' designer brands and that's  fine. But why don't we get to love our Nigerian brands too?

LDS Prefall 2015 collection - named Rosetta- could win you over (or not. We'll have to see).

Like the previous collections, the Rosetta collection is definitely for the woman who isn't just print-bold, but also seeks to take her print game to the next level. Graced with the marriage of fierce and subtle colour palettes like red, blue, green, brown, and a slight infusion of cream all bound together in 'white matrimony', the Rosetta collection definitely makes a statement with its artistic use of colours. Enough said...

The Collection
These are few pieces from the collection that I absolutely love.

The Summer dress as the name connotes, is perfect for summer. The length is however a tad unconventional for warmer days, but there's no harm in pushing boundaries, is there?

Summer

 The Alexis which has a more structured look and a warmer colour palette is perfect for those laid-back days.

Alexis

The Ruby blouse has to be my favourite piece in the collection. I love the wild splatter of colours, and of course the frilled sleeves.

Ruby

The cocoon dress is a modern interpretation of the African Boubou. I think I love this version better.

Cocoon

These are simple yet sophisticated everyday looks that can easily turn any woman from drab to fab. We love it! and I speak for all of us. 'Made in Nigeria' is the new slogan.

Photo Credit:  LanreDaSilva

Brand Focus: IAMISIGO

Fashion has come a long way in Africa. Gone are the days we wait in line to scoop up whatever stylish trend was being served up by the West. Embracing the uniqueness in our African-ness, we, through our creativity, have proven – first to ourselves and then to the rest of the world – that we have something amazing to offer the world of fashion.

Nigerian designer, Bubu Ogisi, is giving her creativity a voice and wings.

Her fashion label, iamisigo was created in 2009. Since then, this brand has blossomed and its popularity, although isn’t at its peak just yet, is steadily gaining grounds within Africa. I am particularly enchanted by her ‘White Noise’ collection.

According to her, this collection was...

“Inspired by the beauty of random signals with

The power of time series distributed over different

Frequencies. (It is) The synergy in which algorithms are

Used to create digital images that bring about the

Pixels of a “white noise image” which are typically

Arranged in a rectangular grid, and are assumed

 To be independent random variables with uniform

Probability distribution over some interval…”

Very fancy (and a little too scientific) huh? I must confess, I had to read the above statement multiple times in order to understand what was trying to be passed across… I am unfortunately still stuck in that process. Moving away from all the scientific mumbo jumbo, here are my favourite pieces from the collection.

This dungarees has to be my favourite piece in this collection. Its minimalist yet flattering cut and vertical cum horizontal pattern gives the illusion of longer legs, longer torso, and a slimmer waist. Now that's my kinda science!    

What I love about this piece is its duo-function. It can be worn as a swimsuit robe, just like the model, or can be a dress-shirt.

You can never go wrong in black. Again, depending on your preference, this outfit can be rocked in many ways than one; with or without the trousers - as a dress, cinched at the waist with a belt or not, without the hat...

  
When there is a marriage between two hot colours - Black and White, you cannot expect anything less than an explosion of hotness. This statement outfit screams hippie-urban-chic. Monochrome is the new 'in'.
 

I'm excited to see more designs from this brand and hopefully own one or all (a girl can dream, right?) of these fabulous pieces.

Photo Credit: iamisigo