As though Nigerians need a reason to get dolled up, and feel important, feel like they are the pivot around which the entire world rotates. Lagos was swept over with fashion week fever. Bright Lights, Camera Flashes, Fashion week turned Lagos to HOLYWOOD. Certainly that’s what everyone thought in their heads.
On Friday morning Bellanaija tweeted a link to look at the photos of day 1 (Thursday) of the fashion week, or weekend. And I was kinda shocked, people were wearing jeans, t-shirts, flip flops, nobody was wearing ball gowns with stone studded Gina shoes. I know there were no shows on Thursday, but it is still so unlike Nigerians to arrive at any “event” where there will be cameras without completely overdoing the dressing. Little did I know that they were all resting the balls of their feet, priming their faces for the foundation they were going to ‘cake on’, glued on eyelashes they were about to ‘fix’. Come Friday, Sunglasses at night, Hollywood pouts, stilts for shoes (yes i’m guilty – but I kinda love being taller than everyone, shhhh), fan eyelashes, belts for skirts, orishi rishi sha. People were really out to dazzle. Everyone was sitting on top of the world. It was fashion week, they had every reason to. People that don’t know Christian Lacroix from Christian Louboutin morphed into arbiters of fashion, running commentary on the collections, hailing designers, dissing them, talking about which model was just too fat to be on the runway, the ones that walked like they had just taken some strong sleeping pills and were sleepwalking down the catwalk. HOLYWOOD
I think that this is a good time to admit that I have a burning passion for bridging the gap between the rich and the poor and empowering the poor through a better education and equal opportunities. It personally offends me when people spend lavishly while others can’t even afford a loaf of bread. So as much as I did enjoy fashion week (what I was able to attend), it struck me that while for an entire weekend a group of people were living large whilst to the left of Federal Palace along the bridge and into Marina, Lagos Island, people were living extremely impoverished lives. It made me feel slightly guilty.
I agree that the same upholds in the rest of the world, Hollywood does Hollywood while people not so far away aren’t as privileged. But the gaps in the ‘developed world’ just aren’t as large, there is social welfare to ensure that the poorest in a community get accommodation, food stamps, a free education as good as a private one, and OPPORTUNITY to achieve what an affluent person might if he was prepared to work hard for it. The fashion industry in Nigeria is one that I am incredibly proud of, the shows I saw were great, inspiring, I was truly blown away by a lot of collections and the wealth of talent that we have in Africa, there are definitely a bunch of people I will be looking out for, stalking, googling the hell out of. But I think as the fashion industry is blossoming, we should not forget that as with other economies as the rich get richer the poor should get richer too. Let’s not get so consumed with our selfish (or perhaps vain is more apt) desires to look fabulous, own the most beautiful things, we should also drive to empower the poor. So that as we sit in our air conditioned tents coveting clothes worth thousands of pounds, that the less privileged will have clothes on their backs, schools to attend and a future to look forward to.
I hate to turn something fun into something gloomy, but as the lights shine, the cameras flash, the action is queued in for some people, lights are dimming for others and the futures they have to look forward to.
Xoxo.
Congratulations to GREY for a fabulous show :)
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