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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Ladybrille African Fashion News #2

Retail giant, The Gap, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is in BIG retail trouble. For a while, it has missed the mark with America's fashion-forward because of its very bland fashions,among many issues. This week, its CEO announced his resignation, which of course leaves the former retail giant more vulnerable than it already is. What's interesting, however, is that this same week, The Gap made the headlines as it plans to open stores in South Africa[SA].
Whaaaaaaaat! Okay. We do know that a lot of American fashion labels/designers and media are in SA. You can find Cosmopolitan, Oprah, Levi's, Revlon, L'Oreal and the list goes on, in SA. Of course forget the fact that the relationship is not reciprocal. Africa's time will come, right? Be optimistic! Back to The Gap. How does The Gap plan to be successful in SA when within the states, home base, they have not accomodated the tastes, styles, and culture of Americans?
Does The Gap perceive Africa's women to be even more bland? The Gap take notes. I do bill for my services. Surf the web, meet some in person, travel to SA and you will understand this ain't no "Kumbayah and we are grateful to wear your bland khaki and white T-shirt" because we are naked. Oh no, no, no, no! The SA woman is urban, cosmopolitan, chic, trendy, sexy and definitely not into the outdated business. Plus, they love colors, fit, design details and more colors. So, if you plan to launch in SA, "you best to come with your 'A' game." Otherwise, you might have to move to the Far East as another last resort.
By the way, are there plans to produce/manufacture, design and retail in SA or does The Gap plan to have "Made in Indonesia" garments sold in SA? Needless to say, SA's fashion industry could use creation of more jobs especially for the fabric manufacturers. We shall wait and see.
  1. South Africa: Top US Fashion Retailer to Take the Gap in SA
  2. Owner's heart as big as Africa
  3. South Africa : Merchandise trade with India excels - Textile ...
  4. News Extra
  5. Top Bay fashionista to represent SA
  6. West Africa: The Idols Wannabes
  7. Read More

    Wednesday, January 24, 2007

    Are Skinny African Models Doomed?

    The debate over the "super-skinny" model has been so hot it's reached a boiling point. As of this week, Africa, particularly South Africa, jumped on the bandwagon by banning "super-skinny," girls from modeling. Now why did they have to do that? "You are not happy about the ban?" you ask. Yes and no. Yes because it's about time the interests' of models are protected in the workplace. From an employment/labor law angle, arguably, it is also an unsafe and harzardous work enviroment when models are encouraged or forced to drive themselves to starvation to get income to sustain themselves. But, I am not happy because I am concerned the African model will be more jinxed/shafted than she already is. For an extensive discussion of what I mean, click here.

    It fascinates me the constant redefinition of beauty. In the '20s, the fashion industry as a whole {Europe and America} embraced curves. Curves were the "in" thing till the '50s. Remember the glam '50s? By the '60s, the world was on some head trippin' drug that seemed to cause madness. In the midst of the madness, the pendulum swung to the seemingly super skinny stick look of Twiggy with her attractive bulging eyes. The twigs ruled and were the "in" babes.

    By the'80s and 90s, curvilicious models like Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford kicked the twigs to the curb. The trio dominated with their larger than life personalities. But, wow, did they have attitude!The well known "divas" were what a lot called "bitchy" as they allegedly insisted they would not "get out of bed for anything less than $10,000" a day. "Oh yeah?" said the designers. "Let's see who wins this tug of war." The end result was a revolt to the heroine addicted super skinny stick look of Kate Moss. The designers won but was it really victory? Well, no one cared or thought about hostile or hazardous working environments for models via employment/labor law violations, anorexia and potentially what I call fashion criminal behaviors like "aiding and abeting" the death of super skinny models.

    Fast forward to 2007 and all of a sudden the industry grows a conscience. Great. But, does the whole ecofriendly fashion consumerism trend have anything to do with it? Anyway, recently, Spain aka Latin hotness couldn't deal with the stick look anymore. "What is this Oshi?" says Spain." Get the curvilicious girls back. As a matter of fact, ban any incoming twigs and while you are at it, chase dem skinny stiffed faced girls off our runways! We love dem meat on dem bones." Of course our African "brodas" said, "Amen to dat!" But heyyyyyy, hold up! Before you threaten to feed the "fashion faux pas" to the hungry models a la the Devil Wears Prada, or throw big fat sticks of chicken breast at them, the super skinny African model just barely got on the scene! In case you forgot what the discovery channel and mainstream media have said and shown for ages, Africa has lots of hungry people. So, the last thing a so called "super-skinny" African model wants to do is come to the USA/or Europe or stay in Africa and not eat. She's eating! She's been hungry for decades, right? Spain, Brazil, USA, London, South Africa *sigh* you can't be serious? She's only been holding it down for like nine [9] years, consistently. The long legged ribs showing African "super-skinny" model is the real deal. She is ALL natural and with a high metabolic rate, probably eats every other minute. Spain and the rest of you heavy hitters, why did you have to go and "jinx" her with the whole pull the plug on ALL "super skinny" models? Don't doom the "super-skinny" African model before she gets to strut her "super-skinny" self on the runway, please.

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    Tuesday, January 23, 2007

    Skin Care Please, no Bleach.

    What African beauty brands come to mind when you think skin care? For the African Ladybrille reader, your answer better not be "Lux", "Venus De Milo" or "The bleaching creams my aunts or mom uses." Skincare is an issue Africa's Fashion &/Beauty industries really need to nip in the bud. Over and over again, we observe beautiful African women, from those on the streets to the big screen who've got no clue about skincare.

    While South Africa [SA]'s beauty industry is saturated with few local beauty companies and products from overseas such as L'oreal and Revlon, the rest of Africa seems silent on the beauty/skin care issue. Walk the streets in African countries and you are bound to see overwhelming amount of beautiful African women with really bad skin. From street chic to A-list actresses, most are clueless on how to take the skin care battle head on. Rashes on the face, zits/acne, uneven skin tone, dry or extremely oily skin among many skin dramas are truthfully issues that these gorgeous sisters should not have to deal with. While skin care involves body and facial care, my emphasis is on the face; and skin care does not translate to use of bleaching creams.

    Speaking of bleaching creams, there is a big obsession with lighter skin among our African 'sistas,' especially those in the age bracket of 35-50, which also affects the perception of what skin care is. It appears the age group of 18-30 have moved or are moving past the drama of not loving their black skin. But, there exists a lack of real interest with Africa's beauty/fashion industry to develop beauty products that work well with African skin and encourage young African women to be confident in their skin. A throwback to one of my experiences in the 80s might illustrate my point. During the 80s, I lived in Nigeria. I recall that skin care was limited to use of a soap called "Lux."

    Also, to the degree there was any kind of face care, it was via bleaching creams such as "Venus De Milo." I recall a gorgeous beauty we children fondly called, "Aunty Stella." Aunty Stella had the most beautiful brown skin tone. But, she obviously didn't care for it as she literally bleached the pigmentation right off! Once she started with the bleaching cream, her skin took on a life of its own with an infinite amount of blackheads/zits and dark spots all over her face. There was also another beauty who lived in the neighborhood. Her name escapes me. Back then, Jerry Curls was the "in" thing and she rocked it! Her fashion styling was also superb and her skin tone was more like that of the late R &B singer Aaliyah. But, nameless neighbor later decided she wanted to practice skincare oshi [foolishness]. From beautiful, she transitioned to, literally and no pun intended, Michael Jackson's current look with a really bad case of black pimples/zits all across her face. Her face, knuckles and feet had black blotchy patches and for us kids, it was scary to observe. I also recall going to the markets or special events from weddings to naming ceremonies and noticing the feet of fashion forward women with the same issues nameless neighbor had.

    Beauties like Aunty Stella and the nameless neighbor were uneducated about the risk of skin cancer, kidney damage, blotchy and dry skin due to the high[15-25% or more] hydroquinone and mercury levels in these bleaching creams. They thought black skin was ugly and that served as the incentive to bleach the blackness off! Thankfully, the 21st century has brought a new set of fashion-forward women that are confident in their skin. Also, countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana have been proactive in protecting these African beauties by banning bleaching creams with hydroquinone levels that exceed 2%. Nevertheless, skin care is still not emphasized and there is still a large group of women that equate skin care and beauty with bleaching creams or have no clue about skin care. African and Western owned companies like Iman and Nyakio, in the United States, I believe, should be at the forefront of taking their beauty products into distribution in Africa, not just SA, as well as creating training schools/workshops on skin care [diet, water intake, proper sanitation of beauty tools and discarding of expired beauty products, among other lessons]. Of course, if companies like Revlon and L'oreal also want to do that, no problem. But, our Ladybrille African beauties are just as capable and should step to the plate in creating skin care for the African woman.

    By Uduak Oduok
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    Monday, January 22, 2007

    Does Africa have a Fashion Industry?

    I chuckle atimes at the response and reaction I get when I speak of Africa's Fashion Industry. "Really, Africa has a fashion indsutry?" Followed by wrinkled faces and raised eyebrows in disbelief. I get this from Africans in the West and Westerners. Since when did the West flip scripts with Africa to become the one in the dark? Yes. Africa has a fashion Industry. South Africa [SA] leads the way in terms of having a structured fashion week that has been ongoing for over a decade now. As of this year, instead of the once a year fashion week produced by SA Sanlam Fashion Week, SA now has two fashion weeks. One in the Spring and one in winter/autumn. Africa is of course a huge continent with over 50 countries so, SA is NOT the only fashion industry. Nigeria is also trying to get its industry together thanks to fashion influentials like Fashion Designer Deola Sagoe, Super model Oluchi Onweagba-Orlandi and the upcoming Calabar Fashion Week in Cross River State, Eastern part of Nigeria. Also, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Cameroon have their fashion weeks on Africa's fashion map. To get an even broader picture of Africa's exploding fashion industry, visit Ladybrille's blogazine links. Also, enjoy this You Tube Video. I guess they party it up like we do in the West at our fashion weeks.
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    Sunday, January 21, 2007

    It's So Hard to Say Goodbye


    I enjoyed my time in Ghana. It was so short, only a week. A bit of drama at the airport but even that did not overshadow my positive experiences in the country. I definitely have to revisit real soon. The country was really peaceful and it was a big relief that the infrastructures like electricity, roads, transportation and water seemed to work well. It truly is so hard to say goodbye, especially to the calmness and serenity of the White Sands Beach but I'll just have to visit soon. Check out some pictures of places to visit as well as the White Sands Beach.

    National Museum in Accra

    The White Sands and my fav. pics to date 'cos I caught the action!

    See what I mean? This is at the White Sands, Central Coastal Region in Accra. Luv it!

    Look at the water.

    The equivalent of one of the many fast food chains like McDonald's in Ghana, although healthier choices

    Food Plaza


    Taxi Cab- ventured in one. Fun, quick and reliable.

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    How I am Living, Ghanian Style

    Ibelieve strongly that the lack of clothing on Africans as depicted by the West has been instrumental in branding Africa's image in a negative light, for like aeons. I also believe that the same applies with how Africans live. Yes, there are huge percentage of Africa's citizens that live in very deplorable conditions. They should not be ignored and some of the wealthy amongst them need to take a chill pill with the retarded talk I sometimes hear that "they caused their own plight." Check your history and don't get it twisted. However, the beautiful lifestyles and strides by African citizens should also be emphazised. This includes how Africans are living in their own countries.

    I personally love seeing beautiful interior design details of a home. Nothing beats a good home decor and when most of the textiles and materials used are from Africa's fashion/textile industry, even better. I met this supercool dude in Ghana who gave me his consent to view his home, take pictures and share them with you. This is a take on how some Ghanians are living. Enjoy.








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