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Friday, May 30, 2008

Ella Brown Couture Part of MTV Movie Awards Event

Congratulations to Adefunke Agboola and the Ella Brown Couture Team [EBC]. EBC is scheduled to be a part of the Starbucks Coffee Company and Secret Room Caribbean Style Celebrity Gift Suite, in Honor of the 2008 MTV Movie Award Events. The two-day luxury celebrity gift suite takes place at The Valadon, a luxury hotel in West Hollywood on May 30 and 31 of 2008 from 3pm - 8pm. You go girl! Put the O in front of the G and GO! It's great to see Africa's designers making big strides in the Western as well as African Fashion Industries. If you do not know Ella Brown, meet her in her indepth interview with Ladybrille here. Otherwise check out the significance of EBC's participation in the event in the press release below:

LOS ANGELES, CA May 27, 2008 — Ella Brown Couture ( Los Angeles based designer) has been selected as one of the designers to participate in the Celebrity Gift Suites event in Honor of the MTV Movie Awards. The new Ella Brown Couture collection incorporates a variety of styles and rich fabrics. The mood is very glamorous and luxurious. Every piece has an exotic extra bold statement.
Ella Brown Couture’s Gift bags [i]nclude Custom made jewelry for over 50 A-list celebrities including, Terri Hatcher, Melanie Griffith, Selma Hayak, Kim Kardashian, Brooke Shields, Eva Longoria, Paula Abdul, Fergie, Jessica Simpson, Jessica Alba, Tyra Banks, Posh Spice/Victoria Beckham, Alyssa Milano and many others. Ella Brown Couture will also be preparing special bags for media houses such LA times, Life and Style, In Touch, Entertainment Tonight, E!, Ok Magazine, Star, Us Weekly, New York Times, Travel and Leisure, People, Haute Living, Daily Candy, Access Hollywood, Lucky and many more.
The Ella Brown Gift bags will include jewelry from the soon to launch Spring/Summer collection. The new collection now includes bridal wears that unequivocally portrays the creative expression of Designer Adefunke Adegbola. Her fall 2007 collection was showcased at the Miami fashion week and Chicago fashion week respectively in 2007; the collection is in over 30 stores across the nation with stores in Europe coming soon. "I am so excited about this event and this opportunity. Having A-List celebrities and top industry medias have a first hand look at my designs and collections and get to meet me at one of the top rated events in the world, MTV Movies Awards? I am truly honored.”- Adefunke Adegboola
The Spring/Summer 2008 Ella Brown Couture collection is scheduled to launch in June. To see the range of the Ella Brown Couture collection, please visit http://www.ellabrowncouture.com/
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Thursday, May 29, 2008

Ladybrille Web Snob: 5/25 to 5/31/08

Happy happy Friday! We hope you have an amazing weekend but before you do, enjoy our Ladybrille Weekly Web Snob. A weekly collection of all things brilliant in the non-African fashion world from the top online fashion publishers/bloggers.

  1. A Few Goody GumDrops tells us that mousse is not just a dessert! It's a beauty secret for summer that you won't want to miss!
  2. All About the Pretty may have to buy her own bottle of Annick Goutal’s Le Jasmin.
  3. Bag Snob attends the event of the year: Sex and The City Movie Premiere!
  4. Beauty Snob loves the sexy make up from Kat Von D!
  5. Calculatus Eliminatus gives the lowdown on men's sandals for the coming days at the beach.
  6. Coquette falls for the perfect white dress.
  7. Daniel Saynt's Ten Reasons to Skip Sex and The City.
  8. Fashion, Evolved talks to Damali Ayo, the designer of a brand new line of sustainable fashions called CROW Clothing.
  9. Fashiontribes takes a stroll in the new Patricia Field for Payless sexy summer collection.
  10. StyleBakery.com is crazy about color this summer.
  11. SugarShock Beauty reveals what may be lurking in your shower.
  12. Sxy Fashion QueenanalyzesVictoria Beckham’s style.
  13. The Coveted's findscomfy strapless bras for all sizes
  14. The Fashionable Housewife finds several practical and stylish hats to protect your face from harmful rays.
  15. Organic beauty products AND a free summer bag? The Organic Beauty Expert gives the lowdown on the newest online retailer on her Fave list!
  16. The Shoe Goddess shares her take on Jimmy Choo sandals featured in Sex and the City.
  17. V-Style shows you how to accessorize Betsey Johnson's Twist on the Little Black Dress.
  18. eBeautyDaily tries the roll on peel kit from Skin Amnesty.


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Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Mary Onyali, 20 years and Still Running Strong

Mary Onyali aka the “African Sprint Queen" is a woman you should get to know. Over two decades ago, when the social norm for a female in Nigeria was everything but being an athlete, Onyali went against the norm getting involved in the sport of track and field and continuing on to compete for Nigeria and Africa, on a national and international level. Since her entrance into the world of track and field, Onyali has opened the door for many women as well as amassed numerous medals along the way: Commonwealth Games medals, three World Cup medals, four African Games gold medals and two Olympic bronze medals, are just a few of her achievements. Living by what she calls her "three D’s/ core principles" [discipline, dedication and determination], Onyali now embraces a new and frankly speaking daunting task, manufacturing and distributing the first ever sports apparel wear in Nigeria.
Her goal is simple. Like their Western counterparts who have the opportunities to wear sports apparel as early as kindergarten, without much thought, African children should have the same opportunities. She is driven by years of watching children in kindergarten and even African professional athletes perform in over-worn clothes and shoes, or a lot of times, no shoes. “If you go to the National Stadium in Lagos [Nigeria], you will see sports men and women running in their slippers,” says Onyali. For Onyali that is a “very very sad thing.” Ladybrille caught up with Onyali in the States a day before her trip to Nigeria. Read on as she shares her life as a Track and Field Athlete and her venture into apparel sports manufacturing with her apparel sports brand, Yali-Yali.
LADYBRILLE.com: A lot of people know about you but I am not so sure the younger generation do. Could you tell us a bit about your background and how you got into track and field? Onyali: [laughs] Well as you know, I am not a spring chicken [gives a hearty laughter]. It has been a long but very very rewarding [journey]. As early as six years old, just playing with the neighborhood kids doing what we in Nigeria call “touch relay” [Flag Football in the States] where you tag someone and run back and see who gets back to home base the fastest, whenever that game came up, I always won. [Laughs]. Whenever we wanted to play that game, everyone wanted me to be on their team because they knew I would win. It gave me so much joy doing that knowing I would win. I [would] even get a couple of pats on the back and a few candies and cookies. I was happy! The interest started from there and grew from there.
LADYBRILLE.com: [Laughs]. Your legs look so long and like you run fast but how tall are you? Onyali: [Laughs] Yes. That’s exactly right. They call me beautiful legs at times. My legs are longer than my upper body. When I run my legs kind of extend a little bit more.[laughs]. I am 5ft 6in.
LADYBRILLE.com: [Chuckles] That’s wonderful! Tell me the challenges African athletes, especially those in track and field, face.
Onyali: I have always relied on these three principles. I call it my three Ds: Discipline, Determination and Dedication. [ I] lived, breathed and slept the three Ds. Everything I did, I did around my three Ds. Even till today, those are my core principles. Anytime I am deviating from my three Ds, I have to get myself back on track because without the discipline, determination and dedication, nobody can accomplish anything in the world. Anything in life is challenging. But sports, in general, to compete on the level I did, you have to have serious amount of dedication, discipline and determination.
LADYBRILLE.com: I understand your mom was not too excited about you getting into track and field because she wanted you to focus on academics and it is not something a woman typically does. Share with us a little about that?
Onyali: Of course most parents want their children to be [d]octors, lawyers or architects. When I was going to school and competing for my school, my mom was like “No! you need to focus on your studies. I don’t know this running thing you are doing. What is it going to fetch you?” I just couldn’t find joy in anything else. My academics were good. I wasn’t getting A’s. But my C’s and B’s were good enough for me.
LADYBRILLE.com: [laughs on the B’s and C’s being good enough for her] Onyali: [laughs] My mom did not want to entertain anything relating to me pursuing track professionally. She [later] calmed down after she saw all the goodies I would bring home from track meets. She saw it was not affecting my academics and so she kind of relaxed.
LADYBRILLE.com: hmmm . . . Now you’ve gone and competed for Nigeria and Africa on such worldwide level it is ridiculous! Tell us the first time you got to compete for your country on an international level. What were you thinking? How were you feeling? The first time is always the sweetest, they say?
Onyali: My very first was competing in Ghana but I don’t know whether I should call Ghana international. [I] guess it is because it is another country. They are so close to us it’s hard to see [them] as international. But, that was my first competition. I was not allowed to compete in the individual race. I was too young. I went into the Senior team as a Junior. So, the senior athletes have competed in Olympics and ventured out of the country. This was my first time venturing out of the country. I was the fastest in 100 and 200 meters. The jealousy and anger that followed me! The envy was just so much. But, I was so young and naïve and I didn’t even notice. All I wanted to hear was the sound of the gun and I am gone. But, they did not allow me compete. They put me in [r]elay races. We won but I was not happy. I felt that my opportunity to run at an individual race was taken away from me. But as according to the proverb my mom always used, “you cannot cover up pregnancy.”
LADYBRILLE.com: [laughs at the proverb] Na so o!, Na so o! [translated to mean “it’s true”] [laughs] Speak! Onyali: [laughs and continues] You cannot cover pregnancy so all the frustration they gave me coming into the senior team was fine so long as I was still competing. From Ghana we went to Egypt. I was able to compete in the individual race there. [I] freaked out, of course. It was expected because it was my first time competing on an individual level. In relays, you feel comfortable in a relay race even if you mess up, someone is going to make it up. I panicked, I stepped on the starting block too hard [creating a false start]and was disqualified. My first one was a big disappointment. I cried my eyes out but hey, I got back up, went to the 200 meters and was second. So that made up for the 100 meter dissapointnent. But believe me, after that it never happened again.
LADYBRILLE.com: I hear you. Because once you go through that, you are determined to beat it and never let it happen again.
Onyali: Yea.
LADYBRILLE.com: You have accomplished so much and won [numerous] medals. Is there a point where it’s no longer a big deal anymore for you? Onyali: [laughs] You got it right. It’s no longer a big deal. That is because of the kind of personality I am. I don’t dwell over anything. What I do is set a goal for myself. Once I accomplish it, I take a deep breath and say “okay that’s done. What’s next?” [Pauses] I live for challenges! I love challenges. If I get too comfortable in a particular area, I get bored. Some journalist from England tried to tally my medals five years before I retired. They came up with about 50.
LADYBRILLE.com: [in surprise tone] 50? Onyali: Yea.
SPORTS APPAREL MANUFACTURING IN AFRICA
LADYBRILLE.com: Whoa! That is so impressive. I am in the company of a living legend! [laughs] Now, let’s talk about you loving challenges. Tell us about the challenge of trying to establish a sports apparel manufacturing company in Nigeria. I have not even heard of that. I think Yali-Yali will be the first to manufacture in Nigeria? Am I wrong? Onyali: You are right.
LADYBRILLE.com: So, tell me a bit about what Yali-Yali stands for. Where did you get the name? I like it. It has a ring to it and is easy to remember. Onyali: [laughs] Yea. That ring is what everybody is talking about. Those that know me know where the name comes from. It is the last four letters of my father’s name. Instead of one Yali, we thought it would be more fun to make it two Yalis and put a dash in the middle.

LADYBRILLE.com: Ah! Nice. Onyali: 2004 Olympics in Greece that was my last major competition before I retired. I thought about it but I narrowed it down. I asked myself, what is it that I want to do where if I wake in the morning, I will just be happy to go to work. I know I can’t run anymore but I would rather do something that makes me happy, that is fulfilling and challenging as well and on top of it, why waste almost 25-30years of your life doing something else that you have no clues about? Do something you have experience in.
LADYBRILLE.com: Do something you have experience in and love to do. Onyali: Yes. on top of it, I love clothes and love fashion.
LADYBRILLE.com: Ahhhhhhhhh! Onyali: I love clothes and I love shoes even more.
LADYBRILLE.com: I know you love fashion I saw your pictures and your poses on your site. Onyali: [laughs] I thought why not go into sports manufacturing apparel? I was into Nike, Reebok, Asics and retired with Adidas. So, I know what they feel like how they are suppose to fit on an athlete and when they do not fit and all that stuff.
LADYBRILLE.com: The texture, the silhouette. Onyali: Yea, all that stuff. Plus, I am a Nigerian. I know what the climate is like [s]o I decided to pick an interest in sports wear and to make it even better, I know that Nigeria is a tropical rainforest so it is very hot. So, I tried to look for a material that can compete with the rest of the leading sports brand to suit the comfort of [N]igerians.
LADYBRILLE.com: Hmmmmm . . . . Onyali: We came up with a breathable fabric so that even if you sweat, it won’t stick and you won’t see the sweat lines on your shirt.
LADYBRILLE.com: So does this fabric include spandex, it is always included in sports wear? Onyali: Yes spandex is always included in sports wear but it has a lot of UV rays so that when you sweat and the sun heats you, it bounces off your clothes and does not hit your skin directly. That way, my people will be comfortable and also it is affordable.
LADYBRILLE.com: You know what? Most designers always miss that point, especially when they are manufacturing and marketing to the African market. It has to be affordable. It has to. Onyali: It has to. If not, they will tell you they’d rather go ahead and pay the millions for the Nikes and Adidas.
LADYBRILLE.com: Exactly! Onyali: It has been an uphill battle because technology, as you know, changes every minute and we have to keep up.
LADYBRILLE.com: True. So, with that kind of fabric and introducing it to the Nigerian market, are you then manufacturing over there and what has been the challenges? Onyali: We are working closely with the Nigerian government. We have partnership with NEPAD, a government entity, and we are working closely with them to give us all the necessary assurance that whatever fabric or raw materials that we need to add to the Nigerian fabric will not be stopped. They will give us a waiver to cover [our] shipments and our factory is going to be in Calabar [Eastern part of Nigeria].
LADYBRILLE.com: Nice! That’s an amazing to place to do business without the big stress. Onyali: Yes. It will be there because of the trade free zone. Free importation of anything you have so long as you belong to the zone. Nigeria as you know is a very very tough terrain but we will be covering a lot of grounds. When you decide to do business in Nigeria, you have to go at least 2-3years to learn the place before you get in there.
LADYBRILLE.com: Exactly . . . because if you think you will just come in with your Oyinbo sabi [Western I know it all ways], you will be in a lot of trouble and lose a lot of money.
LADYBRILLE.com: Puma, Nike, among many, are entering the African sports apparel market. How do you prepare for the competition that will inevitably penetrate the African market from these foreign global brands? Onyali: We did our research. We knew that as soon as we explode, the already established brands will come in to challenge us and push us out of the market.
LADYBRILLE.com: Exactly. Onyali: But guess what?
LADYBRILLE.com; What? Onyali: I know Nigerians live for foreign goods but the system or tactic we will deploy is gonna make them . . . yes they can do business anywhere in the world. They can take their target wherever but I will still be able to accomplish my mission were any child in Nigeria who wants to play sports will be able to afford decent sports wear. If they will be able to bring their price as low as mine, manufacturing on the ground, then the playing field is fair but I don’t think they can beat it.
LADYBRILLE.com: I hear you. Well let’s wrap it up and talk about your beautiful family. You have one child and you married to a fellow athlete, a sprinter? Onyali: Thank you. We just added another child who is eight months.
LADYBRILLE.com: Congrats! You are one busy mommy. How is life as a mommy?
Onyali: Fun, fun, fun! I won’t change it.
LADYBRILLE.com: Congratulations. I am so happy for you. Please let us know about your progress and anyway we can let the world know about what you are doing, let us know. Onyali: Thank you so much and thank you for the interview. Keep up the good work for Nigeria and Africa.
LADYBRILLE.com: Thank you and have a peaceful and safe trip. Onyali: Thanks.
~Article by Uduak Oduok
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Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Fabbies 2008 Winners



Last month, Ladybrille.com was up for an award with the first ever Fashion Blog Awards, FABBIES 2008. While we did not win, we appreciate all the support and votes we got and feel honored to even be nominated! Yes, we will be there during New York Fashion Week in September to support the brilliant bloggers who won; and of course party with them! Special thanks to G. Kofi Annan of Annansi Chronicles for representing Ladybrille at the nominees party.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING FABBIES 2008 WINNERS
Accessories - Knickersblog
Beauty - Afrobella
Best Newbie - stylenotes
Men's - Dandyism
e-Zine/New Frontier Publishing - NYMag.com
Fashion - I Like Her Style
Indie/Niche - The Fashion Incubator
Lifestyle - a tie between Apartment Therapy & the YBF
Parents/Pets - Honest Baby
Shoes - Grand Mademoiselle Shoe blog
Shopping - FabSugar
Streetstyle - The Sartorialist
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Monday, May 26, 2008

African models, designers promote peace in Kenya

NAIROBI, May 25 (Reuters) - Scores of top African designers and models held a show in Nairobi National Park at the weekend to raise money for victims of Kenya's post-election violence and show a different face to their continent.

The "Fashion for Peace" event drew mainly West and East African models onto a catwalk in a marquee under the moonlight on savannah usually known for its lions and rhinos.
"Fashion for Peace will not change the world, although it does aim at changing people's negative perceptions of Kenya and Africa in other countries," organisers said in a statement.
Read the rest here.
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