~Color Culture Conscience~ Autumn Adeigbo

Autumn Adeigbo is Nigerian American born to an Igbo mother and a Yoruba father. After graduating from Parsons, she began a career as a celeb stylist, lending her style skills as an assistant stylist for W Magazine. She decided to go the designer route but at the same time adding meaning and depth to her line. Her tag like is culture, color and conscience and she explains her theory behind the tags. "Culture: Each dress is inspired by the women of the continent of Africa, a land ripe with beauty and culture. Color: The collection showcases all the colors of the rainbow. Besides women, color is where I find a lot of my inspiration. Conscience: 5 percent of each dress sale is donated to helping sexual violence victims on the continent of Africa". I admire her for using her talent to helping women in Africa, making her clothes that much more important, knowing that any outfit will go to help a victim of sexual violence in Africa. I love that she has a story behind all her dresses, naming them individually after loved ones she has lost & those that inspire her. I love the vibrant attitude of her clothes, and the subtle ethnic undertones of the versatile prints she uses. For those in America interested in snapping up some Adeigbo pieces, you can find them in NYC boutiques Honey in the Rough, TG170 & Boston Boutique, Crush. For the rest of us, we have to wait for her online store, set to be launched this fall. 

                                                                                                       ANTM winner Whitney Thompson, wearing  an Autumn Adeigbo's dress.

More than just a hairstyle~ J.D. Okhai Ojeikere

The phenomenal J.D. Okhai Ojeikere was raised in Southwestern Nigeria in a village where photography was an exotic luxury. In 1950, he bought a modest Brownie D camera, and a neighbor taught him the rudiments of photography and the rest is history. The Hairstyle series, which consists of close to a thousand photographs, is the largest and the most thorough segment of Ojeikere’s archive. The photographs provide us with an opportunity to look back at what was in vogue in the 1960s and to make comparisons with hair styles of today. For me, the hairstyles took me back to my primary & secondary school days where 'thread' hair styles were in vogue (ok maybe not in vogue, but the norm) and when girls showed their creativity through their hairstyles like 'clap', 'shuku' & 'calabar'.  I remember how we all couldn't wait to get our 'weaves did' & flip our hair back like the oyinbo kids do. But after seeing these photographs I'm saddened at how alot of us have lost our creativity and culture and i hope we can all find a balance between these western inspired hair styles (i.e. the brazilian hair frenzy) and our cultural hairstyles which are refreshingly distinct. They  symbolize who we are not only as a country, but as individuals.

“All these hairstyles are ephemeral. I want my photographs to be noteworthy traces of them. I always wanted to record moments of beauty, moments of knowledge. Art is life. Without art, life would be frozen.”   J.D. Okhai Ojeikere

~☆The Nigerian White Boy☆~

I came across this video randomly & had to post it. This is not a 'wigga' type video, this is the real deal.

This white man is as Nigerian as you, me or your local newspaper vendor.

Did you know there was a difference between the pigeon English in the South & the North? Mmm Hmm, didn't think so! 

 

Could-not-believe when he started breaking it down in Hausa. 

Check it. LOL @ the guy taping- "this is some trippy shit mehn..mad sturvz". 

Have a good weekend dolls! ♡

~Cartoon À la carte~ Olusola Akinseye

Olusola Akinseye is a Nigerian illustrator and graphic artist  whose work has been published in several storybooks, textbooks, periodicals and calenders. His creativity is expressed clearly in his versatile work, show casing his love for his home town Nigeria with added twinges of humor that makes his work truly admirable. Others have recognised his talent and in 2007, Akinseye was shortlisted for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and won the Macmillan, Illustrator Award for Africa in 2008.  Olusola’s work has brought a much needed perspective to vector graphics and illustration and he points out that ”creativity is not just ‘work’ for me, it’s life. And I love it!”. When you do what you love and love what you do, the end result is always fantastic. 

~I spy with my little eye~ Olushola Ajose

Olushola Ajose better known as Afrikan boy is a grime/Afro beat MC based in  London. I first heard of him on MIA's song, "Hussel" & fell in love. His style is very unique, if its possible to label it, i would call his look 'Afro-Grime'. I might sound like a broken record but i heart the vibrant colors in the video. The video 'Lagos town' is simple but full of rich textiles, clips of Lagos & creative patterns. Love how he incorporates humor into his lyrics and how visually appealing all the work that he does is. Lagos Town is a single of the debut album 1444 Musik. Will definitely be buying his album, set to be released this 2010. 

Afrikan Boy - Lagos Town from afrikanboy on Vimeo.

~Fro' Fantastic~ Dawn Okoro

Dawn Okoro is a Nigerian American artist based in NYC. She creates bold, color saturated, sensual portraits of beautiful black women. Her oil & acrylic paintings portray a juxtaposition of contemporary art mixed with a retro flare that makes Dawn as an artist, to me, incredibly distinct. I love her vibrant choice of colors, the fact that each painting is distinct and how she makes fro's look so darn fab. Her work is spectacular, to say the least and is as Okoro calls it, is “inspired by fashion in popular culture.”  Would definitely hang one of these paintings on my wall. My pick- the stunning girl in the tutu & red stilettos. They are available for purchase at dawnokoro.com and if i might add, ridiculously under priced. Love.