CAPTURING MY CULTURE

IT’S OFFICIALLY SUPER BOWL WEEKEND. Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing a Queen in concert. The one and only, Solange graced the stage and absolutely set my soul on fire.

She was gracious, she was magical, and she was true to herself true and true. Outside of the amaaazing music she brings to the table (hehe, did you catch that little bitty play on words; her album name: A Seat At The Table), there is this undeniable authenticity she possesses that I can’t get enough of.

Solange embraces who she is — from her wild afrocentric hair, to the homage she pays to the Diana Ross era in bits, and her groovy moves on stage…. man oh man is she a force to be reckoned with. She is my soul mother in every way. Seeing her on that stage last night in all her glory… Sheeeesh reminded me of the importance of staying true to myself by keeping my culture and who I am close to my heart. Always.

In honor of that, I wanted to shed some more light on ankara print (read more about the history behind it in my previous post) by capturing my culture in this look.

As many of you know and some of you who may not know, I am Nigerian. My parents were born and raised in Nigeria, and although I wasn’t I am thoroughly involved & aware of my culture. It’s something that I don’t shy away from and readily embrace daily.

Ankara print embodies loudness, liveliness, and precision — just like the people of my culture; where this print originates.

It’s extremely unique and appealing to the eye, and as the customer you have complete control over what the print is transformed into.

If you’re like me, having total control of my appearance is like presenting five amazing cupcakes to me (three of them being chocolate with cream cheese icing on top… preferably); EVERYTHING.

So this look.

I was going for a splash of colors with a unique twist with this outfit, but also wanted to keep it at an everyday look. I looked no farther than my culture my snagging my fave slouch ankara print pants. I call them *slouchs because these pants are so dang comfy and loose fitting, you’d think you had on sweatpants or something.

Also keeping it everyday was easy because a solid contemporary color like black will always do that for you, when you have the goal I had in mind.

My black staples were a black turtle, my fave black strappy heels, and a slinky black longline cardi.

Can you say perfection?