sheik chic: ode to harem pants

baggy. oversized. loose-fitting.

three words that don't typically inspire confidence when used in association with female clothing, are incidentally the very ones that inspire one of the hottest trends of the Oh-Nine: the Harem pant.

personally, harem pants are the new love of my life. and as all great love cycles go, there has been the initial intrigue, then attraction, followed closely and longingly by fear, awe and respect.. and now, finally, i realise it is truly love.

talitha getty was apparently the first person to rock the harem pant as a fashion statement. it was the sixties and they were hippies; now it's just plain 'hip' again!

MC Hammer as we all know rocked the trend to death, vis-a-vis:

but this side of the 20th century designers have injected a tad more sass into these saggy bants, as visual aid would help illustrate:

a PHI pair:

really love these! the fabric,  sash detail and the ruffly folds on the slim leg... heart, heart, heart!!

a helmut lang pair:

:not quite so baggy, but i like the detail on the the ankle.

paul and joe had a go:

the turn up legs are really cool.

Gisele looks almost ethereal in this harem style jumpsuit... *sigh*

Ciara looks amazing in this halston pair! LOVing it!

...and the original halston outfits:

Harem pants are tricky to wear, however with a hot pair of heels and a fitted/semi-fitted top they are certifiably the most glamorous way to achieve the casual sheik chic look that's so very in these days. It's like, why did they ever go out of style?

*bewildered shrug*

with these few words of mine, i hope i've been able to convince you and not confuse you.... but just in case you need a little more persuasion to join the chic harem (hehe!), a visual bribe straight from walter disney himself:

"yea though they make you look like you're wearing diapers, you shall fear no harems! for the fabulousity art with you, the drape and the cinch, they comfort you... "

cuz honestly hey, if princess jasmine could pull 'em off, then you can too! 

No one in the corner has swagger like.......MOSS

Kate Moss is one of the most popular models out there. At times I get tired of her face but then she wears something like this and I want to start a campaign for her to rule the earth. She is wearing a beautiful sequined Balmain dress with dramatic wide shoulders. The angular fit of the dress makes it unique, I also love the way the stripes frame the dress. I am yet to see a Balmain dress I did not like. So it is no secret that I am partial to sequins and all that is glittery BUT independent of that she looks like a sexy futuristic astronaut headed ascending the celestial spheres of the universe. Her facial expression says 'you plebs are all beneath me'

Moss is Boss

Body Con - iHeart I ain't copying ya!!!

So my NBFF(new best friend forever) recently invested in a body con dress by the so far one trick pony Herve Leger(I am a bit of a 'tard I don't know how to do accents on my keyboard). Another BFF has the skirt, unlike my old pal iHeart I think the body con is rather nice. I am partial to the skirt but the dress is also lovely.

The dress has taken the world by storm I think it is because it makes a statement particularly 'My body is f**king awesome b***hes'. I am not trying to air my dirty laundry in public but iHeart and I have a rocky relationship at times. I disagree with you iHeart with every fibre of my being I do not think you have to be skinny to wear it, in fact I think it also lends itself rather well to curvy women.

Obviously you cannot be too curvy/fat or skinny because it clings but if you have sufficient junk in the right place then it works. Some may argue that this dress banishes excess lumps and bumps but I am far too much of a coward to advise taking such a risk.

As I stated above it does not suit all body types. Leona Lewis looks a bit wide and Paris looks too narrow for the dress and the colour.

I really like the colourful ones because I think they define and enhance the contours of your body. The dresses are so sexy they fit like a second skin. iHeart are you convinced? Will you still love me tomorrow? Most importantly does this blog have a future? ;-)

aimas, anyone?

we all know Next newspaper, commonly dubbed the best thing to happen to news reporting in Nigeria (if you don't, click on the link :P). 

Elan, it's Fashion inlay, is set to take over from the likes of Thisday Style and the Guardian Lifestyle with the clear difference in its approach to a weekly fashion publication. 

Stylist to Elan, Tayo Shonekan, also has on her resume the coveted title of designer. Her fashion line aimas encompasses a fun, feminine, and very African take on the basics of any woman's wardrobe: Tee-shirts and bags :)

Every item is adorned, painted or crafted by hand, giving them a unique, one-of-a-kind look as no two paintings are ever identical.


isn't this the cutest little ballerina tee shirt?

frills, bows and ladybugs. cuute!!

Each of these purses was originally a hand-painted work of art done on canvas, folded over and lined on the inside to make the very different canvas purses. i heart the paintings of the women in their geles (head-tie), each one sequined or/and beaded to draw attention to the necklaces and bracelets on each figure.

The proud, beautiful peocock also has sequined feathers to emphasise its glory. i really like!

more cutesy, feminine tops

Tayo Shonekan (center) and her sales Team, all dressed in uniquely hand-crafted aimas tops.

Halston nooooooo

In my blogging career I have tried to keep my hands clean, I am not here to bash anyone, I have tried to give my opinion critically. For example, I have never once said that is ugly, rubbish or disgusting. We are not Perez Hilton, we are not trying to bring anyone down but I have to unsheathe my claws today and do a little bashing. You may wonder is Halston having a bad day? And my response to that is yes BUT that has nothing to do with it to the best of my knowledge ;-)

So to the point at hand

This picture was taken at the met ball extravaganza also known as the Oscars of fashion, which I entirely agree with. I love it when women wear suits but I detest this outfit it completely dwarfs her, I mean the material is nice but not the way it is wrapped on her.

If she wanted to wear a suit this is how she should have done it.

Or like this.

I chose those 2 examples because they represent 2 contrasting ways you can wear a suit. SJP’s suit is bold and dramatic but the top underneath the jacket tones everything down. Kate Hudson’s suit is well cut and has a loose but classy fit. Suits on women are beautiful but you can’t just wear it like a clown.

Back to Miss Umbrella ella ella, I equally hate her hair this is the first time I have hated a Rihanna haircut, she needs it to be less voluminous at the top. I can see where she was going with the get up this but she failed miserably with a capital M dudes, a capital M. On to faux pas number 2. which she wore the next day...........not cool

I hate what she is wearing I know it is not nice to kick a dog when it is down but I am kicking away, mauling even. The jacket looks incomplete like the designer did not quite finish it and those stocking things are fugly. FUGGERS I TELL YA! Maybe if they were full on tights they may work but I despise the jacket it is the centre of her outfit and it looks like a demented black sack.

Wow I know what you may be thinking again. Whoa Halston is everything okay? Where did that come from? And my response to that would be I dunno, the dark recesses of my evil genius mind.

Love Always

Halston ;-P

introducing S.D.C...

the most widely used phrase for the description of Nigeria's music industry is that it is evolving.

well i'm over all that evolution steeze; i say the new generation is born!

a die-hard fan of M.I., i heard one day that he had competition and raised my mental eyebrows in scoff and disregard. i am here today to declare that i was shocked out of my scorn. 

yes, the new generation is come. 

they're called SDC -as in Show Dem. as to whether or not the 'C' means Camp or Crew i think even they are yet to decide. but then again, decision is only the distant cousin of creativity (quote me on that), and as we locals like to say, idea is need. 

Permit me to be a little corny here, but all those singer/song-rappers were begging for this, and finally somebody's here to .. you guessed it!.. Show. Dem.

ladies you don't even have to like hip-hop, just stare at these 'fresh-boy-fine-boys'! it's like Mc Dreamy and Steamy up in here.. *wink!

At the video shoot of their debut single, i confess to having gone a little crazy with my amateur cam. either that or they're so hot their faces blurred through the shots i took... :

dude with the cool shoes!

tin-tin, world renowned make-up artist :D

hot set, hot guys, hot models, (hot people), hot music... it's like they were saying on the track, '...[they] know exactly what you want ...'

young, fly and Nabilla!

it was the 26th of April and future fashionista Nabilla was having a fashion show at her tenth birthday party to showcase J'aire Diamonds, a collection inspired by her creativity under aunty Folake Folarin's Amber Kids fashion line. Oh to have had such clarity at that age!

the birthday girl -rocker kid style- striking a pose in one of the designs:

aunty Ponmile Olawoye helped design the cute collection and the kids rocked it!

don't they all look soooo adorable!!

the collection was fun, it was trendy, it was comfortable, the kids loved it, and the crowd went wild over it!

and as she took a bow with her proud parents amidst wild cheering from the audience all i could think was, Move over Tiffany Amber, Nabilla's arrived!!