Fashion Bloganistas, Where Art Thou?

Where are all the true true Fashionistas that walk the walk, talk the talk and blog the blog? Please tell me where I can get a daily if possible a 3 square balanced meal of all things fashion from a fun but intelligent perspective with some snack catwalk goss in between? If only wishes were horse in Naija-Blogaria! We will get there, YES WE CAN!

Ok now that we’ve passed the Obama Intro or is it the JENIFA mini skit that’s reigning now? Anyways moving on, it is not really as bad as I have put it. When I started doing research for this piece, I had already started looking for blogs about fashion because I think I caught the fashionpreneurial Bug-I’m actually on my way to becoming a world class fashion designer courtesy of House of Henri Fashion and Art Academy, many a magazine a pull out that I pore over weekly, presenting on television (you gotta look the part even if you’re talking about the weather) and now a budding fashion writer (check me out in ThisDay Style, TW Magazine and more to come), so WATCH THIS SPACE!

You have to give it up for J’adore who rightly clinched the prize in the Naija Bloggers Award for the best fashion blog. She knows the real Coco not the one we drink or D Banj’s, she is on top and on par with the West and whenever I need some help with all the fashion grammar, I know where to go. I love how she lives out what she preaches-FASHION. Whether she features in the pictures or not, you cannot leave without being inspired to up your game…dressing wise. Recently, she does a throwback on cropped tops and reminisces on how she wore them in her high school days to parties in the coal town-Enugu.

Haute Africa is a website with a blog which is regularly updated depending on what’s going on (Naija weekend events are very popular here). So you know where to go and sometimes there are some fashion nuggets from around the world. The Haute blog has the latest from this year’s ARISE African Fashion Week 2009, very cool pictures. The website also hosts tabs for Art, Designers, Art, Events, Features, Haute Spots, Haute Tv, Models, People & Tributes, Street Stylin’ and Discuss (for the interactive forum). Well done Wadami for still finding time to manage the site as well as her round-the-clock job as the Ediatrix of Hi Magazine.

Rukks Ladoja of elan, the fashion pull out of NEXT on Sunday newspapers uses Rukky’s Frocks to express ‘Theories of a lady woven from a different type of aso-oke’ according to her byline. One thing about Rukks is that she’ll always find something to write and find a way of tying it into fashion, so expect a personal perspective of Lagos living and lifestyle and cosmopolitan fashion. She can be quite technical though and is very well read, so sometimes her pieces require some serious reading and thinking but you can be guaranteed some wit and sarcasm from this lady. ‘Getting to the Point’ is all about people telling her to cut to the chase, though she argues that while Obama does not do that, no one complains!

Elan has opened up its column A Passion for Fashion to all and sundry, so expect something from me soon. I love the illustrations by Gbolahan Adams, he is soooo good but lest I digress, APFF serves as a social commentary on the controversial world of fashion. Recent posts have included a range of issues from having a super backside (ikebe super) to Nigerian brides having to wear a bolero and ofcourse it won’t be complete without the occasional rants from fashionistas-wannabe models,designers etc.

If you are willing to compromise pure fashion with entertainment and all then Bella Naija is one-stop for everything juicy and interesting…Naija style. Recently, its style pages have been opened up to the public where you get to share your sense of style to the world. The latest was from Sophia Egbelo, a Nigerian young lady who described hers as ‘clean grunge’, which was cool and dark, I was totally not expecting it. The pictures really showed that she really understood her fashion identity from the black make up to the slash ridden jeans, she was making no apologies for getting it right.

Niyi Tabiti’s gistmaster has all the gossip and pictures. If you’re looking for a soft sell blog, look no further…everything from stars who commit fashion faux pas to the marriages and divorces of the Naija bigs gels and boiz, trust Niyi to dish out nicely! It is regularly updated with all the latest happening to Nigerians at home and in diaspora. Right now like his contemporaries, he is giving us the 411 on the ARISE Africa Fashion Week 2009.

Hmm, I have thought of starting my own fashion blog ‘The Sewing Box’ (feel free to suggest names and follow when I start) to chronicle the travails (machine needle breaking, sewing 12 pieces just to make 1 skirt with lining, stepping on pins and recently being bitten by ants as I drafted my pattern with light from my mobile phone) and joys (wearing my creation to work and church and being complimented by everyone including my granpa who told my granma who bought one of those best-rated beginner machines and getting money from my other grandma to pay my fashion fees) of an upcoming fashion designer…trust me e no easy at all!

Isabella E.C. Akinseye