When I started blogging almost two years ago, I never imagined that my journey would include planning fashion events. The Creative Development Reception was an idea that I developed after participating in a focus group a few months ago for the World Bank's Sierra Leone Diaspora Investment Study. The goal of the study was to collect data on the trends for diaspora investment (beyond just remittances) in Sierra Leone. After the study was completed, they planned a full day forum to discuss the results of the survey and needed an idea for a reception to close out the event. Fortunately, I was able to convince the organizers of the forum that a small fashion presentation would be both an enjoyable closeout to the forum and an excellent demonstration of the potential for sustainable development through investment in Sierra Leone's fashion industry.
The only thing better than one fashionable person is two, and today we're profiling the fierce fashion duo Mr. & Mrs. Jalloh of Philadelphia.
Sierra Leoneans look forward to food, celebrations and statement fashion at every holiday regardless of religious affiliation, and EID is no exception. Designer Adama Paris wets our fasting appetites as the Islamic holy month winds to a close with modest & elegant pieces from her EID capsule collection.
I attended my first Ghanian wedding this weekend and I was honestly at a loss for what to wear until the very last minute. I didn't know the couple so I didn't have any material to sew but I still wanted to wear something cultural. I ended up pairing a Christie Brown (Ghanian designer) necklace with a dress from the H&M conscious collection (a couple seasons old). I think it worked out fine:
We were excited to catch a glimpse of NYC based designer Laquan Smith's spring 2016 collection which debuted during NYFW this week at the Refinery Rooftop.
I met Latonya last year through work and we bonded over our love of fashion and fought about my disdain for Kanye (lol)! I decided to do a feature on Latonya after observing her amazing work style on a daily basis, but fashion sense aside, what I admire most about Latonya is her unwavering determination to remain true to herself. Being yourself and expressing yourself honestly seems like the simplest concept. However, in a world where snap judgements are made about the content of your character based on whether you wear your hoodie up or down, for instance, it can be very difficult to block out the noise of societal expectations and follow your unique inner voice.
A silly new new year's resolution that I made this year was to try to re-wear some of the Aso Ebi styles that I've made for weddings.
Spring weather is slowly transitioning to summer here in the DMV. I enjoyed the blooming trees (with plenty of Zyrtec of course :) a couple of weekends ago in this beautiful ankara dress:
Every now and then I highlight a fabulous fashionista and today's foreign friend is none other than Mrs. Carter.
