We had a roaring time, the Allure Team and our guests. The guests comprised the crème of the fashion and style industry. They were invited to look critically at our obsession with clothes and more clothes. The discussion was honest and soul-baring. Names were mentioned and some not too palatable things were said about certain celebrities. We  decided to let the discussion flow uncensored because, that is the only way we can get a  true sense of what is happening as far as our style preferences go. In Talking clothes, we expose the emotional side of fashion. Enjoy!

Remmy: I think that we should begin by defining style and the term fashionable
Ifeoma: Style is very difficult define to some degree because as a stylist, even little details like how a dress lies on your body matters. There are people who are comfortable in their skin. They’ve sorted sort out what their preference is from head to toe. They know what fabric and what shade of colour suit their body well. I for example, don’t look nice in braids. It doesn’t just fit me yet, there are other people who look nice in braids. I think the Nigerian woman is most fashionable. The Nigerian man is equally as fashionable; in Africa and even beyond.

Remi Diagbare

Nikki: Nigerians are fashionable but most times, people don’t wear what is suitable in terms of style and size. We lack training when it comes to what is appropriate to wear, how to wear it and when to wear it. Yes, Nigerian women do dress well but we have a lot of question marks in terms of how people put their stuff together. Everybody likes to be noticed, so we tend to over do things and some designers are guilty of this too.

Remmy: What then makes somebody fashionable?

Ifeoma: Knowing what suits you and determining what to wear to any occasion. Personally, I think the simpler, the better. You try not to over dress; not to use too many colours – especially, females who use a lot of colours. Again, like Nikki said, all too often, they are overdone because, everybody wants to be noticed.

Frank: Nigerians are extremely “stylish”. Every individual wants her sense of style to show and in a bid to do that, they tend to over do it. So, yes, they get it wrong some times but at other times, they get it right. Being fashionable is not the same as being trendy. Someone could say that this is the colour for next year and everybody wants to catch on; certain clothes are being put in our faces as the clothes for next year and everybody wants to have them whether they fit or not. So, to such people, being fashionable is being trendy because they are wearing what is new in the market.

Vivian: Talking about fashion, I think Nigerians, generally, are fashionable and they’ve learnt to follow trends. But, I also feel that if you have style, you can look at trends and adapt them to yourself and not just follow what you see. Now runways, in particular, are not real ways because, if you notice, people who are stylish are able to adapt a runway look to reality. But, we see people wearing runway couture or avant garde thing to events and that is just not stylish. You don’t have to follow trends that way.

Jemi: We were at FADAN’s show recently and one of the things we observed about most of the young designers was that they couldn’t interpret correctly the tasks given to them. Now, if we see all kinds of clothes and styles on the pages of newspapers, are the designers not the ones responsible? Because, if a designer cannot interpret correctly, imagine the disaster waiting to happen when a person without style stands in front of her wardrobe.

Ifeoma: It is an invitation to choose. You are not forced to buy what designers are making. To buttress what Vivian and Frank have said, there is a side to style. You need to discover your style preference. There was a time gypsy skirt was in vogue. I didn’t own one and will never own one because, I am a classic dresser. It doesn’t suit my body line. So, let’s say, Frank makes that skirt for Nobel Afrik and I go to his shop; he hasn’t forced me to buy it. Really, it’s the people who go there, not knowing their style preference, that pick the wrong thing. So, it’s laying the right foundation for what you should be wearing that is important.

Jemi: What I am saying is, if we had a designer who does ready-to-wear-collection, and you design something not quite right for day and put there, if I’m not educated on fashion, I’ll pick from what you have and wear – believing that that is the right thing because you are a designer.

Frank: You would recall, Jemi, that during that first segment of the FADAN show, people were clapping and cheering when the models came out. Now, to a certain extent, that should tell you that a lot of the people in the audience don’t have a sense of style because, they don’t understand. But as adults, who went to school and have read, we should know what is right and what is wrong. You should know the amount of cleavage you should throw open in the public. If you don’t know how much cleavage you can expose at what age, how would you listen to a designer telling you, “Madam, this style won’t fit you.”

Remmy: But you (designers) do make the outfit for them?

Frank: We do but I personally say “No”. If you look at my shows, I do not do artistic clothes. I do things that are wearable because, I am looking for customers. I make ready-to-wear-clothes. I don’t do avant garde and all these unnecessary things because, I know how our people perceive fashion – what they see is what they want. It is hard to tell a customer “No, it won’t work for you” but I always insist.

Vivian: But, avant garde is really for entertainment. They don’t expect you to wear it out. It’s just something to let you see what their clothes are about.

Remmy: You are the President of FADAN. With your show, The Talent Hunt, did you not give specifications to the designers?

Prince Akanni: Of course, we did. But, just like Vivian said, a show is different from our everyday life style. Depending on the show; there are creative shows designed to celebrate the creativity of the designers. But just like Frank said, you should be able to know what suits you and what to wear at a particular time. Added to that is the fact that Nigeria is still based mostly on customers coming to dictate what they want and not picking from the market or shelf. So, most people come to you and say, I want it this way. You try to educate them that this does not suit you, this is what is okay but they have their minds made up. You see a size 22 person come to you and say, “I want this kind of dress”. For me, I’ll tell you, if you want it (your body) to show, I’ll cut it (the dress) open for you. I am a business man but the first thing I need to do as a designer, is to advise you, tell you the fabric that suits that style and demand to know where you want to wear it to. All these questions are very important to determine the kind of style we create but Nigerians have already made up their minds before coming to your office. And, even when you say it doesn’t suit you, she asks “Are you going to sew it or not? I’m paying for this thing”. So, I think we are going to get there with ready-to-wear. People will have a lot of options. But right now, a lot of designers don’t’ do ready-to-wear. They do made-to-measure.

already made up their minds before coming to your office. And, even when you say it doesn’t suit you, she asks “Are you going to sew it or not? I’m paying for this thing”. So, I think we are going to get there with ready-to-wear. People will have a lot of options. But right now, a lot of designers don’t’ do ready-to-wear. They do made-to-measure.

Nikki: My problem with Nigerians is that everybody is a designer, everybody is a decorator. People would have to be able to define who designers are, who tailors are and who artists are. I say this because, some people do very theatrical stuff which belongs either to costume or the gallery. They are not meant to be worn. First, we need to define who designers are. Secondly, if you are dealing with high profile women, no matter how much advice you give them, once they have something on their minds, you can’t control what they wear. I can sell you an outfit and tell you this is day wear and you can decide to wear it in the evening. I can’t control that once you take it out of my shop.

Morenike: But, if people ask about the dress, she will say it was made by you.

Vivian: How are you going to tell her that she has worn it to the wrong place?

Ifeoma: As somebody who manages quite a few wardrobes, I always say to people for me to come into anybody’s wardrobe, it’s a special kind of relationship – quite emotional. After dealing with women for one or two months, I’ve had cause to say, “Sorry, I can’t do this anymore.” There was one woman I saw at a function. Trust me, I love food but when I saw her, I lost my appetite. I was depressed the whole evening because, people know I dress her up. She was an absolute disaster. And, to think we had sat and decided how to wear the outfit; when she came out, the neckline was up to the head, the choker was heavy, the hairstyle dropping everywhere. And people were saying to me, “I thought you dress her up?” It was very painful for me.

Nikki, Ifeoma and Diagbare

Frank: Some times, I have the media to blame for some of these things. Go through the papers that come out every week and take out your best dressed for the week and see.
Nikki: The media is part of it.

Ifeoma: If you read a particular paper, I don’t want to mention names, they take one person whose legs are shorter than this microphone and they call her best dressed.

Nikki: The problem is that people interpret style differently. Jemi, for instance, might decide that she likes this style and publish 50 women in the magazine and say best dressed women. That is her interpretation of the best dressed but that may not make them the best dressed.

Remmy: But, shouldn’t there be a standard for determining style?

Jemi: Every individual has his or her own interpretation of what style is.
Ifeoma: That was why we started out defining what the criteria for most stylish should be. At one point, we said carriage and comportment because, attitude completes the look. If you are wearing the best cut suit and your shoulders are drooping, it’s not going to look nice.

Remmy: What challenges do you think Nigerian women and men have as far as fashion and style is concerned?
Vivian: One thing I see all the time is women wearing very tight blouses with buttons popping out or tight trousers with pockets bulging out. People do not just want to wear their sizes.

Prince Akanni: Clothes don’t have to be tight to be noticed but that is the vogue in Nigeria. If the quarter bust line is not showing, then it’s not good. I think people should try and wear their size. You can be smart, decent and still be noticed. Like Nikki said, all Nigerians are designers. Until we begin to listen to designers, things will not fall into place. If you begin to challenge the authority of people who have gone to school and spent 6-7 years to study this, and you who is involved in something else, starts telling them how to do their stuff, there will be problem. If we start listening to our designers and stylists, then we will be making necessary change.

Frank: What I notice is that most people do not understand their body type. Whatever you wear should complement your body – height, physique. If one doesn’t understand ones body and what will enhance it, there will be problems. Often times, brides-to-be come to me with protruding tummy and want volumes of fabric on it. I say no that. I advise them to take the details somewhere else. The area you have flesh is a problem area and you want to create chaos again? That is where the problem is. You must understand your body type. No matter what is in vogue, if it does not suit your body type, don’t wear it.

Nikki: A lot of the problems, like I said earlier, is linked to all these so called ‘best dressed’ published in some soft sell magazines. One of them is fond of doing ‘100 best dressed’ or ‘50 best dressed’ and you see one actress with her breast out there, cleavage down there, dropping and sagging and they are celebrating them. And, another person takes that to a designer and says, make me this style. Her waist is like 40 inches and she wants the wide belt; she wants to wear leggings and she has loads of fat on her legs. It’s a problem. Elegance doesn’t necessarily mean tight. Everybody wants to be in something fitted. You can be elegant in a flowing dress.
Ifeoma: Like a kaftan.

Nikki: Exactly. Not everybody can wear fitted clothes. Somebody comes and tells you, “I am a size 16”; when the person is clearly a size 22!

Remmy: How did she arrive at that size?

Vivian, Akanni and Frank

Nikki: You know, I look at her and I’m like, “Actually, you are like size 20.” And she says, “No. When I buy dresses in London, I am size 16.” So, I just say “Okay.” So, what I do is choose my clients. If I can’t work with you, I can’t work with you because, there are people who just don’t take advice. That is, basically, the problem.
Ifeoma: I want to reiterate and agree with Frank completely that the fabric is the basis for any outfit. The kind of fabric you can wear is determined by your frame and body lines and this is why people who have excess folds don’t have any business with jerseys. Fabrics and body lines go hand-in-hand, if you ask me. There are certain clients I have… if it’s a disaster, it is a disaster. When the emotional cost of dealing with a customer or a client is too high, it is stressful and you will be troubled. It is the beginning of high blood pressure. So, if the emotional cost is too high, then it’s not worth it. But having said all this, it is about whether the person will listen. This is a direct appeal to the media; whether somebody thinks she is a Lagos big girl or not, if we start to set the standard now, other people will take a cue. We need to start defining what is acceptable and what is not. There are some pictures I see, I just can’t believe it. There are some pictures of people who are doing the wrong thing; they are so bad that they shouldn’t even be acknowledged at all.

Frank: For some people, any publicity is good publicity. I remember someone who said, “Frank, the dress was fine but photographers didn’t capture me”.

Prince Akanni: The madness of soft sell magazines is leading a lot of people astray because, some people feel that if they are not seen in the papers, the outfit isn’t good enough. That’s not meant to be a standard for measuring whether or not an outfit is good or not but now, it is.

Nikki: So, the more daring the outfit, the more likely it is to be in the papers!

Jemi: It doesn’t really matter to such people if they appear in the ‘fashion police’ column.
Vivian: I have a problem with people who over logo themselves: logo jacket, logo trousers, logo boots, logo bags. That’s too much.

Ifeoma: I’ll tell you about this aunt. One day, we had dinner with her. She had logo jacket, logo skirt, logo boots; then, she wore a hat. When she put on the hat, I said: “Aunty, I think we need to put a feather in this hat.” I was just humouring her, you know. It was too much.

Jemi: When Frank was speaking earlier, he spoke about the fit of clothes. Already, you have all blamed the media as being responsible for all the junk dressing that we see. But, I’d like to ask the designers here, must clothes always pay attention to the boobs area? Because, most of the indecent exposure is done around the boobs. Prince has said if his client asks him to cut it open, he would. Why is there emphasis on the boobs – both by designers and wearers?
Ifeoma: I’d use myself as an example. If you study me as a personality and take whatever pictures you like at any time, I can say without fear of contradiction that you wouldn’t see my boobs because, it’s something I just don’t do. I wasn’t raised that way and it is not my style. So, it all boils down to personal preference. If you don’t want to reveal anything, you won’t. That is why I always say at seminars: “Avoid bulk if you are already big because, it will only make you bigger.” And, that was how Frank said he advises people but they say “No. I want it.”

Morenike: I don’t think that that is what Frank said because, you might think it (the dress) is good for you.
Frank: Again, I will say for my shows, I don’t think I’ve ever revealed any boobs.

Remmy: Are you sure?

Frank: Never.

Morenike: Why is everybody suddenly denying boobs?

Frank: I’ve never made any designs showing boobs or serious cleavage or show my men with those tight trousers. I’ve never done that.

Vivian: But, we don’t mind seeing some torsos.
Frank: I know people who show boobs but I’ve never made clothes to show boobs.

Remmy: What is wrong in showing some boobs?

Frank: If you must show something, it shouldn’t be more than 7 inches from your shoulder down.
Vivien: We have all outlined the mistakes Nigerian woman make in fashion. If you were to advise the Nigerian woman on her fashion sense, where would you start from?