House of Tara – Bonita Valli

WimBiz

Last November, I was invited to attend the 10th annual Women in Management and Business (WimBiz) Conference and indeed it was an empowering three days.

Women of all parts of Nigeria and beyond gathered to listen to the handful of catalysts that were invited to talk to us, but I was particularly impressed with Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi’s speech.

Clearly a no-nonsense, proud and very well spoken African woman; she kicked off with Maya Angelou’s ‘Phenomenal Woman’. With this, she gripped the entire audience and we were interested. She went on to talk about social justice and the passion involved in being a change agent and by the time she was done, she had us all giving her a standing ovation.

Over the first two days, the invited speakers included Toyosi Akerele (who was extremely motivational), Bolanle Austen-Peters of Terra Kulture and Uche Eze of Bella Naija (who managed to make Nicki Minaj and Rihanna sound inspirational lol). On the third day was a dinner which I was unable to attend seeing as I was dateless 😦 my family members tend to shy away from such and a certain Mr wasn’t in the country. Yes, I was bummed seeing as I had my House 38 dress all good to go and I was looking forward to getting my make up done by House of Tara… *sigh*

Regardless, the entire event was without a doubt a success and I’m pretty certain everyone took something of value with them. Mrs Zaccheus (the former chairperson of WimBiz) through the years has definitely been inspirational, not just through WimBiz, but also as an individual.

This was me at the end of the 2nd day. I really need to give this top a rest, but as I said in my previous post, I wear my clothes till they are used and abused!!! This isn’t the last of the tangerine dream! Lol

My Mum and Mrs Zaccheus.

Members of the WimBiz team, speakers and Bolanle Awe (in green).

xXx

Ps: I’m STILL bummed that I missed the last days event.

Pps: If you’ve never been for a WimBiz event (and can afford to go for one), I strongly suggest you do. It urges one to go above and beyond. It’s open to men too so guys, don’t feel intimidated!

Day 3: LFDW

Without a doubt, the Day 3 schedule at LFDW was my best yet! Grey and Jewel By Lisa were showing and their collections were fantastic. JBL was sweet enough to let me take backstage photos of her collection and best believe when her run through was in progress, everyone and everything else was brought to a standstill. Contrary to what was expected of a top designer, she came off as really lovely and her collection was even more spectacular in reality that it appears in pictures (if that’s even possible). The pieces were heavily beaded and intricate with blocks of black separating the fireworks of colours. They worked wonders on the eye and it was obvious they were worth every penny charged.

I didn’t see much of the Grey collection pre-runway; however I caught the entire collection in the evening and my God was it outstanding! Their complete collection was very rich, extremely simple and gracefully feminine. It was right up my alley with every piece bringing my heart to a satisfying beam. Courtesy of my new friend Adeola, I was introduced to Obi, one of the Grey designers, and then caught up with him after the show. He was refreshingly well mannered and even agreed to take a picture with me.

Jewel By Lisa used almost all the models. Quick changes were crazy!!!

House of Tara did all the makeup. They are amazing artists!

The Grey Show

One of the guests at the show
Day 3 was so hectic, I had to call Wura (far right) to help out. Ohh and Daniella (2nd from the left) was in town 😀

We found Iyun (far right)

IamISIGO designer. Loved her outfit…. and that nail polish, *sigh* Love!

Grey designer, Obi and I.

From here on, I take no credit for the pictures.

This was my favourite Grey outfit…. Amazing! The tailoring was very well executed I’m almost tempted to call it ‘craftsmanship’… Totally awesome! The model appeared to be walking funny, however it was due to no fault of hers. There was a wardrobe malfunction backstage and she held it together very well. Great job!