IamISIGO – Bonita Valli

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!

My favourite Jewel By Lisa outfit.xXx

Ps: I’m ill 😦

Pps: Call up letter’s out tomorrow. Eeek!!!

Style House Files presented the first Lagos Fashion and Design Week sponsored by MTN. The show ran from Wednesday the 26th to Saturday the 29th and seeing as I was interning backstage as well as front house for the duration of the event, I experienced a lot of drama and was under immense pressure.

Leading up to the event, I had showed up late at a briefing with Blow London, the PR team in charge of the event. This is because until the very last minute, I was uninformed about the time and date of the briefing. You can only imagine my fury to find that not only was I the last person to get there, but I was also the only one that was informed at the very last minute. All eyes were on me as I walked in and all talk about punctuality appeared to be directed towards me solely. From then on, I made up my mind that I’d do everything in my power to alter this perception.

On Wednesday the 26th we were all to arrive at the venue, Eko Hotel, at 9:00am prompt, however I showed up at 8:30am and my plan was already in full swing. Michael B from Blow PR told me just how impressed he was with my punctuality and as a result, I was made the coordinator of all interns backstage. Equipped with a walkie talkie and clipboard I started assigning interns to the various design teams.

Right before the show started, I was told that I’d be working front house as well as backstage as I would be calling the show assisted by John backstage, Ola the sound technician, Dada the lighting technician and Jenny, Darrell and Micheal the front house team. As you can imagine it was manic, there was tons of pressure and communication was key.

Nevertheless, I pulled off the job and still managed to get a good view of the show. I must say, I was particularly impressed by Phunk Afrique’s Collection. The splash of colour, the feminine maxi’s and the chiffon were all objects of my wardrobe fantasy.

My backstage Pass