Eki Orleans "SS12 'Nature's Serenity' Fashion collection in Johannesburg"

Here are some fashion model photo shoots from the fashion guru/designer, Hazel Aggrey- Orleans the creative force behind Orleans Designs, a new woman's wear and accessory label .Hazel Aggrey -Orleans is of Nigerian and German descent ,she does some mean West African Inspired "Afro Couture".

This particular collection dubbed the "Eki Orleans " SS12 'Nature's Serenity' collection"was recently showcased during the during the African Fashion Week at the Sandton Hotel ,in Johannesburg, South Africa .The collection was very well received and inspired by the turquoise lakes of Abraka combined with the plumaging of peacock feathers. ,



The designer Hazel Aggrey-Orleans has a love for nature, which comes out in the prints she designs.I will upload more photos as they come from the press agency.

Roberto Cavalli - Sloane Street Store Opening(London Fashion Week 2011)

Roberto Cavalli the celebrity favourite hosted a star- studded party to celebrate London Fashion Week and the opening of his new flagship store in London Sloane Street.

This store explains Eva Cavalli will allow the fashion brand to house their menswear, kids-wear as well as the womenswear prêt-a-porter collections, accessories, eyewear and watches.Heres the video:

Video Running order.

00:22 Ronnie Wood interview
00:28 Alex Shulman interview
00:33 Lady Victoria Hervey interview
00:41 Holly Valance interview
00:49 Eva Herzigova  interview
00:55 Yasmin interview
01:05 Roberto Cavalli interview
01:25 Eva Cavalli interview
01:30 Tamara Beckwith interview
01:42 Rosario Dawson interview

Exclusive Kate Moss Video At London Fashion Week 2011(Autumn & Winter)

Thanks to an exclusive content partnership agreement with Bespoke and Banter a video marketing agency, this blog brings you exclusive videos of Kate Moss at the Rimmel Party during the London fashion week 2011 -Autumn/Winter collections .The party was hosted by the brand Rimmel to celebrate ten years of Kate Moss's involvement with the popular make-up brand.Enjoy the exclusive shoot !

MISS NESTEA® KIBERA TO BE CROWNED SATURDAY

Nairobi: March 10^th, 2011: The ready-mix iced tea brand under the Nestlé stable, NESTEA® has entered into a partnership with ASHLEYS, the franchise owners of Miss World Kenya chapter to sponsor the 2011 Miss World Kenya. The pageant will be known as NESTEA® Miss World Kenya.

 

 

Miss Nestea Kibera finalists

At the same time NESTEA® is giving opportunities to underprivileged girls from across the country to participate in the NESTEA® Miss World Kenya beauty pageant. Starting March 12, with the crowning of NESTEA® Miss Kibera 2011, NESTEA® will launch a countrywide head hunt for four young underprivileged ladies who will get direct entry into the finals of NESTEA® Miss World Kenya 2011.

“NESTEA® aims to give young women from a less privileged background who meets the criteria of the pageant to participate in the process. This is a life changing opportunity for any one girl, regardless of her back ground or her socio-economic status” said Guenter Spiess, Business Executive Manager - Coffee & Beverages, Nestlé Equatorial Africa Region.

The recruitment for Miss NESTEA® will take place during the NESTEA® road shows to be held in Kibera, Kayole, Kwangware, Githurai, Thika, Machakos, Mombasa, Narok, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisumu and Kisii as indicated in the route map below.

NESTEA ROUTE MAP
1	12th March 2011	Kibera Grounds
2	19th March 2011	Thika
3	26th March 2011	Kayole
4	2nd April 2011	Kawangware
5	9th  April 2011	Githurai
6	16th  April 2011	Machakos
7	23rd April 2011	Mombasa Public Beach
8	30th  April 2011	Mombasa Chinaina
9	7th May, 2011	Narok
10	7th May, 2011	Nakuru
11	7th May, 2011	Eldoret
12	7th May, 2011	Kisumu
13	7th May, 2011	Kisii

From each of the thirteen locations, one girl will be crowned. Four out of the 13 Miss NESTEA® from the 13 locations will then be selected to attend a two day Nestea Workshop & Mentorship in Nairobi conducted by grooming, etiquette and public presentation experts. These four will then join the NESTEA® Miss World Kenya 2011 finals in August and get a chance to be crowned Miss Kenya and later Miss World. 

“We are not looking at how sophisticated the girls are and that is why we are conducting the head hunts from places like Kibera.  They just need to believe in themselves and meet the selection criteria such as the age limits and the minimum height requirement then they can show up at the events.  NESTEA® will show them how to wear makeup, do their hair, dress them up and give them a chance to be Miss World Kenya and change their world,” Mr. Spiess said.

The contestants will be required to be between 17 and 24 years of age, be of good height (at least 5’’7ft) and be of good dental health.  Weights will also be checked. 

“We want to make the participation to Miss NESTEA affordable to everyone,” Mr. Spiess said. “NESTEA® is retailing at prices as low as Ksh5 a sachet and contestants only need 5 sachets of NESTEA in order to enter the Miss NESTEA competition. Our intention is to make NESTEA® a grass root product, enjoyed by everyone, at any time.”

Natasha Metto, Miss World Kenya 2010 and Guenter Spiess, Business Executive Manager Nestlé EAR, crown Linda Kavetsa as the new Miss Nestea Kibera

Alongside the head hunt for Miss NESTEA® , ASHLEYS will be conducting separate auditions in the 8 provinces to select three finalists from each province who will proceed to the next elimination stage where 20 contestants will be selected to join the Miss World Kenya boot camp.

African Fashion and Photography Blog

I have stumbled upon an Afrocentric fashion and photography blog that is truly iconic that i wish to share with my readership.For quite some time now ,i have been highlighting the absence of good Kenyan fashion blogs but it seems i have been looking in the wrong direction.There's a personal blog written by an alias "Warm Spirit" at makosewe.blogspot that features quality delightful African fashion ,African model shoots etc.

I hope more such quality blogs sprout up so that we can have more Kenyan presence out there in the online fashion world .For today the makosewe blog scores an A+ for Kenyan fashion and photography at this blog!

Here is a screen shot :

And wonderful photos from the site:

African Art,Jewellery & Clothing

Without doubt the African continent is rich in art,Jewelery, Fashion,bead work,figurines, Masks, medieval currency,notes,coins,artifacts, ornamental wears ...etc.The list is quite inexhaustible yet few of this items are finding exposure online.Speaking of Kenya its only recently that i critiqued our fashion industry for a lacklustre presence online(see the post).Today i decided to do a Google search on African Art, Jewelery and Clothing.However the results from the various websites were not pleasing, consequently i am off on a venture to create an African Fashion website where one can shop confidently online.So far most of the sites  are selling African items listed on Amazon, there are no shopping carts nor options to purchase via credit cards.

I found one site to be pretty impressive and authoritative.The site is Africa and More.Com .The site has a wonderful array of indigenous African Masks, Statues,Weapons, Iron and Bronze works,textiles, Jewelery and bead work. I  highly recommend it.

There is a lot of potential for African Art and artists online.Website owners should invest in robust web templates and shopping platforms. In this post i highlight some African Artifacts that can  be bought online, including Kente Shirts, African Drums ,Oil Paintings...etc all this from Afriboutik webstore....

African Bracelet: BVB   


African Dress Shirt (GH)



African Oil painting: African Sait (40 x 20)






African Kente Hat


African Lady Kente Suit


African Dashiki (DS4)


African Man Shirt (TRD)



African Man Traditional Suit (1)



African Mask: Bongo Guy



African Mask: Donkor Ahofefe



African Mask: Sika Baa


African Necklace: Designer (1)


African Necklace: Designer (10)



African Mother Drum


African Men Shirt (GHN)

Fashion Blogs-Kenya ?

Surprisingly Kenyans lack ideas on what to blog about whereas there is so much potential in the various spheres of life. Today i Googled Three terms just in order to gauge what we may be blogging about i.e:

1. Fashion Blogs Kenya
2. Fashion Blogs Nigeria
3. Fashion Blogs Africa

Of the three terms the results coming from Nigeria were impressive. Well for some time i have been acquainted with Bella Naija's fashion blog , so successful was her blogging that she now has a self hosted weblog.Nigeria has a couple of well published and well read fashion blogs, Googling the term yields several credible pages. Popular Nigerian fashion blogs include:

1.  LadyBrille Nigeria ( the site comes complete with a magazine and glossy images)
2. Niaja Gal   the site featurs fashion, entertainment and technology
3. Aramide Blogspot( feauturing authentic west African Chitenge designs and the likes)

The same cannot really be said about Kenya.Perhaps the fashion guru's should take up on the online media and blogging. Without doubt many people read blogs and social media is selling more fashion  than any other media in the developed world.Its time we joined the bandwagon.

The closest i came to a fashion blog with credentials resembling a Kenyan site was a word-press themed blog named KenyaStyle  which apparently was not even being written by a Kenyan and has nothing to do with Kenya.I am yet to see an impressive Kenyan fashion website/blog  with a Women’s Clothing Catalogue such as on  the displayed link.This especially so for the plus size women.Perhaps that's something Kenya's aspiring  fashion bloggers should look up to.But for now our fashion industry's presence on the World Wide Web is scanty,hardly felt and desperately needs to develop.

Guide to Buying Women Swimwear

Many women fear venturing into pools or going down to the beach not because they don't know how to swim or they don't love to swim ,but because of fear of being invited to swim when they hardly have appropriate swim wear. And this happens often notwithstanding the size ,shape or morphology of the lady!

I have just landed on a women swimsuits buying guide up at shop wiki and the information it contains would put most women at rest.The site has advice on what each woman should consider:

• before buying swim wear
• by prints(i.e the style patterns)
  
• by style(tankinis, bikinis ...etc)
  
• by body type( i.e large waist,small chest,large chest,large hips,short torso etc)
• by material (i.e cotton ,spandex, nylon etc)

The tips are particularly useful.But SHOPWIKI.CO.UK has more than swim wear it also has a guide on women spring style clothing,summer style clothing(very impressive top picks for 2009)
winter style guide, autumn style guides etc.The site is the ultimate shopping forum for the latest fashion trend for women.With more than 30,000 stores you hardly can be disappointed .Hence ,kindly give the site a visit for great shopping deals this summer!

Finding Clothes for Plus Size Women!

Talking about weight... womens weight is an enigma and mine field of sorts! Most often because plus size women feel uncomfortable about their looks and count loose comments as critiscism of the highest order! But today i stumbled upon a site that has Plus Size Catalogue that is simply amazing and would make most women who feel they have alot look fashionable, beautiful and most interesting! The site is http://www.simplybe.co.uk/shop/?. Edging closer to summer the site has beautiful and colorful summer wear that would leave most plus sized women looking absolutely gorgeous!

The price range from British pounds 10 to 200! which i believe is affordable even in this recession period! The below dresses which range for below 30 pounds just illustrate how beautiful a plus size woman can be with the right kind of clothes and accessories!

I have sisters,friends and relatives whom the above site would be a ready resource both locally and abroad and so im off to email them on my new find! For plus size lingerie and sports wear the site also has an impressive array of products together with accesories!

The jeans category is also impressive with different designer brands on different types of Jeans, flared type, carpenters, embroidered wide leg, boot cut, wide leg jeans etc ! The site is worth a visit even if one is not purchasing, one can learn on the latest fashion trends!Visit today !15% off perfume

All Into Looks-Look of the Year Website

I just came across an interesting website that has an interesting offer for all those young,beautiful, vivacious, curvaceous models aspiring for an international well paying career.And its so easy to join! all you need is the photos and to upload then wait for the scouts to see your profile!

The look of the year portal at http://www.lookoftheyear.com is the latest way to get recognized, winning a 10.000 USD price or get spotted by an agency for model career. Look Of The Year are looking for people from all over the world to send in their best pictures so use this chance to be the next model working in Paris, New York or Milan.

If modeling is your forte and you have the looks, the structure and the determination and or are tired of going for all those beauty contests without any major breakthrough -Join Look of the Year today and start your new life together with beautiful people from all over the world.
The site is not limited to Americans, but Kenyans, South Africans etc ...just take the chance!Thats the beauty of the internet and online auditions