Happy Birthday to the Rising Star | Imade Ogbewi | Winner of the Nigeria's Next Super Model 2011

Happy Birthday to a young Nigeria who had made not just ISIS models proud but Africa as a continent….HAPPY BIRTHDAY IMADE IGBEWI! We at CatwalkExtra we salute you!

Imade @ Africa Fashion Week Jo'burg and Arise Magazine Fashion Week

The Making Of The Next Super Model “Imade Ogbewi”

Imade

She is surely a combination of beauty we can authoritatively declare that she has potential of becoming a world-class model and one of the best world. Apart from having a great body and a cute classic face, which makes her a gladiator while on the catwalk, she is versatile, sexy, confident, fresh, mature and unique.

She uses her sexy eyes to achieve anything in a picture while her confidence helps her to glow in depiction, Imade has never belittled by any setting, however big and elaborate.

Her body we discovered is delicate and right for her job as a model with her well shaped lags. She has perfect face features, which blends with her beauty and her extraordinary eyes to give her an ideal character.

Her smiles are not fake but, cute and always present a massage of warmth.

One will surely fine her perfect bone structure, good cheekbones and jaw line irresistible. She has a good walk, which is not just a strut but, very versatile.

Her strong personality separates her from most of her peers. She is not just a model, who is bubbly or clueless but, has good sense of humor.

At the Africa Fashion Week Jo’burg in South Africa Imade was amazing and liked by the audience.

This young and aspiring Nigerian is working hard to become one of the greatest that ever lived. She wants to outperform and even over-take the feats achieved by great models such as Naomi Campbell and our own Agbani Darego, who was once rated as the most beautiful woman in the World.

She is hot and also want to surpass the achievements of models such as Gisele, Karoline, Cindy, Tyra Banks, Hana Soukupova, Vlada and Tatiana.

Imade is Nigeria finesse any day any time.

   

Ciara Makes African Print Her Style

Shoes (Asos.com) Clutch (Asos.com) Bracelet (Nordstrom.com)  African print Skirt (Eshe & Dalia)

 This is what I think Miss Ciara should wear the day she decides to step out in print.  the last years Ciara has really worked on her image and tried to move a bit away from her tomboy-ish looks. She has a beautiful body and she's not afraid to show it. We know she loves everything short from skirts to shorts shorts. So this skirt from Eshe and Dalia (only 30 Euros) paired with a white shirt with black lapels would absolutely work on her curvacious body. By the way any of you fashionistas can also rock this look by clicking on the items above

Rapper Nas Rocking Akara Big Time

Nas rocking Akara big time

Rapper Nas aka God SON was the top of the world about his new upcoming collection, tenth studio album "Life Is Good" and his new outlook on life after splitting with singer and wife Kelis. The photo-shoot was styled by stylist to the stars June Ambrose. As soon as I saw this picture I know he was rocking an African print shirt and was praying to God that it was from an actual African designer. After a few minutes of digging I found out that the shirt was actually by designer Woolrich Woolen Mills. I really love the shirt on Nas.

It seems like he has not aged one bit. He looks like the same guy from 10 years ago.

 This shirt sells for a cool $195. What do you think about the look? Yay or next?

Mimi Lee London to Unveil its Showroom in Lagos this Saturday – Exclusive Details & Watch their Summer 2012 Collection TV Ad

Lagos fashionistas get your purses and your sky high stilettos ready for the official showroom launch of UK Based fashion brand – Mimi Lee London in Lekki, Lagos.

The fab event will kick off with a red carpet session at 12 Noon, then guests will head to Auto Lounge, Victoria Island, Lagos for an exclusive VVIP Party, where they will be entertained by raves of the moment – Davido, Chuddy K and Moblow and also sip on personalized Mimi Lee cocktails courtesy of Olmeca Tequila.

The brain behind the fashion house/its creative director - Mimi Hassan, is one designer who can proudly say some of the top Nigerian celebrities and socialites including Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, Omowunmi Akinnifesi, Goldie, Tiwa Savage and Eku Edewor. Many more have won her outfit and she promises that the showroom launch will be an exciting event for all.

This event is strictly by invitation, to attend, simply send an E-mail to abayomiusim@london.com. So call, text or ping your friends about all details and be sure to arrive early as there will be lots of camera men present to snap you and your friends in your stylish outfits.

TV Ad for MIMI LEE LONDON LAUNCH:

See you all there!

Date: Saturday 26th May 2012

Time: 12 Noon – 6 PM

Venue: 97, Ladipo Omotosho Cole Street off Mobolaji Johnson (Omorinle Johnson), Lekki Phase 1, Lekki, Lagos

The Rise of A Super Model: Nneka Edozie!

Nneka

Born in Holland both parents from Nigeria, it not every time you come across a female model standing tall and elegant at 6’1” an embodiment of pose, comportment, elegance and an aura of royalty.

Nneka is the picture that jumps to your mind when shopping for that charming face with class to grace your outfit on the runway.

This delectable hanger will give Tyra Banks a run for her money, this raw beauty is a catwalk personified.  

Nneka graceful smiles were best described by her peers “That her smile alone can make a lion smile.” Recently sign with Isis International a modeling agency in Nigeria, South Africa and New York is no doubt a good step for her career as a model.

At this year’s Africa Fashion Week London her name indeed will be in the lips of every fashion devotee. Come 3-4 of August 2012!

(BUFU) BY US FOR US: BLESSED CHILED CALLED 'ALEK WAK'

.Alek Wek

I wrote about models, fashion shows, new trend, designer’s and lot more but I was moved when I was writing this story about “diva’s of all diva’s” Alek Wak!

From Immigrate to Super Model Wak is just a normal girl, who came from Southern Africa Sudan, later left for London at the age of Fourteen rest was history.   

When Elle chose Alek Wek for the cover of their November 1997 issue, they were taking what many magazines considered a risk: a dark-skinned African girl on your cover did not, theoretically, sell issues. The result, however, was monumental reader response with letters-to-the-editor from women and men ecstatic about seeing the standards of beauty in fashion redefined.

.The African goddess: Alek Wek.

As Oprah commented when Alek appeared on her show, "If you'd been on the cover of a magazine when I was growing up, I would have had a different concept of who I was."

Born in Southern Sudan, Alek was raised as a part of the Dinka tribe. At fourteen the civil war forced her to flee to London with her younger sister, where they were later joined by their mother and siblings. It was in London, at a street fair, where Alek was discovered.

She launched a career in modeling that has since named her: "Model of the Decade" by trend-setting i-D magazine; one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" in May of 1999 as well as one of the "50 Most Influential Faces in Fashion" according to i-D and Frank magazines.

"I haven't seen anybody that interesting, that black and that beautiful in a long time," said Steven Meisel, who has photographed Alek for Vogue. This is the sentiment that continues to surround Alek. She is not just a black model, and not just a celebrity lending her name to a cause. Alek uses fashion as a vehicle to accomplish what she believes in, which has proven to benefit everyone.

Alek Wek's Career Highlights

NATIONALITY:     Sudanese

BIRTH DATE:        April 16, 1977

LIVES NOW:         New York, NY

STATUS:                Supermodel

KNOWN FOR:      Charity work, Hair, Legs

AGENCIES:           IMG, STORM, MEGA, UNIQUE, RICCARDO GAY MODEL

FRIENDS:             Edmundo Castillo, Natalia Vodianova, Iman, Tyson Beckford, Jade Parfitt, Tasha Tilberg, Michelle Alves, Mimi Roche

MODEL TURNED: Activist (Refugees Advisory Council), Actress (Four Feathers, 2002), Writer(Autobiography “Alek”, August 2007)

INTERESTS:           Music

In an i-D editorial, June 2009. Photographed by Amy Troost.

In a Japanese Vogue editorial, July 2009. Photographed by Josh Olins.

With Liya Kebede, Tyson Beckford, and designer Momo at the Africa Rising Festival in London, England, October 14, 2008.

In an i-D editorial, March 2009. Photographed by Solve Sundsbo.

Quoted:

 “I played the drums, then the piano . . . but now I'm really into my guitar.” —New York magazine

Alek Wek's Career Highlights

16 APR, 1977:        Born in Wau, Sudan

1991:                     Moves to England with her family to escape the civil war between the Sudan’s Muslim north and Christian south

1991:                     Wek’s father is killed, leaving her mother and nine children

1995:                     Discovered by a Model 1 scout Fiona Ellis at a party

1995:                     Appears in the music video for Tina Turner’s GoldenEy

1996:                     Signed to Ford Models

1996:                     Appears in the video for Janet Jackson’s Got ’Til It’s Gone

1997:                     Named Model of the Year by MTV

1997:                     Named Model of the Decade by i-D

FEB 1997:             Debuts on the runways for Alexander McQueen,

Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Ralph Lauren in Paris and New York

FEB 1997:             Walks during fall Fashion Week for names like Chanel, Dries Van Noten, Lagerfeld, and Vivienne Westwood in Paris

NOV 1997:           Appears on the cover of Elle

APR 1998:            Appears on the cover of i-D

1999:                     Featured in the Pirelli calendar

1999:                     Named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People

OCT 1999:            Appears on the cover of German Vogue

FEB 2000:             Closes the Yves Saint Laurent fall show in Paris

JUL 2000:             Appears on the cover of i-D

SEP 2000:             Appears on the cover of Essence

JAN 2001:            Opens the Valentino spring couture show in Paris

JAN 2001:            Opens the Christian Lacroix spring couture show in Paris

JAN 2001:            Opens the Yves Saint Laurent spring couture show in Paris

MAR 2001:          Closes the John Galliano fall show in Paris

SEP 2001:             Closes the Oscar de la Renta spring show in New York

OCT 2001:            Closes the Jean Paul Gaultier spring show in Paris

2002:                     Plays Sudanese princess Aquol in the film The Four Feathers

2002:                     Campaign for the Gap

JAN 2002:            Appears on the cover of British Vogue

JAN 2002:            Opens the Christian Lacroix spring couture show in Paris

JUL 2002:             Opens the Christian Lacroix fall couture show in Paris

JAN 2003:            Opens and closes the Christian Lacroix spring couture show in Paris

JAN 2003:            Opens the Ralph Rucci Chado spring couture show in Paris

JUN 2004:            Appears on the cover of Cosmopolitan

SEP 2004:             Opens the Fendi spring show in Milan

2005:                     Launches wek1933, a line of handbags named for the year of her father’s birth

2006:                     Print ads for Jones New York

FEB 2006:             Feature in Vogue about her choices in denim and her overall style

NOV 2006:           Nominated for Britain’s Model of the Year award alongside Erin O’Connor and Kate Moss (the latter won)

FEB 2007:             Closes the Diane Von Furstenberg show in New York

AUG 2007:           Releases an autobiography, Alek, in which she admits that some of her modeling work has had racist undertones

8 SEP, 2007:        Named Vogue's third best dressed of the week in a short Diane von Fustenburg

SEP 2007:            Appears on the cover of Ebony with Iman, Tyra Banks, and Kimora Lee

JAN 2008:            Walks the spring Christian Dior couture show in Paris

FEB 2008:             Walks the fall Diane von Furstenberg show in New York

MAY 2008:           Walks the resort Christian Dior show in New York

JUL 2008:             Featured in the all-black Italian Vogue issue, photographed by Steven Meisel

SEP 2008:             Closes the spring Aquascutum and Jasper Conran shows in London

FEB 2009:             Closes the fall Aquascutum show in London

JUN 2009:            Appears in i-D editorial, photographed by Amy Troost

JUL 2009:             Appears in Japanese Vogue editorial, photographed by Josh Olins

AUG 2010:           Appears in Dazed & Confused editorial, photographed by Roe Ethridge

2011:                     Appears in the summer issue of i-D , photographed by Matthew Stone

2012:                     Models for the Kenzo spring ad campaign

2012:                     Arise Magazine Fashion Week in Nigeria

Nigeria’s Next Super Model Season 6: Shades Of Me!

Nigeria’s Next Super Model (NNSM), has reached its climax with this year’s Season 6 tag: “SHADES OF ME”.

Nigeria’s Next Super Model which has been a success for the past 5 years and has shown to the world what Africa can do and why indeed we are called ‘the giant of Africa. NNSM, a product of Nigeria, made by Nigeria, produced by Nigeria and South Africa makes African soil one of the best in making “runway goddess’s”.

CEO and founder of Nigeria’s Next Super Model (NNSM), Joan Okorodudu, has made her marks in touching the lives of young girls who want to fulfill their dreams of becoming top models. Models like, Bunmi Ademokoya(winner of best model of the world 2007 at Istanbul, Turkey), Eunice Eyo, Aisha Bello, Claudia Adelu, Imade Igbawi , Sani Binta, Aisha olu, Tayo Ishola and Naomi Orji to mention just a few.

Models from ISIS modeling agency, which are mostly Nigeria’s Next Super Model products, has strut the runway from New York Fashion Week, London Fashion Week, Paris Fashion Week, DC Fashion Week, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week New York, Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Johannesburg, Africa Fashion Week Johannesburg, Arise Magazine Fashion Week Cape Town, Arise Magazine Fashion Week Nigeria and lots more to add to their list.

This year’s Nigeria’s Next Super Model casting will be held in for different states in Nigeria, from June to August.

The question is: NIGERIAN…Are you READY!  

(BUFU) BY US FOR US:THIS STORY IS DEDICATED TO AFRICA FASHION EDITORS,WRITERS AND PUBLISHERS OF FASHION MAGAZINES

BY: CEO FASHION NETWORK AFRICA

 I am excited about this story period! For once, Africa is being copied. Now you hear African inspired, tribal prints, and so many other names. We in Nigeria call it ankara. The runways all over the world are now full of the so-call

"African inspired clothes". However, Africans are not getting any credits at all. African magazines have promoted African designers for a long time, now magazines all over the world have jumped on the band wagon. Whether any one agrees or not, Africa has come of age when it comes to fashion and our African magazines have done a great job promoting African fashion.

We at Fashion Network Africa dedicates this story to the tenacity and audacity of our Africa fashion writers. There is something most definitely exciting about our continent.

From the scramble for Africa and the eventual partitioning of our continent, we are seeing a second scramble that might lead to a second portioning. Wake up Africa the labour of our heroes past must never be in vain. VIVA AFRICA THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES. LET US SUPPORT OUR OWN MAGAZINES, NEW AFRICA WOMAN, GLAM AND ESSENCE, FAB MAGAZINE, COMPLETE FASHION, TRUE LOVE, MANIA AND MANY MORE.

Agbani Darego: Grace To Grace

From left: Ojy , Oluchi and Agbani.

Miss World 2001 Agbani Darego graduates from NYU! Celebrates with Supermodel Friends Oluchi Orlandi & Ojy Okpe

Congrats to Agbani Darego, the beautiful beauty queen (Miss World 2001)/model/TV Presenter has just graduated from the prestigious New York University with a degree in Psychology.

When she won the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria title in 2001, Agbani was a student of Computer Science at the University of Port Harcourt. After her historic win at the Miss World pageant, she was thrust into the global limelight and enjoyed a successful career as a model including major campaigns for L’Oréal and other brands.

She re-enrolled in school at the New York University and has managed to balance her career with her studies.

This is the true definition of an Ideal woman. Congrats!

AFRICA FASHION WEEK LONDON (AFWL) CASTING 2012 BY ISIS MODELS

Africa Fashion Week London casting was not only a casting but was a platform for discovery  new faces stunning new female and men models all was a success.
London are you ready...Nigeria is coming!  

Taking Nigerian Fashion to the International Scene

...Renowned Label Lanre DaSilva Ajayi Debuts on Italian Online Fashion Retail Store

In the past 7 years, Lanre DaSilvaAjayi (LDA) founder of eponymous self-named design label has grown tremendously passionate for fashion. This has made the LDA brand stronger and the label a fashion favourite among the media, celebrities and fashion lovers.

On Friday 4th May 2012, Vogue Italia and Yoox.com‘s project - Discovered in Africa by Vogue Italia exclusively on Yoox.com, was brought to life and declared open for everyone to shop for beautiful collections by going directly to Yoox.com.

Franca Sozzani – Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia and Fashion for Development Goodwill Ambassador has the task to promote the development in emerging countries through fashion. The Fashion for Development initiative started in 1996 with the help of Bibi Russel (Former Bangladeshi Model) who launched a development campaign in the textile sector with the help of UNESCO, specifically to help female workers free themseles from poverty.

In January this year, Franca Sozzani visited Nigeria to create a network of small and medium-size businesses which would have not been feasible without the input and assistance of Kola Karim (CEO of Shoreline Energy International), a well meaning business man who facilitated that LDA be part of the Discovered in Africa by Vogue Italia project.

Italian online fashion retail store – Yoox.com and Vogue Italia have managed to raise awareness of young talents including LDA, who might otherwise have remained unknown to the international retail market by providing this unique business opportunity.

The combined project of Vogue Italia and Yoox.com - Discovered in Africa by Vogue Italia exclusively on Yoox.com will be featured in the May Edition of Vogue. Federico Marchetti (Founder/CEO, Yoox Group) said “It’s a great project, because we have a great person supervising it (Franca Sozzani). Our customers will be very much in love with some of the designer’s creations, because they are simply fantastic”

About Lanre DaSilva Ajayi

Nigerian Fashion Brand – LDA creates pieces that are unique in style and combines pattern, print, exquisite and even traditional fabrics to produce day wear, evening wear, gowns and cocktail dresses that bridge time and make the label successful. The brand has been featured in various African and international media including Vogue Black, ARISE Magazine, Daily Mail, Essence.com, WWD.com, ITN News, NTN24.com, ABCNews.com, Reuters UK and Centric/BET.

Celebrity Hairstylist, Vidal Sassoon Dies at Age 84

Vidal Sassoon

Legendary hairstylist responsible for pioneering the bob haircut, Vidal Sassoon, died in his home Wednesday at age 84, prompting the fashion and beauty world to mourn the death of the man known as the "Founder of Hairdressing."

According to The Los Angeles Times, Sassoon was found dead by authorities in his Mulholland Drive home in Los Angeles from natural causes. The cause of death was an unspecified illness, according to his family, who were by his side at his death. He was diagnosed in 2009 with leukemia and didn't announce his illness until 2011.

Sassoon was born in London and grew up in a Jewish orphanage with his brother when his single mother couldn't provide for them, according to an interview with The Telegraph in 2011.

"I was born in 1928 and by 1931 the Depression was beginning to mount. My father had left us, my brother, and myself. We were in Shepherd's Bush, but we were being evicted, we had nowhere to go," Sassoon told The Telegraph.

After fighting in the Israeli army, Sassoon worked as a "shampoo boy" at 14-years-old washing hair and mixing hair dye, according to the LA Times.

"The ammonia jar was kept locked up because if you spilled it, it would clean out the sinuses of the block, not just the salon," Sassoon told the New York Times in 1999.

His mother eventually coaxed him into working in hair for his career.

"I thought I'd be a soccer player but my mother said I should be a hairdresser, and, as often happens, the mother got her way," Sassoon told the AP in 2007.

Shortly after, he opened his first salon in London before eventually expanding to New York and moving to Los Angeles.

"When I first came into hair, women were coming in and you'd place a hat on their hair and you'd dress their hair around it," Sassoon said. "We learned to put discipline in the haircuts by using actual geometry, actual architectural shapes and bone structure. The cut had to be perfect and layered beautifully, so that when a woman shook it, it just fell back in."

This technique he described is exactly what he accomplished on Mia Farrow, when he chopped off her long hair for a shot bob cut for "Rosemary's Baby" in 1968. According to Marie Claire, thousands of women flocked to their hairdressers for a similar cut as Farrow's pixie crop.

"Her bone structure was beautiful. I told her that we had to go very short," he told The Telegraph.

In 1973, Sassoon struck a deal with Procter & Gamble to manufacture a line of eponymous hair products, which is now worth around $150 million dollars. His slogan? "If you don't look good, we don't look good." His empire eventually expanded to hair salons nationwide in addition to Vidal Sassoon Academies in England, United States and Canada and three books: "Sorry I Kept Your Waiting, Madam," "A Year of Beauty and Health" and "Cutting Hair the Vidal Sassoon Way."

In 2004, Sassoon reflected on his life working as a hairdresser, a profession which he calls "a wonderful breed."

"You work one-on-one with another human being and the object is to make them feel so much better and to look at themselves with a twinkle in their eye," he told the Chicago Tribune in 2004. "Work on their bone structure, the color, the cut, whatever, but when you've finished, you have an enormous sense of satisfaction."

Sassoon was the subject of a documentary in 2010, "Vidal Sassoon: The Movie," which chronicled his life and career from shampoo boy to hair empire.

Vidal Sassoon is survived by his fourth wife Ronnie and three of four - Catya died in 2002 of a heart attack - children.

Since word of his death began to spread, the fashion, hair and beauty community, along with countless other men and women who swear by the hair innovator, mourned the loss of the "Founder of Hairdressing."

"RIP Vidal Sasoon [sic]. We have lost another genius. You need to watch this documentary to understand his importance," Nina Garcia tweeted.

W Magazine tweeted a quote by the legendary Sassoon, "Longevity is a fleeting moment that lasts forever."

"The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. --RIP #vidal Sassoon," Ashley Jones tweeted.

‘What Is Sexy’ Victoria’s Secret named their sexy diva’s List 2012 Issued

Who better than a trio of sexy supermodels than to construct a list of the sexiest celebrities of the year? Lingerie retailer Victoria's Secret issued their annual "What is Sexy?" list for 2012 generated by Lindsay Ellingson, Doutzen Kroes and Erin Heatherton during the "What's Sexy Now" event in Beverly Hills, Calif. This week.

Ellingson, Kroes and Heatherton appeared at the event in a pink striped tent wearing long, flowy summer dresses and posed with Victoria's Secret products as photos were snapped. The trio also created a video released on Tuesday prior to the event delineating their celebrity picks, which ranges from overall sexy to the sexiest eyes to the sexiest mom.

The list of celebrity winners in categories are:

Sexiest Actress - Charlize Theron

Sexiest Legs - Stacy Keibler

Sexiest Bikini Body - Annalynne McCord

Sexiest Summer Style - Blake Lively

Sexiest Summer Hair - Ashley Benson

Sexiest Smile - Jessica Chastain

Sexiest Eyes - Jennifer Lawrence

Sexiest Lips - Amanda Seyfried

Sexiest Curves - Amber Heard

Sexiest Sense of Humor - Emma Stone

Sexiest TV Cast - Pretty Little Liars

Sexiest Mom - Beyonce

Sexiest Songstress - Britney Spears

Sexiest International Import - Diane Kruger

Sexiest Summer Glow - Olivia Wilde

Sexiest Cyber Star - Elin Kling of StylebyKling.com

Sexiest Up & Coming Knockout - Elizabeth Olsen

Sexiest Tweeter - Kristen Bell

In its seventh year, the annual "What Is Sexy" campaign serves not only to name the sexiest celebrities but as a way to introduce the "Summer Knockout" collection of lingerie, swimwear, beauty, clothing items and accessories. This year, the Limited Brands-owned company introduced the Victoria's Secret Knockout bra and a new fragrance, Victoria's Secret Bombshell The Summer Edition.

Models' catwalk catastrophe at New York Fashion Week

New York Fashion Week started with a bump for two models after they slipped over on the catwalk.

The first toppled while presenting a creation from the Herve Ledger by Max Azria.

.Knicker flash: The model lost control as she was on the catwalk

Her legs gave way and her arm shot up in the air as she tried to steady herself.

Onlookers then gasped as the poor girl ended up on the floor flashing her knickers in the process.

.Over and out: A second girl stumbled at the show

In similar calamity catwalk scenes, a second model crumbled at the same show after losing her balance in over-sized heals.

One kind-hearted bystander stepped in to help, but it was too late as the model looked dejected

Chanel Signs Brad Pitt as Face of No.5

Pitt with his wife

CHANEL’S NEW MAN: Brad Pitt’s certainly never been above plying his wares on Asian TV — remember the 2008 spot for Japanese denim brand Edwin Jeans, where he invited spectators to check out his backside, or perhaps the Wes Anderson-directed Japanese spot for Softbank mobile phones in which he resembled a giant banana? — but he’s now coming Stateside with his power of persuasion. Chanel confirmed Wednesday that it has signed the actor as the face of its No.5 fragrance. Over the years, Chanel has chosen a host of celebrity faces to front the 91-year-old scent — from Ali McGraw, Catherine Deneuve and Candice Bergen to Nicole Kidman, Audrey Tautou and Vanessa Paradis — but Pitt’s signing marks the first time a man has been tapped to represent the brand.