RABBIT'S FOOT FOR A STARTER

by ene ijato - December 12, 2016

PERSONAL

There’s often this belief that people indulge, a sheer desire for hope or something alike to it. Be it a talisman, medallion, or a rabbit’s foot. I shall be pardoned of this fetish which although is very much figurative as I do not carry a severed rabbit’s foot in my purse.

In the craze of the ever-evolving fashion industry, I have come to duly realize I belong in this category –a starter. Not in my love for fashion or the intricate eye with which I regard fabric and any form of aesthetics truest to me, but in my ability to share it with an audience larger than the people I get to meet every day.

I’m I one of those people who make passive comments on fashion taboos committed by random strangers? Yes everyone, I am.

Clothing, has for me been an integral part of my life. My mother says I began stitching together fabric at the age of two, although I think four is probably much closer to the truth.

Regarding my sense of style, I think I have always been one to experiment. I never passed through the all-pink phase, in fact the very first Christmas dress I had the pleasure of picking out myself (you know, the one with the hat, purse and waistcoat ensemble) was a torturing yellow and cream with a generosity of lace and satin. The five-year-old me was very pleased with it that she didn’t take it off until the morning after Christmas. And that remains one of the only two dresses I ever bought for Christmas (it gets tiring being told to close your legs and sit properly or having to gather the fullness of it while chasing neighbours down the streets in a game of ice and water).

Coming down to the logistics of this though, it is quite a hassle figuring out personal style, identifying with quality brands and finding originality and comfort in fashion as a package. I know, it is an overused reference, the idea that looks garner a first impression but it doesn’t make it any less true. Regardless of whether you’re into fashion or not, or even come to regard the idea that you possess somewhat of a personal style, what you wear is an echo of your personality and creativity.

There is nothing that reflects a person’s lifestyle and sense of originality as much as what they clothe themselves in.

To a lot of people, I come across as the bookish girl who likes to “cover-up”. I believe so much in the truth that our environment influences us to a default and there is only so much one can do growing up in the northern part of Nigeria. But consequently, I have also been labelled as some sort of rebel and perhaps I do not dispute this and perhaps also own it. I therefore am a self-proclaimed fashion-prude (one who likes to cover up) who tweaks every bit of this label and still manages to remain under its umbrella.

So, I’m advertently supposed to promise you an eye sate of fashion through my eyes and mind, also indulging you in my convoluted thoughts, but honestly who would believe the honest promise of a stranger? Nevertheless, I do sincerely give you my word that I will share fashion with you in my perspective and you will get the chance to indulge or not to.

In the end, I sit by my computer, with the characteristic northern heat hanging in the air around me and I write hoping my paradoxical rabbit’s foot comes through.

Shooting street style in the streets of Minna can be surmised to meaning being categorically examined like the ekuku masquerade in rural Benue by a first timer. The array of responses was charming to say the least, ranging from surprise to utter fascination, to disapproval at such audacity, lol.

Ladies and gentlemen: I’m an unapologetic fashion lunatic, sanity is overrated anyway. ***