Celebrity Stylist Veronica Ebie shares Tiwa Savage’s Style Diaries.
Here goes.. Which one’s your favourite?

Long black/cream dress by Tsemaye Binitie.

Tiwa had a magazine photo shoot and the look was grown yet sexy, I feel a woman can be sexy without the clothing being tight or short so I styled her in a beautiful long dress by Tsemaye Binite and chose a partial up do to add a romantic look.

Jumpsuit by Phunkafrique

Tiwa had another photo shoot and I felt a jumpsuit would be another way to show sexy because of the side cut outs and I wanted it to reflect the 70′s.

Purple peter pan blouse and high waist wide leg Orange pants. Blouse by Re Bahia, and trousers by Zara.

Tiwa is the female host of Nigerian Idol and I wanted a clean straight silhouette and a short bob, reminiscent of the 60′s however with a modern twist by introducing the color block of the purple blouse and orange wide leg trousers.

White blouse and black tuxedo pants blouse by Mango and pants by Victoria Secrets.

I wanted Tiwa to be sexy with a masculine vibe, the inspiration came from Janet Jackson and Kelly Rowland and felt a strong up do would seal the overall ensemble.

No jewellery except for the cuffs because earrings would be a distraction and nude lips, blushed cheeks to keep the look clean and compliment the outfit.

Pink blouse& graphic draw string pants by Jewel By Lisa.

Tiwa had a tv interview recently and I decided to style her in soft feminine pieces and JBL has the perfect silk blouses with very little detail, along with silk draw string pants that would give her style and comfort all in one wear.

Turquoise top & skinny trousers by Grey Projects.

Tiwa loves colour and no one does it quite like Grey. I was drawn to the colour turquoise because it makes her skin glow, and felt a monochromatic ensemble would be best for a strong yet cool presence. For hair I wanted soft and straight and for accessories I kept it in the same colour code to play up the turquoise.

SHF Credits Veronica Ebie

Banke Kuku on Selfridges 4th Floor

BK (Banke Kuku) Textiles, creator of bespoke woven and printed fabrics for the fashion and interior industry can now be found nestled in Selfridges among other luxury lifestyle brands such as Missoni and DVF. A product range of 60cm x 60cm cousins/poofs are now available for purchase and on display in Selfridges Sleep Section on the departmental store’s 4th Floor.

The label’s Creative Director Banke Kuku studied Textile Design at Central St Martins and Chelsea Art College and has since collaborated with designers such as Duro Olowu, Jasmine di Milo and Jewel by Lisa.

BK Textiles is one of 10 designers set to feature at “Tales by Moonlight: A Fashion Folklore”,  a static exhibition presented by Style House Files at British Council and British Fashion Council’s International Fashion Showcase 2012.

SHF Credits Banke Kuku, Selfridges

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With a rapidly expanding industry comes the need to create new channels to meet increasing demand and supply rates across the world. Luxury and high street retailers alike are constantly on the look out for new potential markets to expand to. Middle East, Russia, Brazil, India and to a large extent, South Africa – all emerging fashion markets, have benefited from opening their fashion industries to the insatiable luxury goods industry. We’re optimistic that West Africa is gradually on the rise. You know the West African fashion industry is gradually becoming a destination when co- passengers on a Ghana bound flight includes Ozwald Boateng, Edun’s Ali Hewson and U2′s Bono; when opportunities for interaction and development for the industry is being facilitated by private companies like Shoreline Energy for the industry with Roberto Cavalli, Franca Sozzani and her Vogue Italia team.

The fashion grapevine is abuzz with talks of a luxury shopping district in Lagos an increase in number of high street franchises and the pertinent questions on everyone’s mind – are we there yet? (a country with a minimum wage of N18,000, a gradually growing middle class (23% of Nigeria’s population) and relatively less than 8% Upper Class); will the fashion Industry survive such an invasion? (an industry relatively still in its infancy, lacks infrastructure, highly fragmented but has the potential of being a major income earner for all across board if well regulated with necessary infrastructure in place).

The ‘steady’ rise in the emergence of a middle class has the potential to boost local and international demand for manufactured goods including fashion apparel.

While we ponder and deliberate, there’s definitely something in the air… a mixture of excitement and apprehension of what the future holds – a lot of planning, hard work, decision making, implementation and certainly, a lot of building! We’ve got to put our house in order and begin to position our home grown labels to be direct beneficiaries of such a revolution across board – mass market, high street and luxury. At SHF, we’ve got West Africa on our minds and Nigeria in particular. We are committed to promoting change through our little contributions to the socio-economic development of our Nation, with fashion as a tool. We are optimistic enough to believe that we can work towards achieving our goals and visions if they are well defined, articulated and most importantly, if we BUILD TOGETHER.

As an industry, our goals for the next 2 – 5 years should be:

• Increased recognition of home based designers
• Create increased demand for fashion apparel
• Provide infrastructure for supply to meet growing demand
• Existence of a unified body for fashion creatives
• Increased support from the Private Sector
• Measure the awareness of international fashion brands
• Create a high street out of the existing fashion industry

We believe an achievement of all the following goals will further strengthen the industry and gradually begin to position it and our designers for investment. Are you ready? We all have roles to play. Let’s be that change and build a sustainable fashion industry that can grow and develop other sectors of the economy.

Coming soon: SHF Salon

Date: February 9, 2012

For enquiries, please contact info@stylehousefiles.com

Add a high shine finish to your overall look this season. Gold and silver remains a seasonal favourite so you are bound to wear it over and over again.

This season, we’re having a crush on Zashadu’s TKO (TotalKnockout). It’s moss green with just the right dose of gilt – for me anyway!

Zashadu TKO

SHF Credits Zashadu Bags