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| Thank God for Press Passes Would not have paid N10k or N50k for tickets..No way! |
First of all my heart and thoughts go out to the people of Japan as they slowly come to terms with the carnage and loss of lives as a result of the Tsunami..May God rest the souls of your loved ones and grant Japan all that is required to get through this tough period...Japan, Seriously Doughnuts mourns with you..
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ARISE WISE... I promised you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth but I have been getting home pretty late everyday as the shows have been ending at the most unbelievably late times making it difficult to blog daily. So, my apologies once again for not being on top of things..but truth be told, I can’t wait for it to be OVER..these 12pm nights are just stealing my blog-life with you guys...*wink*, *wink*!
Anyway, here's a quick update...For me, the show has so far been a whirlwind of emotions..from THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY to THE MAGNIFICENT...OK, lets break it down...
THE GOOD thing about the Arise Fashion Week is the idea. It was billed to be the biggest Fashion Event ever featuring 50 African designers from around the world on Lagos soil. It bragged of bringing the creme de la creme of fashion and boasted of putting the FACE of AFRICAN fashion forward for all the world to see. It was advertised on CNN and Lagos was teased with what to expect as well as a list of delicious entertainers such as Dbanj, Estelle, Dare Art Alade to entertain.
Sounds great on paper right? Well the Day 2 of ARISE Fashion Week came and THE BAD face of the show started to surface..I got there early even though I was completely shattered, I didn’t want to miss a thing..Fashion-wise there would be no excuse for me to miss out on the biggest fashion party in Lagos..so I got there early, got our press passes sorted, camera, checks done we were ready to get ‘snap-happy’..The first show was billed to start at 11:00am but as time went on it was obvious that many things were not quite in order, news started streaming of Designers breaking down crying over the one issue or the other, from badly styled models to lack of organisation. No one knew where or who to go to for information. Many of the designers were in Nigeria for the first time and after flying for such long hours they were very unhappy about how things were being handled by a Team that appeared not to know what they were doing and as if that weren't bad enough, THE UGLY happened. The designers had been promised they could invite 20 of their guests FREE by sending through their names and email addresses which most did. Guests then received emails requesting they RSVP’d to secure their seats but once done, Guests then received another email stating that they would have to pay the sum of N10,000 per day to watch the shows or N50,000 for VIP tickets to see all shows.
This angered many fashionista guests as well as the designers who felt messed about by the ARISE team. While the die-hard decided to buy the tickets others were angered and decided to avoid the shows all together...
In fairness to the ARISE team, we hear that this was an 'after-thought' to manage a guest list that seemed to have gotten out of hands as everyone in Lagos wanted to be there!!!
So when the show finally started 3 hours late at around 2pm, it was sparsely attended. As you can imagine it started on a very low note..everyone seemed disappointed and as if things weren’t bad enough technical issues set in but the show went on..The models strolled in looking a bit 'suspect', makeup not great at all, styling very poor so I guess that’s why I wasn’t too impressed with some of the collections showed by the first few designers until WHAM!..THE MAGNIFICENT hit....I was completely wow’d by the collection showed by Fatima Aliyu Garba of HOUSE OF FARRAH and suddenly a ray of hope appeared and like magic the show suddenly picked up a high note...THE ARISE Team too seemed to be battling to get their act together and things started to shake up and shape up...and I'm so pleased to say that DAY 3 was even much better...
There is soooo much gist to cover but as I have to rush off now to get dressed for the final installment of the ARISE Fashion Week DAY 4..(Please God forgive me, I should be in Church!!!!)...I'll update y’all with all the goings on tomorrow, (BGG) from the ‘WOW Collections’ to the Award Winners, the gossip and the funky people that turned up..Honestly, it’ll be worth the wait..
As at yesterday...the Arise Fashion Week was like The Fashion Pearly Gates...!!!!
It was madness and a half...You need to see fashion statements represented by attendees..Trust me LAGOS peeps can floss joooo... As in, it was a Fashion war zone at the Federal Palace Hotel with FASHIONISTAS KILLING FASHIONISTAS WITH LOOKS!!!!!
If you plan to be there today...Do come with your 'Super - Groove' on otherwise you may become another FASHION CASUALTY ! As for me...I'm getting my Samantha Cole's on...Yep! Yep!
Have a great Sunday peeps...! Look out for the pictures coming soooon:)
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