Ayo ONIKOYI
It is not out of place for the rich and the famous to want to stand out in the crowd. If their breeding hasn’t bequeathed them enough reason, the social class they have attained surely compels them to be extraordinary in the way they are seen.
As one Yoruba adage confirms: The way we are seen is the way we are perceived. It is therefore of little wonder that a host of the rich and the famous gets almost fixated with the way they look. Some ‘break’ the banks to acquire all sorts of adornments to fit the perfect picture they have conjured of themselves. Others even go the extra mile of cultivating a style that not only becomes a symbol of their style but a personality that is unique to them.
Of course many will argue that style goes beyond one’s sense of fashion or outer appearance and that it is total combination of the way you dress, talk, move your body, or do anything for that matter. But for the purpose of this write-up, style would be confined to the outer appearance which project one’s personality.
Grace Egbagbe, Nike Akande, Erelu Dosunmi and Ita-Giwa
We have come to know some super-rich Nigerians who would not be caught dead in any other colour of dress except the white colour. In this regard the names like the Olori Omo Oba of Ijebu Land, Otunba Subomi Balogun and Erelu Dosunmu, Erelu Kuti come to mind.
Others have a thing for hats. Their dressing is never complete without a hat. Although there are quite a number of them who are not stereotypical about the way they dress but when they make appearance at events, they are sure to make heads turn.
It is just unbelievable how some have tamed nature to keep its ravage of time at bay to still look dashing. These are women in their sixties but the aura of style and glamour around them give them a look of a young girl just coming to her prime.
While one must accept that nature has been kind to a number of them, the role money, serious money spent to keep up the looks cannot be ignored. Here are some of the rich and famous who have got style about the way they are seen:
Otunba Subomi Balogun
It is nearly an impossible task to make a list of the richest people in Nigeria without the name of the Olori Omo Oba of Ijebu Land coming in at the apex of the lot. The High Chief who is known as the grandmaster of banking in Nigeria has come to show he is just as adept in matters of banking as he is with the way he looks. The Otunba is so unique with his sense of style that he stands out like a colossus he is at events.
He is a spectacle of royal splendour but what makes him unique is his love for the white colour. It is only on rare occasions that one sees the Otunba in suits attending to some businesses. Ordinarily, you can never see him adorning any colour but white. His love for the colour goes beyond his dresses. His cars, houses, shoes etc. are even white.
Erelu Abiola Dosunmu
Erelu Abiola Dosunmu, the 4th Erelu Kuti of Lagos, is a woman of substance whose sense of style brings out the glitzy side of combining traditional fashion with modern style. When it comes to colour, Erelu, like Otunba Subomi Balogun has a thing for the white colour.
Dr. Falomo, Amb. Hamzat , Atedo Peterside and Razak Okoya
She is one woman who can never be seen except in ‘all white’. If she must combine anything with white, then white must come as the dominating colour. Her style is so unique that she has been called the most stylish woman in the country.
Chief Rasaq Okoya
Top industrialist and chairman of Eleganza Group is not a man who is finicky about colours even though he might have a certain bias for the white colour but what is outstanding about his style is that whatever colour he chooses, it must rhyme with his shoe and hat.
This sense of style makes the billionaire look so elegant he cannot be missed at any function. If he is on white, it must be all white. If he is on grey, it must be all grey and surely the Lagos-born businessman favours flowing Agbadas.
Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande
Chief (Mrs) Nike Akande is one stylish woman who seems to have the right answer (what she wears) for every occasion. The two-time federal minister finds herself at home in both native and English gears.
Whether in her trademark business suit, iro and buba or even dinner gown, the board member of Harvard Business School Alumni Association is a knock-out anytime.
Ambassador Hamzat Ahmadu
Amb. Hamzat Ahmadu is not exactly a regular face on the social scene but when he does appear, he has a style that stands him out as a man who knows a thing or two about looking good even though the former ambassador to USSR, Germany, Netherlands, etc rarely adorns any other apparel other than Guinea brocades.
The director of Oceanic Bank Plc and MTN Nigeria seems to have a particular tailor who does the embroidery on his brocade garments because the designs wear almost the same well-laid outlines. Another thing is the cap which is always the same in design and outlook.
Hajia Abah Folawiyo
The wife of the Late Baba Adinni of Nigeria, Alhaji Iyanda Folawiyo, has got the right carriage, poise and even the credentials of a true fashionista. Perhaps her professional dept when it comes to fashion cannot permit her to stick to any particular sense of style because of various options available to her but whenever she rolls out, she cuts the picture of the fashion seamstress she is.
She has no biases: be it in colour or accessories. Whatever she decks, you can be sure you are seeing a mannequin dip in ointment even though she has just hit age 70.
Mr Biodun Shobanjo
It is not surprising that a man who made his millions as an advertising practitioner should know a thing or two about looking good. The chairman of Troyka Group hasn’t got any stereotype trait in his sense of style but when the occasion demands that the dress code should be super formal, you can almost predict that the CEO of the new [reality TV series] The Apprentice Africa, would come calling looking resplendent in his trademark bow-tie which he favours above every other type of ties.
Senator Florence Ita-Giwa
Mama Bakkasi as she is popularly known is one of Nigeria’s fashion icons. At over 60, she still spells glamour in any outfit she adorns, be it native or western. She is one of the most consistent trend setters to come out of Nigeria. The name Senator Ita-Giwa is synonymous with fashion, beauty, style and glamour in Nigeria as she has been riding the style circuit like a colossus for decades.
Chief Olu Falomo
Former Chairman of the Executive Council of the Nigerian Society for the Blind, Chief Olu Falomo is a popular face in the social circuit but what he is more popular for is his unique style of making dashing entrances in his flowing cut-to-fit Agbada embellished with the long traditional beads, usually laid out in two-folds to make what looks like two concentric circles of different circumferences.
Grace Egbagbe
Beautiful, chic and sophisticated, former NTA Director; Grace Egbagbe , is regarded as one of the foremost style icons in the country. Her sense of style has no decimal to it but whatever she wears, she brings to bare her high taste for prime fashion. Little wonder she emerged as Allure Style Icon 2009.
Be it native or western, Ms Zemaye Grace Egbgbe has a touch of class that is both captivating and alluring.
Atedo Peterside
Atedo Peterside, Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria Plc may not be a flamboyant dresser but he is a unique one whose sense of style has become trademark. Whatever the event might be, Mr Peterside does not compromise his ‘resource control’ outlook, perhaps showing off he is a proud Niger-Deltan.
Sade Okoya
The wife of billionaire industrialist Chief Rasaq Okoya, the owner of Eleganza Group of Companies, Shade Okoya, is a new arrival on the social scene but since she has found her way to the very heart of the scene, she has been glowing like emeralds in the dark.
Though she doesn’t seem to have any special knack for any special sense of style, what is clearly setting her aside as a style icon is her love for jewelries, which she puts to good effect. Whatever she wears seems to stick to her like gloves because she has a figure that seems to weave its way through any fabric. She is very beautiful and very stylish.
The list is endless. Chief (Mrs) Opral Benson, Nkiru Animudu, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Erelu Ojuolape Ojora, Dep. Governor Funmi Olayinka, to name just a few are people with dashing sense of style.
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