Little Things

Being totally involved and bombarded by  life's 'normalcy' may lead to loss of attention to beautiful things around us. Taking a different point of view. We live in an exotic, city! The richly colored trees, the blue skies, the moving clouds, the flowers... I could go on and on, life really is beautiful.

I believe in the importance of being grateful to experience the beauty of the little things around us. It makes life so much more bearable and even as sources of inspiration. 

I am still very much into Maasai inspired neck pieces, this color is just so yummy! and blends in with the summer feel of the skirt. Also, it adds a little brightness to even the dullest of days ;)

Every new day is a gift, take notice of all the beautiful things around you!

 And stay happy!

Happy thanksgiving!

Miss Vavavum

Xx

At Nairobi Fashion Market

Ahh... The Nairobi Fashion Market... brings back some great memories, young and hungry, chasing after my fashion dream backed with nothing but willingness, focus and a passion for fashion. This was some 3 years back, I landed my first ever style gig at this event, a good story for another day!
Well this past event was no different, this time still very much filled and driven by my passion for fashion, A LOT more knowledge, valuable experience and a dire need to do my best to build the fashion industry.I spent most of my time hunting for designers, my goodness we have great talent in this country!
It was great to be back, mixing work and play-life's little joys ;)

Checking in to the event with my younger sister

Racks and racks of clothes- so much color and prints ;)

the runway

The weather was rather dull on this particular day, but fortunately the sun made a brief appearance. I opted for a monochrome look with a touch of culture, while my sister looked absolutely yummy in orange skirt + black high neck top (side note isn't her neck piece stunning?!)

Miss Vavavum

Xx

Material Girl in A Digital World

I love fashion, I love the limitlessness of creativity that comes with it, I love to combine colors and textures, I love to put different pieces together to portray a message, I love to feel pretty, I love to study and peruse trends- to decide what's worth following or not, I love to see designers create magnificent couture pieces, I love watching and putting together  different fabrics combined to create magnificent style pieces! And most of all I love the digital world for giving me all these on my finger tips.

 I love my adventures in the digital fashion jungle, style surfing, style conversing, style tweeting, style messages and my favorite- style-gramming!

Live,love fashion

Miss Vavavum

Xx

#OwnYourCulture

You’ve probably seen me around with this neck piece, that I wear literally everywhere! Save for official meetings. I started wearing this at the F.A.F.A back in May, I needed to  add that ‘vavavum’ to my outfit so I purchased this piece first thing that morning.

Slowly It wore on, In the spirit of getting creative with my outfits, I pair this Maasai piece with my basics to create that ’vavavum’ and also, I don’t need to shop that often I now have a hundred other ways to pair my outfits ;)

The basic white shirt and denim pants worn with a pair of strapped pumps

This was originally inspired by a certain South African style blog that I peruse (read stalk) every now and then. It’s funny this thing of humanity, we almost never want to appreciate our own… this piece is a gem elsewhere yet here it’s just that pretty thing won by the Nilotic community.

There has been a lot of debate about what African fashion is about especially at the recently concluded Storymoja Festival. This is somewhat my own little way of owning my culture an wearing it proud J

I appreciate the aesthetic, the colors (I have thing for bright colors) and the fact that it elevates even my blandest of outfits to a style item!

And it goes equally well with bright colored outfits, I used it here to break the monotony of the bright colors

How do you wear your maasai piece? Tag me on instagram/ twitter with #VavavumMaasai

I'd love to see how you style your pieces! Let me know on Twitter/Instagram with the tag #VavavumMaasai or #OwnYourCulture

Miss Vavavum

Xx

Kurlly Diaries Meet up

Sometime ago, I attended  a meet-up for one of the Natural Hair groups I'm part of. We were celebrating a year of sisterhood and the beauty and diversity of natural hair.This happened last month at the San Valencia Restaurant.That week, I was the laughing stock among my friends and family whenever I revealed my weekend plan. It was an interesting get together, met so many beautiful  ladies wearing their afros in different styles. We shared, laughed and had a great time!
Some of the products for natural hair,

 Photos by Sienna of Thread Muse Blog

Myself with the lovely Sienna

Made some new Kurlly friends,

 My outfit, I love this Maasai piece! It's just right with everything I own!I intend to wear this Maasai piece with just about all my outfits until I see it being widely appreciated ;)

Have a fabulous weekend!

Miss Vavavum

Xx

WHAT SAY YOU? A StoryMoja Discussion

What first comes into your mind when you hear descriptions about youth? A lot has been labeled on this group of people: engaging in careless sex, frivolous spenders or wanting that get-rich-quick life, drug addicts unemployment and so on. But the question begs: Is that our identity as the youth?   Are they completely limited to the title and shenanigans of immorality and hopelessness?

Do we as youth deserve this label? Is it completely true? Is that all we are? Are we forever doomed to that title? Is there something we can do to change this?

In a bid to answer these pressing questions I sought the good old dictionary and this is the definition

Youth: young people considered as a group.

Obviously I fall into this age group; I am not here to judge but to simply air my views and observations.

In my opinion I see youth as an opportune moment of potential, talent, strength and vigor. Youth is a time when life’s most crucial decisions are made: career, long time life plans and so on. To me young people are brilliant gold mines waiting to be dug: the ideas they have, the creativity and enthusiasm for life: great tools to build any nation. This is especially so for us tech savvy people (if you are reading this you are too) We have tons and tons of information online, we are connected with each other all over the world = able to see and be inspired by the great innovations going on elsewhere.  When we look around especially if you live in Africa, there is so much we can innovate/create/ provide service as youth to better ourselves and the economy.

I believe anyone who lives in Africa especially in this digital era is capable of bringing great change to this continent.  I look around me and I always see potential, job opportunities, innovation opportunities. 

I do  A LOT  of research online I have a knack of knowing things. I look at other continents and see people as old as I am creating the Tumblrs etc ; my question is, what stops us from innovating? We are equally intelligent and capable and I dare say have even more opportunities to invent and create things here.

To me the label placed on the youth is just a label, there are some facts that are true but in the end, it is just a label. This label does not stop you or me from being amazingly awesome in our respective fields.

Let us not live in this mediocrity just because it is the the status quo it does not completely mean that is what we should adhere to.

I’d love to know, who are the youth to you? Is the above described titles befitting? How are you making a difference?
Join me this Friday from 5PM at the Storymoja offices in Springvalley as we carry on this discussion.

PAPER LOVE

All through my life I've had a thing for doodling on any written material I own, this piece is actually a re-make of one of the things I used to scribble on my notebook some 10 years back.

See the original piece Miss Vavavum fashion at 10 years 

Have you used uberduka.com I would love to know your experience!

                                                                     Miss Vavavum

Xx

Blankets & Wine 54

Day in day out I am always excited about the opportunities/ lessons each waking moment brings. One thing is for sure, the more days go by, the more exciting things I come across. I am always excited to see people who push boundaries in order to grow/ challenge the status quo(within legal and moral lines). Exactly 2 weeks back, I attended the  54th edition of Blankets & Wine. Which btw has a whole new exciting look to It(such are the things that excite me, going that extra mile, it's refreshing and inspiring)I was amazed by the new look, the addition of the new platforms especially the Art & fashion hive clinched my right spot!(obviously)

The event has added new segments such as the Art Hive whereby amazing artists showcase their items.

The Fashion Art Hive

 Funky T-shirts by Chilli Mango

How innovative is this?

The Children's play area

 The PAWA 254 segment that showcases top films from around,

The stage area where live bands play, you may still carry your picnic and shuka like old times

 I absolutely loved this ensemble on Wendy Kimani!

Myself and my current obsession, the Maasai neckpiece. You see, let me just explain myself, this absolutely stunning piece turns even the blandest of my outfits to an absolutely cool ensemble. Given that this particular Sunday was rather dull(translating to layering of clothes) I settled for this heavy denim on denim look and my lovely Maasai piece to add that 'vavavum' ;)

The beauty is always in the little details

There were breaks in between performances to enable people move from one segment to another, If you consider yourself an enthusiast of both the performing and visual arts this is definitely the place for you- so much goodness to take in!

Spotted at the KWANI? stage, there was an ongoing reading and sale of selected books

Long live music!

 It's always a good time with Jack Rooster on the decks, this segment is completely dedicated to Afrohouse music, my other favorite ;)

With my soul sista :)

Catching performances in the evening

Clearly there is something for everyone to enjoy! Hope to meet some of you at the next event!

For my outfit details check out Uberduka.com

Have yourselves a super charged week!

Miss Vavavum

Xx