What Chimamanda Adichie said about fashion

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has spoken up about how she proudly promotes her heritage through Nigerian brands.

While expressing her love for fashion in an interview with Folashade Samagbeyi, Chimamanda noted that she once felt pressured to pretend that she does not love fashion.

She stated that so many women in high-profile positions, pretend not to care about their looks in order to be taken seriously.

Chimamanda, however, revealed that at some point, she got tired of pretending and made a conscious decision to be publicly passionate about fashion to empower other women.

“For some people, liking fashion means you’re not a serious person. So I went through a period of pretending because I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer. I was also tired of pretending that I wasn’t interested in fashion, when in fact I was. I’m interested in hair and makeup, so I thought that if I talked about it publicly, other women like me would feel they didn’t have to pretend. Part of the reason I started talking about fashion is because many women who are into politics, who have ideas, also like fashion. Why should we pretend?,” she expressed.

The renowned author also opened up on her strategy of wearing Nigerian brands to showcase the nation’s talent.

“Choosing to wear mostly Nigerian brands, which I started doing a number of years ago, was something I did intentionally. For me, it is a kind of fashion nationalism. I’m fortunate to have this platform, and I’ve gotten to a point where foreign designers would send me clothes. So I thought it was a great opportunity to start wearing Nigerian brands. It’s just a subtle way of showing up for my people,” she said.