If there is anything that is universally true about Nigerians, it is that we are perpetually intrigued by our homegrown celebrities. Linda Ikeji and the thousands of other gossip blogs wouldn’t exist without the perpetual engine of celebrities that fuel them. We have all bought Alobam sweat shirts, screamed ‘I love you’ at Wizkid and bought vintage inspired sunglasses because Burnaboy wore them. We’ve also pushed our celebrities into starting some seriously dumb trends.
These are the worst of the worst of them.
WIZKID AND CARROT PANTS
Was there anything worse than going to UNILAG circa 2011 to 2012? Everywhere you looked, all the boys were wearing carrot jeans/pants, a horrifying trend that carried over from the US hip hop. We’re so glad that is over now.
HKN AND NOSE/FACE PIERCINGS
The HKN gang, the self imposed moniker for pop star Davido and his label mates have tried to push many awkward fashion trends on us but none as awks-inducing as Sina Rambo’s nose ring. We were only starting to get used to the idea when Davido joined in on it. Now, if we never have to see another Nigerian popstar with a nose ring, we’d be the happiest people in the world.
PHYNO’S ALOBAM STREETWEAR
Okay, we’ll be honest, Phyno turning his catchphrase ‘Alobam’ into a streetwear franchise was pretty genius. We were actually on that bandwagon till the illustrious sons of Aba and Owerri got their hands on it, and then we never wanted to see it. Ever again.
BURNA BOY’S INFATUATION WITH RETRO
We’ll give it to Burna Boy, he is a pretty stylish dude. He was the first Nigerian celebrity to really put his back into the retro trend and update it for the 21st century. If you ever felt pressured to buy a pair of vintage inspired eyewear then you have the big man to thank for that. But Burna took it a little too far when he went from retro-king to dressing like a prep school junior in knee high socks and dated backpacks. Then he took off the clothes altogether, a-la Fela. It really is never that serious.
FALZ AND HIS GLASSES
Part of Folarin Falana (aka Falz The Bahd Guy’s) musical persona is this ‘efiko’ appearance, preppy clothes, shoes, a lisp and glasses. Aint nothing wrong with that, except for the fact that Falz’s glasses all seem to be conspicuously missing their lenses. We feel very strongly about people pretending to be nerds when they’re not over here at The Other Style and hereby offer Falz a cease and desist, or the address of our optician. His choice.
REMEMBER WHEN D’BANJ TRIED TO GET US INTO KNEE HIGH SOCKS?
Never going to happen.
TOKE MAKINWA’S PERPETUAL FACEBEAT
A lot has been said about Toke Makinwa; some great, some not so much. While we admire her tenacity and innovation and the strides she has made as a person, we most certainly do not admire her perpetual facebeat. Have you ever seen Toke with less than an ounce of make up, ever? Toke has gotten so many facebeats that if she were our client, we’d legally advise her to sue for assault and battery.
DENCIA’S WHITENICIOUS
We thought about this one long and hard before deciding to put it on this list. Granted, Dencia’s whitenicious should get her own article but we would like to summarily state here that while it really isn’t her fault that the complex politics of race and colourism pressures our celebrities into lightening their skin. Trying to capitalize on that by creating a line of products is downright nasty. Girl, do better.
