Exclusive! Bonang Matheba On Her Style, Beauty Tricks And African Fashion

Bonang Matheba is that girl from the block who just loves to have fun. The best part is she is doing just that and winning as well.

The style star was in town for a while for the just concluded The Future Awards Africa and The September Standard met up with her at the Zazaii store in Victoria Island for an exclusive chat.

The Queen B of Africa talked about her style, core beauty tricks and African fashion amongst other things.

Describe your style.

I’m very glamorous, incredibly simple and I’m a big red carpet girl. I call myself the red carpet Queen of Africa because that’s where I really shine. That’s what I enjoy- putting on the hair, the dress, the make-up, the dress and the accessories. But my style is always just very simple and I love accessories but I also like simplistic timeless pieces. Very high glam but always very simple.

What are your basic Style tricks?

I always say when your hair is well done and kept, everything else looks neat. Your face looks neat, your outfit looks better. And it’s so simple, as soon as your hair is done, your outfit looks fantastic.

Also keep it quite simple, don’t overdo it. A pair of stags would be fantastic with a gorgeous dress. Don’t overcomplicate it or else you’d start looking like a circus.

“Gosh! I’m very glamorous, incredibly simple and I’m a big red carpet girl”

You are signed to REVLON, are they responsible for your glam looks?

Yes, They are. They do all my makeup for all my red-carpet events. I have been with them for two years and my relationship with them is so continual. I am the only Revlon ambassador outside of the USA and the only African ambassador, that’s really really cool. They take such great pride in making sure that I look good wherever I go and I really owe them quite a lot.

If you were to give out quick beauty tips on how you stay glam, what would they be?

Drink lots of water! I drink lots of water. I think in order for your makeup to look beautiful, your skin underneath needs to be beautiful and your skin would only look beautiful if your body is beautiful and if you are healthy.

So it kind of has to go all the way back which is; eat right, make sure you use a lot of sunscreen, drink lots of water, never sleep with makeup ON and you would see the change in your makeup and your skin.

And once your skin is good, everything else looks quite incredible and clean. It looks finished but you have to take care of yourself first. I think you can see a woman that is glowing, beautiful and you love, that means she’s really taking care of herself and it has to start from the inside.

Makeup can cover it but in order for it to look a little bit extra stunning, it has to start from the inside.

“But if all else fails, you can never go wrong with a crisp white shirt, blue jeans, your hair pulled back into a pony and red lips.”

Your outfits at The Future Awards Africa were so stunning…

Thank you! I had three. The first one I was wearing was made by a South African designer, Gert Johan-Coetzee. I’ve been the face of his line for almost five years now.

He does all my red-carpet looks. If you go through my instagram, you would see every single one of the incredible looks he’s put together. Two weeks ago, I won the South African Style Icon awards and he played a very big part in it.

Then I thought, I’m in Nigeria, why not look out for any fabulous Nigerian design I could find. Hence my second outfit which was by Lanre Da-Silva Ajayi- who is incredible. She made me the most beautiful Ankara dress.

The last one was April by Kunbi and I thought, ‘well I’m here and I’m just going to fall in love with Nigerian designs and fashion. The girls in Nigeria are very fashionable. Fashion is a big part of life here, thats why I love this place.

All three of the gowns were fantastic. LDA‘s a lot of people loved as they’ve never seen me in Ankara before and that made me feel very different and really cool.

What do you think about African fashion. Is it evolving?

It is the scent of the world at the moment. I think everybody either wants to look African or use African print or accessories or are inspired by Africa.

That’s where we are right now. In terms of music and culture, we have the likes of Wizkid who are just blowing up across the world and Lupita Nyongo’o as well as Trevor Noah.

Everybody is looking to Africa for contents and they are really inspired by how we live our lives which is quite fascinating.

When you travel do you embrace the fashion culture out there?

No, I am an African girl and I will wear and look African everywhere I go. I love you Paris, France, it is amazing. I Love you America but everywhere I go I will always look like Boang and I don’t want to change because I have a disntinct way on how I want to look.

I would look around and admire how they interpret their fashion but at the end of the day I’m an African and it is African Fashion.

Click on the Gallery above for photos of her fun day at Zazaii.

TSS

Everything beautiful.