The MAG weekly Blog by Lydia, every Friday at 1700 hrs. Nr 124 1st November 2024
Lydia's Weekly Lifestyle blog is for today's African girl, so no subject is taboo. My purpose is to share things that may interest today's African girl.
_This week's contributors: Lydia, Pépé Pépinière, this week's subjects: Ugo Monye: Redefining Urban Gentleman’s Fashion at Lagos Fashion Week 2024, The Jazz Club and Jazz, and Bold Restaurant _
Ugo Monye: Redefining Urban Gentleman’s Fashion at Lagos Fashion Week 2024. As the sun set over the vibrant city of Lagos, the capital of Afro-urban creativity and fashion, Lagos Fashion Week 2024 brought together a kaleidoscope of styles, innovation, and culture. At the heart of this year's event was none other than Ugo Monye, a visionary designer whose latest collection is swiftly redefining the essence of the urban gentleman.
A New Era of Urban Elegance: Ugo Monye has long been revered for his ability to marry traditional techniques with contemporary designs, and this season’s showcase was no exception. Inspired by the pulsating energy of Lagos and the multifaceted identity of modern men, Monye created a collection that celebrates individuality, confidence, and sophistication.
Craftsmanship meets contemporary design: One of the standout features of Monye's collection is his impeccable craftsmanship. The tailored silhouettes exuded a refined elegance that embraced the testaments of high fashion while ensuring practicality for the urban lifestyle. Think sharp suits that transition effortlessly from boardroom to an after-hours gathering. Luxe fabrics, including lightweight linens and richly coloured cotton blends adorned the runway, reflecting the diverse palette of Nigerian culture.
Bold Restaurant (12 Obenesu Cres, Cantonment, Accra). From the street it looks very inviting, and indeed it is a beautiful place. There is outdoors and indoors, and downstairs and upstairs. We asked for the menu but were directed to a QR code on the table. Personally I prefer a hardcopy menu and eventually I got one, but it didn't show the prices, except for some wines, ranging from GHC 1261 to 3950, cognac from GHC 1975 to 41080 (no typo) and Champagne for GHC 12612, excluding service 9% and taxes 21%. A mojito goes for GHC 133, a virgin pina colada for GHC 177 and a mini club for GHC 51. All plus that 30 %. They sell anything, ranging from milkshakes to pizzas, wagyu burgers, Korean chicken wings, quinoa crab, goat cheese salad, ravioli, what not, a sort of horn of plenty. We were given branded hand wipes with unknown ingredients, and then paper napkins. For the prices they were charging I would have expected cotton napkins. Within this plentiful offer I found it difficult to choose so I asked the waitress to suggest. Not only she could not, but she had the guts to whisper that now that I had a date with a white man (one of us was French) I should not disgrace the restaurant. I settled for fish and chips which was indeed a disgrace, the outside of the fish was nice and crunchy, the fish itself was without structure, the typical result of in and out of the freezer too often. Again, the chips were nice and crunchy on the outside (they do know how to fry), but on the inside was like soft boiled potato.
We also had a pizza which had a soft bottom rather than crispy, and a beef tenderloin which was tasty, but structureless like the fish.
The jollof was dry and salty.
The place seats at least 150, though I couldn't even count 30 on this Saturday evening. Music was not too loud and a mixture of Wendy Shay, Fameye, Kweku Yesu, Shatta Wale, Kweku Darlington, Stonebwoy, King Paluta, Kizz Daniel, Black Sherif, Beeztrap, Kweku Smoke, Samini and Amerado. Quite nice if you want to hear the top of what today's Ghanaian music has to offer.
No, I will not go back, the quality had no relation to the prices at all.
The Jazz Club and Jazz. +233 Jazz Club and Grill (Dr. Isert Street, North Ridge, opposite Ghana Broadcasting, (but you get there from the Alisa Hotel, down), Accra) only does jazz on Tuesdays, but recently outdid itself by having the Accra Jazz Academy perform on a Thursday.
The music was nice, with lots of local stuff, adopted. The problem is of course if it starts raining, which happens quite a lot in October, because you sit outside, but Apollo managed to reduce it to a few drops. Absolute star of the evening for me was jazz songstress Quayba (kwa-ba) with an impressive steady vocal range and a pair of lungs to support it. You can go far, Lady.
