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: Trending Convertible Accessories, Famous Ghanaian female designers from the past, Chinese menstrual pads and politics, Diamonds forever? Kente Unesco recognized and Full moon

Trending Convertible Accessories: The Future of Fashion
Fashion is an ever-evolving realm where versatility and creativity reign supreme. As sustainability and practicality take center stage in the minds of designers and consumers alike, convertible accessories have emerged as a hot trend in the industry. These innovative pieces seamlessly transition from one function to another, offering endless styling possibilities while reducing the need for excessive clothing purchases. Let’s explore some of the most exciting convertible accessories that are currently making waves in the fashion world!

Transformable Bags: One of the standout trends in convertible accessories is transformable bags. These multifunctional pieces can transition from a backpack to a tote, a crossbody, or even a jacket with a few simple adjustments. Look for styles with detachable straps, foldable designs, or even hidden compartments. Brands like Fjällräven and Tote & Carry have perfected the art of crafting bags that adapt to any occasion, making them perfect for the modern urbanite on the go.

Tips for Styling:
– Pair your transformable bag with a minimalist outfit to let the accessory take center stage.
– Use the backpack mode for casual outings, and switch to tote mode for evening events to carry your essentials in style.

Famous Ghanaian female designers from the past. One remarkable personality is Gladys Blay Miezah a.k.a. “Columbo” due to her ability to track down Blay-Miezah's girlfriends, wife of John Ackah Blay Miezah a.k.a. John Kolorah Blay, a.k.a. Doc, a.k.a. Nana Ackah Nyanzu the second, a.k.a. Our Man. Gladys became famous because her husband was maybe the biggest international con man of all times, claiming he had the keys to Dr Kwame Nkrumah's hidden fortune and asking people to invest in the recovery effort, with promised returns of 1000 % or more. There's a book on him, Anansi's Gold, the Man Who Swindled the World, by Yepoka Yeebo.

I recommend reading, it gives a good insight into Ghana's history from about 1950 to 1992. Gladys herself did some tie and dye and batik and always looked glamorous because Blay dressed her well, but after his death she was accused of knowing where the money was and couldn't make a living here so she disappeared to Liberia into obscurity never to be heard of again.
Do enquire how hubby makes his money.....

Chinese menstrual pads and politics. Chinese women have started complaining about the quality of menstrual pads on the market. This “sanitary pads chaos”, as the issue is nicknamed, or “Sanitary Pad Scandal” has had over 170 million views on social media and still counting. Claims are that the pads are shorter than promised, contain dangerous chemicals and are of the wrong pH, don't absorb sufficiently and sometimes contain insect eggs, and that the Chinese government is too lax in setting standards and controlling quality. Typically the Chinese government does not appreciate such criticism, and in trying to subdue the protest women now start to speak out that anyway they are treated as inferior beings, with unequal pay and there is a demand from the Chinese government to make more children so that the economy can grow, but which interferes with their professional careers. An interesting development, gender inequality is still a major problem, worldwide, even in the supposedly most developed countries.

And check the quality of your pad

Diamonds forever? There's quite some discussion going on about artificially grown diamonds and they are indeed taking a place in the market, much cheaper than the real thing, though still not cheap. But why are diamonds so expensive? They are rare, and especially the bigger ones are very rare, and the rarer the more expensive. What also adds to their price is that diamonds found in nature must be cut and polished to become for example round brilliants, cushion cut, princess cut, emeralds, oval, there are others.

Round Brilliant

cushion cut and princess cut
But Tanzanite is about 1000 times rarer than diamonds. It was first discovered in 1967 at the bottom of Mount Kilimanjaro, Kenya an old volcano. It became popular when Tiffany & Co, (Luxury Jewelry, Gifts & Accessories Since 1837) added it to its portfolio. Tiffany recently joined the HLVM luxury goods and fashion group.

Grandidierite is only found in Madagascar and is extremely difficult to cut into a shiny piece of jewelry. It was discovered in 1902, later translucent types were found in Norway, New Zealand and Surinam.

Painite is unique to Myanmar.

Red Beryl is from USA, from the Wah Wah mountains of Utah. Most pieces found are kept by mineral collectors, and few end up as jewelry.

Benitoite, also from the USA, California is not as hard as the other ones and needs to be protected from scratching.

The main reason why these are rarer than diamonds but cheaper is that they are not that hard and give less shine. And it sounds better if you say hubby gave you a diamond for Christmas than hubby gave you a red beryl for Christmas. And what by now should be clear, if you want to go for a diamond you better study the subject before making a decision, unless you get one diamond every week anyway, then you can afford to make mistakes.

Kente Unesco recognized. In case you missed it, Unesco has listed kente as an Intangible Cultural Heritage (and kedjenou from la Côte d'Ivoire as well) Unesco stands for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The United Nations was formed after World War 2 (1939-1945), which caused 70 million deaths, the same as the population of Ivory Coast, Togo and Ghana together, with the idea that if we were all members of the same club there would be no more war. As part of The United Nations we have the Security Council, telling people not to go to war, FAO trying to make sure everybody has food to eat, Unicef taking care of children, and Unesco.

Cultural heritage in general consists of the products and processes of a culture that are preserved and passed on through the generations. Some of that heritage takes the form of cultural property, formed by tangible artifacts such as buildings or works of art. Many parts of culture, however are intangible, concerned with food practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. So here we are, Kente is now on the world map, both Bonwire (AR) and Agotime (VR) kente and that should boost sales, production, and employment. Our Ministry of Tourism, Art and Culture has spearheaded this recognition, Unfortunately no names are mentioned, apart from that of the Minister, but I know the process of being recognized by Unesco to be very long and cumbersome, it can literally take 10s of years and it may have taken the ministerial staff several governments to get this thing through. Ayeeko to the unspoken heroes.

Full moon again this Sunday and the meteo predicts clear skies on Saturday. Enjoy.

Lydia...

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