Hey everyone,

I hope we’ve all been having a good week.
Exams have started for me and I guess you’ll hardly see me here till next month.
Before I go on my little break, I would love to leave you guys with this amazing editorial. I seem to be in love and total awe of how African culture can be infused into everyday life, trying to bring our heritage back without forgetting the times we are currently living in has led to a beautiful merge, between the present African outlook and the past through colours and print. This merge has found expression in our daily outfits and I’m so glad it has left various rooms for expressions. This beautiful editorial gives you the perspective of Daniel Obasi.

                •N AT I V I T Y•

There is a new tune playing out tonight…
we the children have found ourselves scrambling home else we lose sight of the very last moonlight …
get home safe we bade ourselves, still lingering 
in our young hearts the jolly tales the great dying tree spoke
may we sleep yet keep these little bits of memory awake

Growing up, as a young Nigerian one thing that remained constant was new faces…. Everywhere we moved to had something new; maybe the oversized pimples hanging just above the store keeper’s face across the street, or the wicked aromas from the different Calabar and Igbo restaurants forming a mortal contest over our nostrils enough to make you turn down your mother’s meal without batting an eyelid. 

The mannerisms always change, accents within the same language, skin contrast….new rude words, new crushes and of course enemies, a list of people and things to dislike and reasons to never want to come back to the last place. 

Most engaging was the dressing… we would look down from the balcony and a seamless fashion showdown would always be going on, the streets always alive with something intriguing, flattering and crude. 

Our roots are something we wear unconsciously around, it’s possible to experience an entire culture just staring through the window of a 3 storey building on Baale street AgbojuLAGOS. The fusion of colors would always leave you daunting, as bodies pressed against each other, the clash of prints, brands and lifeless elements would always create an engaging visual. “You can tell she is Yoruba don’t you see the way she carries herself”  “why do you always have to ask how much first… these Igbo people sef na wa oh?” “
Buy me Kilishi when next you coming back from Jos” certain norms and feels define the Nigerian culture, books are written yearly in honour of the diversity that we bring together every day, every night on the streets.  

We have over 371 tribes in Nigeria from the Yorubas to the Tivsone thing we as Nigerians are proud of would always be the splendor in our colorful outfits, We have absolutely no chill when it comes to flaunting our cultural designs.  Our present age is heavily influenced by westernization and our interest in the African outlook is gradually declining. I stumbled across an argument recently on Instagram “whether we Nigerians appreciate our cultural ensemble as much as our sister nations do to theirs’ there is always the lingering question of how much of a Nigerian or African any one of us really can be or if we would ever decide to return to the old ways of doing things, would we ever look at modern clothes with less zeal or reject a Balmainpiece for a locally made iro and buba?. 

Would we ever be open to fusing our African heritage with the modern pieces we wear? How about challenging the world with the inspiration lingering within our cultures?
I learned it would be blatant hypocrisy to point fingers; rather inspire a need to bask in the glow of the rich culture within our veins and how they surround us to a point of suffocation. 

Nativity aims to use visuals and the blending of unconventional pieces to inspire a block of new generation Africans ready to not just reinvent how the world sees Africa but create an exciting way to pass down the tales of the great dying tree. 

Written By Daniel Onyedikachi Obasi 
Styling and Creative Direction: Daniel Onyedikachi Obasi
Photography: Chitti Tade
Editing with Vsco Film 00: Daniel Onyedikachi Obasi
Makeup: Tolu Onigele
Models: Busayo Okojie, Ifeoma Nwobu, Blessing Dike 
Styling Assistants: Olaide and Temilade

Website: www.urbanecoven.com
          

Disclaimer: Nativity is a series title to contain Daniel’s study of African literature and culture…concepts and write up are all copyright of him elsewhere credit is given.