To complete the look, rather than a basic t-shirt, I chose a simple tank top tucked into the jeans with a pop of color adding a bit of spice to the look. To achieve this, I chose to use one of my favorite body wrappahs. This look can also be achieved with a favorite long scarf from your own closet.
With your material of choice on hand, your printed top can be created in the following three steps:
Hey Royal Fam,
Welcome back to another fun "Daily Fashion Fix" post! This week, I'm sharing a super quick tutorial answering the question I receive the most all over my Instagram feed ... How do I create the beautiful headwrap styles that have become a fashion staple in my everyday look? After an overwhelming yes response to a recent Instastory poll, how could I say no?
In the last Fashion Fix post, I talked about my journey to fully embracing my African heritage. Way back when, one of the 1st ways I began to reflect my Ghanaian culture was through adopting West African fabrics and incorporating unique headwraps into my look.
Not long after, and with a bit of practice, these simple headwraped styles grew in their uniqueness ... From basic notted styles
To full wraps styles reminiscent of traditional West African geles (Nigerian wraps worn particularly on special occasions). These big gorgeous wraps not only help celebrate this part of my culture
... But they have become such a part of my life and self-identity, that I can't imagine ever going back to not wearing them at all. It's with incredible pride that I share just some of my favorite headwrap styles with you. This video, was made especially with beginners in mind ... In the hopes that you grow to love them as much as I do!
'Till next time, as always, The Journey Continues!
Hey Royal Fam! ... Angela of Q.A.C back again this week sharing another one of my favorite cultural fashion creations.
This week's go to was a beautiful wrap dress I created from a body wrap batik fabric I often multi-use as material for headwraps, tops, dresses ... You name it. If you've been following my personal page on Instagram, you've seen me post on the importance of acknowledging the wide array of African fabrics outside of the ever popular dashiki and kente cloths.
A quick lesson on the batik fabric -
1: The word batik originates from the island nation of Java in Indonesia
2: Over the centuries and through ancient trade routes over 2,000 years ago, the art of creating this fabric travel through Asia, Egypt, and ultimately Africa ... More specifically to Nigeria (with the Yourba people) and in Senegal.
3: In creating batik fabrics, particularly in Africa the process is done by stenciling a thick paste (made of cassava in Nigeria / rice in Senegal) on cotton or silk, by hand.
4: Once the paste dries, the fabric is dyed, then left to dry. Once completely dry the paste is removed and the white handcrafted design art is made visible.
Cool right?! ... The particular fabric I'm wearing in this week's feature is made from the Senegalese fashion using rice paste .. And I absolutely love it. For deets on my D.I.Y dress creation and how you can replicate this dress yourself at home ... Trust me guys, you've got this! .. Tap HERE!
Alright, that's all for now. As always, 'Till next time, the journey continues!
Quick Fashion Fix post to showcase one of the newest fashion faves for my webstore Queen Adwoa's Closet ... along with this super easy wrap dress you can replicate in seconds!
First up, let's talk about this dress. Festival season is here and summer is right behind it. One of my "never fail" go to looks is without a doubt the wrap dress. Made famous in the fashion world by designer Diane von Fuerstenberg, the island wrap dress has been worn by stylish women throughout the diaspora for centuries.
Mastering the look a quick D.IY look with fabric is unbelievably simple and can be done in 3 simple steps.
1) Grab your Q.A.C body wrap or favorite piece of material. While in this example, mine has a bit if fringe, it's not crucial to the look. However, if you'd like to add a bit of fringe, using scissors to cut small slits, close together along the width works just as well.
2) Wrap the fabric around your body and tie the ends into a knot around your bust. Tuck the loose ends into the top of your bust.
3) Secure the bottom open ends of the dress by either tying the fringes together or by using safety pins to secure the material. If you decide to use pins, use them to secure from the underside of your dress to hide them.
If you're like me and like a nice cinched waist, you can add a thin belt to highlight your shape ... And that's it! Your done! .... Super cute dress for the cost of approximately 2 yards of fabric.
Whether you're in need an outfit for a special event, work, or weekend escape ... Being able to create what I call a bit of "origami magic" with an amazing piece of fabric can me so clutch. This week's fabric of choice is a kente print body wrap coming soon to the Q.A.C webstore. Quality body wraps have been a long time closet staple of mine, as it allows me to create multiple styles from one great swatch of fabric, including: dresses, tops, blouses, head-wraps, skirts, etc ... Something any budget friendly fashionista would love.
For a fun "how to" tutorial on how I created this dress with ONE piece of fabric, click here!
To top off my look I wanted to showcase the newest addition to my fashion house's accessories collection. In this week's "Cultural Beauty" section, we discussed the heritage of the Wodaabe / Fulani Tribe and the tradition surrounding their beautiful Kwottenai Kanye earrings. In growing my fashion house, I've partnered with artisans from Mali, W. Africa to offer these amazing one of a kind earrings within my shop. Handcrafted in brass then hand-dipped in 14 gold, these earrings are guaranteed to be show stoppers!
