Style It Right!

So you have your dress or suit sorted for the biggest music and fashion event on the Namibian entertainment scene but how will you style it to ensure that you are the belle of the ball or the most dapper gentleman on the blue carpet?

Your shoes, jewellery, hair, clutch and make-up can make or break your look and should therefore be chosen with the ultimate caution.

Wise advice from NAMAs hairdresser Esther Iipumbu is to balance out complicated dresses with simple hair styling and vice versa. “In my professional point of view, you cannot have a strapless dress with curly hair, rather have a very clean bun or a classic up-do.”

The Weekender’s resident fashion columnist, designer and stylist Leah Misika warns against pointy toe shoes of any kind. She adds, however, that your choice of shoes depends on what you’re wearing for the night. The height of your shoe should be one that you are comfortable in to avoid wobbling one hour into the event. Flat shoes are a definite no-no, you don’t want to look like you just made a stop at the corner shop!

“In terms of jewellery, chandelier earrings should only be worn if you’re not wearing a necklace, you can never have both,” says Leah. Whatever you choose to accessorise your gown with should be tasteful and should compliment each other. Take care not to wear every jewellery piece you own.

Women are not the only ones who’ll be fretting about what to wear. Many men are equally invested in looking good and Leah has advice for them too. “For the guys, don’t do blue because of the carpet. You don’t want to blend.” She also cautions that check prints should be as small as possible and stripes equally so. The wide leg is another no-no, she says.

Adding to the cache of valuable advice is Lourens ‘Loux’ Gebhardt who is dressing and styling a number of NAMAs presenters and hosts alike. “The NAMAs is a blue carpet event, so it’s obvious that you wouldn’t just want to wear a plain suit. It’s a glamorous event so put on a bow-tie with a complimentary pocket square,” he says. The choice of shoes, he says, depends on the colour of the suit. “In my case, if I wear a black suit, I’ll wear a brown shoe and if I wear a brown suit, I’ll wear a black shoe, unless I want an all black or all brown look.”

You can’t go wrong with all this advice, and heads will definitely turn your way as you capture Namibia’s attention with the best look on the blue carpet.

– @rukeeveni