ABINA IS GOING .COM

Dear ladies and gents,

I am so proud to announce to you that ABINA is moving to her very own domain. You will no longer find any of our posts on this site, BUT you can find us on http://www.abinaonline.com. I believe that this is the start of great things. May you be inspired by the African Woman. ;) 

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Turbans and the African head wrap finally acceptable?

The head wrap is no unfamiliar wear in Africa and the African Diasporas. It is a symbol of our culture, especially in West and Central Africa. As Africa fashion is now going worldwide, so is the African head wrap. Even American celebrities are wearing the head wrap in different and new ways. Celebrities such as Solange Knowles, Chrisette Michele are making ways with our cultural attire. Do you think that this has made African traditional wear more acceptable in the professional world in the Westies?

Under the mag: The Arise Fashion week

The Arise Fashion week is taking place in Lagos, Nigeria. This magazine is doing a great job exhibiting the work of various fashion designers on their runway. Reports are coming in on their page and the designs are really looking promising for African fashion as a whole. Viewing all the collections of the different designers collectively makes you realize: Africa fashion is booming and damn, we’re fabulous. Below are some takes from the last few days.

A Q&A with Eritrean Miss Excellence winner, Rebecca Habtab

Ambitious minds in the African Diaspora are doing a great job delivering projects and events which reflect on the beauty and heritage of Africa. An example is the Miss Excellence beauty contest organized by a Nigerian entrepreneur Anthony Obuezie, who is also the co-founder of Essence productions. On 17 December 2011 was the very first grand finale of the beauty contest, which took place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The result of the finale was a well deserved winner named Rebecca Habtab. Rebecca Habtab(26) is an Eritrean young gorgeous woman who resides in Assen, The Netherlands. Her charisma en sweetened personality had the judges and the crowd struck. Rebecca won herself a contract with Positive Runway worth of 10.000 USD and of course a full year reign as Miss Excellence 2011. We wanted to know how this beauty queen is doing and which other inspiring activities she has in store for us.

Spring 2012: A romantic feel

 The spring collections of the clothing stores were staring me in the face, as I was looking for the best sale items to add to my wardrobe. As it stared at me, I felt as if I was being lifted into this romantic and sophisticated feel. When I ran into L’Officiel magazine with Chanel Iman on the cover, that’s when it hit me: the coming spring is going to be romantic! The trend of coming spring is going to embrace us with a romantic feel. I know it. This means: soft colors, like white, pink, blue, flowered prints, chiffon dresses, high-waist skirts and more. Opposing to the stop blocking colors of last summer and the snake prints of the winter season, fashion is doing a flip and is appearing to be less raw. The 90's, the leather, and the stop blocking colors swag is still worth keeping, though. It’s just now that the trend is inspired by the fashion style of the Pan Am woman and the lady of the 60’s. Below is an idea of how to go with this romantic flow and yet keep the African accents in your style. 

Under the mag: MO SAЇQUE hits London Fashion week

It’s just today that we received the news that a MO SAЇQUE shoe debuts at the London Fashion week. Such exciting news! You might be wondering why we are rejoicing. Well, MO SAIQE luxury shoes is shoe brand which is does not only have an elegant, sophisticated, good-quality collection, but is founded by a young Ghanaian woman, Afua Dabanka. Arise Magazine’s editor in-chief even stated that MO SAIQUE shoes has a chance of becoming the next Christian Louboutin. Feelin’ proud already?

Chai! Women and our dry lips.

There isn’t anything as bad as trying to survive a cold winter with dry lips. The feeling of dry, hard and rough lips against a cold wind blowing in your face is horrible and definitely no good feeling at all. All bodies and skin is different of course, but the traditional pot of Vaseline doesn’t work for everybody. What is woman to do when she is in this situation? After all, lips are supposed to be moisturized and kept good at all times, right? Just a little advice on how to keep your body right.

Under the Mag: Mina Evans

Fashion designer Mina Evans-Anfom at her fashion show launch in 2010

African fashion and African designers are rising. This refreshing movement, that critics call ‘just a trend’ is taking over the world, with its bright colors, African wax, animal prints and tribal accessories. Under the mag this time is Ghanaian fashion designer Mina Evans-Anfom. Mina Evans-Anfom, who is the brain behind luxury brand Mina Evans, recently launched her new summer/spring collection called Terra Ferma. Mina Evans fashion is just launched as a brand for 14 months and it’s such a success already. Having styled artists as TuFace en Becca and having a success after her first collection was launched in 2010, Mina Evans is at it and it’s definitely someone we should keep an eye on.

Congratulations: Uzuri Couture wins again!

Right when we thought that Uzuri Coutoure had won an amazing price by winning the Music and fashion battle (MAFB) ending of last year. We were wrong. She actually won herself a place in the finals. The MAFB finals, which took place in Amsterdam the Netherlands on the 22th of January la Femme chic, Deveney, Nawal and Uzuri Couture as their finalists. Guess who took the 1^st price home? Our dear Uzuri Couture by Audrey NM did!  

Under the mag: Marazetti

There is so much enjoyment to discovering more designers who are using African prints, fabrics, jewelry, colors and so much more into their fashion designs and collection. The designer who is under the mag this time is: Marazetti.  Marazetti is a fashion collection of clothing and accessories, such as slippers, sandals, pumps and bags made of Ankara (also known as African wax) and Kente for men and women. A lot of other designers have this type of collection; however their craft doesn’t look as professional as this one. You can see that this is great handwork. And the price ranges from $30 and up. Perfect!

Under the mag: African style market Soko Stingo

I ran into an interesting article about African style market Soko Stingo. Street markets used to be known as places where you can find life essentials, but these markets are globally changing into platforms that also sell clothing for designers, socialites and entrepreneurs. Such has the arrival of pop-style market Soko Stingo (which means style market in Swahili), which took place in Accra, Ghana on the 9^th of October. This style market attracted more than 300 visitors. Wanna know more?

Sozanni and Cavalli visit West-Africa! A part of booming Africa

A statement that has been said many times: “Africa is a booming nation and all Africans should be a part of it. “ I remember that this was said by Anne Merit van Hoeve who is an executive director Human resource at Vlisco Group (African textiles). I think she is true in many ways. The nation that is so much associated with poverty, man slaughter en hunger has a rising music industry and a booming fashion industry. This leads me to iconic fashion designer Roberto Cavalli and Vogue Italia Editor-in-chief who are visiting Ghana and Nigeria for fashion activities. This fashion duo first visited Nigeria and then went to Togo and to Ghana. Interested to know what they went to do?

Abina's 2012 top 5 resolutions: Enjoy everyday life!

The year 2011 is left behind and the ‘notorious’ year 2012 has finally arrived. There is no need to be in terror of this year, rather It is a great time to consider new and further plans to living life at your best. We want to start  you off with 5 of Abina’s year 2012 resolutions. Remember to take them at heart and enjoy your everyday life.

Spring with Liya

While the temperature of the winter is killing some of us, H&M is not hesitating to give us a quench of their Spring 2012 collection. Guess who’s beautiful African face is head of the campaign? Liya Kebede! The collection has a variety of colors and fashion styles of which the prices do not go above 50 EUR. H&M does it again: affordable and chic. Don’t hesitate to look for more.  

Definately hot: 2011 color recap

There is no denying in it. Stop blocking colors are the hottest thing now.  It seemed as it would change in the fall, but the bright colors stuck around with yet a more smooth and soft approach. Still no more worries about combining yellow and pink. Craziness is all allowed. As a matter of fact it looks fabulous. Since colors is not an unfamiliar thing to African women, this is absolutely a trend we can make use of and even combine it with tribal accessories. Since 2012 is just around the corner, let’s have a look at 2011’s trend we can take with us into the new year. 

Real talk: African men can’t be faithful

 It started centuries ago: one man having 2 or more women. The modern societies seem to have brought an end to this lifestyle, whereby it seems impossible for men to have 2 or more women. Yet to some Africans, this lifestyle is at least one generation away. For example: Granddad who lived in Africa and who used to be married to grandmother, yet had children with other women while being in the marriage.’ Doesn’t this prove that this ‘unfaithful’ lifestyle is in the blood of our African men of this generation? Hasn’t this lifestyle manifested in our daily lives wherein African men cheat and the woman stick by, because they want to stay in a relationship? Some Abina readers had interesting answers.

Under the mag: the Fall 2011 Boxing Kitten clothing line

 Boxing Kitten never ceases to amaze us with their fashion collections. This fall, they published their Fall collection, which surprisingly looks different. The former collections were so impressive that it seemed as if it could not go any more fabulous, because it reached such a height. Celebrities such as Alicia Keys, Solange, Fergie were wearing the African printed collection, which is sometimes referred to as Afro chique. This fall collection is for the ones that love.

Real Talk: Help us and our eyebrows!

The good Lord Almighty blessed every person with eyebrows. Some have them thick and some have them thin, yet our eyebrows are created for a good reason. They are probably one of the most important features on the face. However some women fail to shape them like terror landed their faces or they got drawn on by the worst artist in the world. Especially we African women. Many are lost. Then comes the following question: Which shape of eyebrows are best? I found a trick which can help our women in need.

Rihanna, niggabitch and the Aftermath

We kind of have waited till the storm concerning 'niggabitch' would blow away and the black community, especially in the Netherlands would be less angry until we would post anything about the ‘niggabitch’ situation. This was a situation whereby there was an article placed in a Dutch magazine called Jackie. This article described a fashion style which Rihanna has as ‘niggabitch.’ Totally unacceptable, right?