Africa at the Academy Awards! Charlize Theron, Rachael Mwanza, Michael Badger & Others represent Africa at the 85th Annual Academy Awards
Posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 at 4:37 PMBy Jennifer Obiuwevbi
Leading from the appearances of Nigerian entertainment celebrities, Goldie Harvey and Richard Mofe Damijo at the Grammy Awards last month, it is clear that Africa is quickly moving up in the worldwide entertainment scene.
Africans stepped up to the plate again at the recently concluded Academy Awards (Oscars) as Charlize Theron, 16 year old Rachael Mwanza, Michael Badger and others attended the Oscars.
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Rachael Mwanza is young actress who was discovered on the streets by of Congo after being abandoned by her family. She was cast In the movie where she plays a young Congolese girl who is captured by rebels and forced to become a child soldier. Produced by Kim Nguyen, ‘War Witch’ was nominated in the category Best Foreign Language Film and has also been nominated at the Independent Spirit Awards. It is also up for multiple awards at some Canadian events in March 2013. Rachael wore an ankara print dress designed by high quality Dutch textile company, Vlisco.
Actress, model and Dior spokes person, Charlize Theron also made Africa proud at the fabulous event. The South African actress started her acting career in the United States and rose to public recognition in the ’90s for her role in the 1997 movie ‘The Devils Advocate’. She rose to A-list stardom after her portrayal of a bisexual serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the true life thriller ‘Monster’ and later went on to act in blockbuster movies like ’SnowWhite and the Huntsman’ alongside Chris Hemsworth & Kristen Stweart and ’Prometheus’ with Idris Elba & Michael Fassbender.
Charlize looked every bit a star in a white Haute Couture Dior dress paired with diamond stud earrings. To complete her look she used a soft eyeshadow, a light shiny pout and a bleach blonde pixie haircut.
The day didn’t belong to the actresses alone. Ghanaian born designer, Michael Badger‘s dress had its 15 minutes of fame, when it was worn by ‘Skyfall’ actress Naomi Harris. The dress was the winning design for the Suzy Amis Cameron‘s Red Carpet Green Dress Challenge and was made entirely from recycled material. The design looked very modern and high end with a high slit and a stiff bodice and the making of the dress was mentored by eccentric British designer, Vivienne Westwood.
The all Somali cast of the live-action short movie ‘Asad’ were also nominated for Academy Awards. Meade Nichol, Saida Hassan, Ikram Hassan, Ali Mohammed, Harun Mohammed and Ahmed Dhandane Jimale refugees from Somalia were cast in the short movies nominated for Best Live Action-Short.
Inspired by a United Nations documentary, Bryan Buckley’s film follows a young boy in a war torn Somali fishing village who must decide between piracy and an honest life. The event was only attended by the brothers Harun and Ali Mohammed, aged 14 and 12 respectively, who fled Somalia for Cape Town, South Africa.
Also spotted was US based Nigerian fashion stockist and blogger Folake Kuye Huntoon of Style Pantry in a green dress by Jewel by Lisa. Read the post on her style Here
Tags: 85th Academy Awards, Ahmed Dhandane Jimale, Ali Mohammed, Asad, Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Dior, Goldie Harvey, Harun Mohammed, Idris Elba, Ikram Hassan, Kim Nguyen, Kristen Stweart, Meade Nichol, Michael Badger, Michael Fassbender, Rachael Mwanza, richard mofe-damijo, Saida Hassan, Suzy Amis Cameron, United Nations, Vivienne Westwood, vlisco, War Witch
Kim Nguyen could have done better than that outfit. There are tons of classy ankara dresses she could have gotten from our local dessigners
Just read the ‘put together by Vlisco’ part. Serioursly?!
“Serioursly”???????????
ankara in making… gistyinka.com
Mbanu which kin Ankara be this . . . Na Obioma tailor wey sew am
What, pardon my ignorance, is a fashion stockist?
A stockist is a store that carries a particular brand… For instance selfridges is a stockist for jewel by Lisa etc
So she’s a store that carries a brand? please please i think they mean fashion buyer.
Vlisco oh vlisco…..what what was that? For free,I swear to God,I won’t wear it! Chai!!
I don’t know why everyone is making noise. This design is 100x better than what many of our celebs wear, especially our Yoruba actresses, yes the red satin makes it look cheap but the girl is at the oscars, while all of you are in your little bubbles.
LAWL!
That guy in the Somali picture looks like Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray. I actually thought he was the one sha.
Sorry I thought I was gonna see pictures of Golde (RIP) and RMD as the first paragraph stated.. Confused much?
@Goldfinch: You truly killed me!! Indeed you are right dear! Wow you truly have a good eye.. Swear to God.. they look exactly like two drops of tears…You’ve got that one right..honestly
BN you better start researching on different names for the African prin in African countries I am sure the young ladies home country has a name for African print and are probably reading this thinking “Ankara? is that what we call it these days? This print is called Chitenge or Kitenge in Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Namibia and some other central/east/southern African countries. Another print that is specific to Kenya and Tanzania is Kikoy and khanga or Leso
Not nice on the eyes to see to be polite, too colourful that is why our prints don’t Natalie’s the west.
I see a lot of fashion designers most unexposed as in never stepped out of Africa, displaying ugly collections and thinking they are now Prada, and the people around them keep on hailing them, anyway fb made the Like button easier
Tantalise
stockist
noun
1. stockist one (as a retailer or distributor) that stocks goods
wordnet:
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Hypernyms