My Style: Hadiza Lawal

“I think every girl should have a nice structured clean black bag—big enough to dump all her junk in—Hadiza Lawal

It’s time for another fabulous edition of My Style – our monthly BN Style feature that celebrates the unique styles of our amazing BN readers.

The My Style page is all about showing how diverse and universal style can be. Style is individual, unique and fun and is a personal representation of how each person expresses their take on fashion; so BN Style watchers let’s appreciate their unique style. 🙂

enjoy!

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Today’s My Style Star is especially fun and tres chic! With an experimental style that incorporates colours, youth, fun and femininity – we think you’re going to want to bookmark this page.

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Hadiza Lawal grew up in Lagos, Nigeria where she did her primary and secondary school, before going to Shrewsbury for her A-Levels and first year of University in Birmingham, UK and finished up her studies in Kennesaw State University in Atlanta Georgia.

Hadiza’s earliest style memories was having to  play dress up with any piece of clothing she could laid her hands on as a child. Along the way, she once raided her aunt’s closet just so she could play dress, modeled in secondary school.

Slowly she tested the waters and with no time had her blog www.wovenblends.com, where she documents about her style and food.

My Style Is….

My style is constantly evolving. I definitely do not dress the same way I did two or three years ago or even several months ago. I like to describe my style as versatile. Some days, I like to dress super classy and other days I just want to be a tomboy in baggy jeans and a big t-shirt.

Why I Love My Style….

I love my style because it is one of the truest forms of me. My style reflects who I am as a person. I love the fact that it is vibrant and colorful. My style is playful, girly, and lady like, occasionally boyish too. All these are attributes that I love to embrace in my day-to-day life.

I love that my style is affordable and chic, because I am able to mix and match pieces from both high end and high street stores.

My Style Philosophy…

My style philosophy is to never compromise your values in your style of dressing and always remember that less is more.

Where My Style Meets Personality…

As described earlier, my style is versatile. It is mostly vibrant and playful but also has a serious element to it. I think that in a nutshell sums up my personality. My close friends and people who are familiar with my persona know that I am super playful and I love to look at the positive side of life. I am an extremely vibrant person and over friendly if I can say so myself.

Where I shop Till I Drop

Some clothing stores that I absolutely love are COS stores, Reiss, Ted Baker, BCBG, Top Shop, Zara, H&M, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Club Monaco, and Karen Millen. Online clothing stores that I like are Asos and the Outnet. Oh, by the way, the Outnet sells designer stuffs for less, if you didn’t know that already.

My Braids

I am a braids girl and maybe occasionally weaves. I love how handy and stress-free braids are. Some of my favorite braid looks are twists (unfortunately, I am natural now so I can’t do twists as often as I would like), Marley and dreads. I get bored with hair, so sometimes I wear my natural hair out. This is very rare though, and every time I do, I dye it or do something funky.

My Makeup

I am not a make up fanatic and it’s so weird because that’s the new craze. As long as I am facially presentable, I am good to go. I hardly wear make up, and when I do, it is really minimal (by minimal I mean no eye shadow, no highlights etc). My make up is subtle and you only really find me wearing make up on important days. I can go a week without make up if I don’t have to wear make up and in fact these are indeed the best days of my life because taking make up off after a days work is actually a hassle. I am the regular foundation, eyeliner, and mascara girl. Occasionally, I get professional make up done, which is maybe only once a year for my birthday.

What I Wear On A Regular Day

My regular day look is extremely basic. You’ll usually find me in a pair of jeans or leggings and a shirt. On a super girly day, I love to embrace my floral dresses and maybe throw in some trainers to tone it down a little bit. Occasionally, you will find me in shorts and crop tops and that’s when I am in extremely hot temperatures. I also really love maxi dresses. In the winter, I am all bundled up and I wear more jackets/coats.

My Work Look

I do not have that many options for work looks in my wardrobe because all the jobs I have taken up have been semi casual and do not require the extra effort of being prim and proper all round. I have never really been a fan of the typical work look anyway.

My Night Look

Let’s just say I come alive in the nighttime 😉 Lol, just like my daytime looks, my nighttime looks are very versatile. I once wore boyfriend jeans to the club and my sister was like, really? I think it all depends on how you put pieces together to compliment your look and the environment you’re going to at night. You will find me in anything ranging from a nice body con skirt, to jeans or even a dress.

My Shopping Habits

My shopping habit is one that is super hard to break. I do think I am getting better now though. 2016 is taking a good toll on me. If I was asked this question back in 2015, my shopping habit was straight up being a shopaholic. I would sit hours online shopping across different websites and saving things in my basket. A shopping habit I am super proud of though is that I am good at shopping for deals. I once purchased a BCBG jacket that was originally $400 for $40, talk about a sweeping deal. There is nothing better than buying quality and originally high priced items for less. I am definitely a deal finder and it has become a part of me. There are certain stores I walk into, and I am like nope, I cannot buy this full price. It’s almost like I bargain in the stores. With regards wardrobe staples, denim always goes a long way. Other staples are accessories, solid colors and generally quality products. When all these things are in place, you can then build up.

My Accessories…

I Think Every Girl Should Have…

I think every girl should have a nice structured clean black bag big enough to dump all her junk in. Accessories also always go a long way in a girl’s wardrobe – watch your outfit go from zero to a hundred real quick with the right accessories and shoes. Every girl should also have clean white t-shirts and shirts in their wardrobe. White compliments everything and I absolutely love it.

The Nigerian Celebrity That I Think My Style Most Resembles

I would say Genevieve Nnaji. Her style is effortless, timeless, fun and classy. I love that her style is simple and more often than not comfortable. These are all attributes I consider when playing dress up.

And To My Fellow BN’ers..

Always be you. Style is eternal and it represents who you truly are. Trends are an in thing but they fade quickly and when all of that is gone, it will be just you and your style. Make sure your style is affordable for you and never ever compromise your bank account just to look flashy. Remember to always stay clean in your style habit, your hair and nails are also very important elements of your look and must be paid attention to at all times. Importantly, know what suits your body structure and carry yourself confidently in whatever you wear.

Thank you to Hadiza for sharing her amazing style with us. Follow her for more of her style on Instagram: @wovenblends | Visit her food & style blog: www.wovenblends.com

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If you are interested in appearing in the My Style feature, simply send two pictures of yourself or that of a friend depicting a typical day and night look with a short summary of your style to style(at)bellanaija(dot)com. When your entry is approved, you will be required to send in more pictures and personal commentaries on your style or that of your friend as the case may be!