Award-winning author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has revealed that earlier in her career, she deliberately downplayed her love for fashion, hair, and makeup because she wanted to be taken seriously as a writer.
Gatekeepers News reports that the writer spoke on her love of fashion and how it shaped her career, during an interview with YouTuber Shade Samagbeyi.
She said, “For some people, liking fashion means you’re not a serious person. So I went through a period of pretending because I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer.”
Adichie said her decision to later embrace fashion publicly was both personal and political, meant to encourage women in intellectual and leadership spaces not to feel ashamed of their style interests.
She said, “Part of the reason I started talking about fashion is because many women who are into politics, who have ideas, also like fashion. Why should we pretend?”
The 47-year-old author also revealed that she intentionally began prioritising Nigerian brands in her wardrobe as a way of promoting local designers.
She said, “Choosing to wear mostly Nigerian brands, which I started doing a number of years ago, was something I did intentionally. For me, it is a kind of fashion nationalism.”
“I’m fortunate to have this platform, and I’ve gotten to a point where foreign designers would send me clothes. So I thought it was a great opportunity to start wearing Nigerian brands. It’s just a subtle way of showing up for my people.”
