2nd Edition June 2014 | Page 21

Lupita Most Beautiful Person... N Fashion By Edirin okumagba ot too long ago, my friend pointed out that the West chooses one black ‘Beauty’ every now and again, this person perhaps neither attractive nor pretty, but just someone to portray their own vision of what they think a black person ought to look like. What I would call ,”the Lupita Fever” which hadn’t begun in full force at the time, and I was somewhat on the fence with my friend’s line of reasoning, she even concluded that day, that Lupita was going to win the academy awards, in addition to that, everything beauty henceforth will be referenced to Lupita. She also felt it was a passive aggressive mockery of the black race by the West. Not too long after this, Lupita was named Peoples Magazine Most Beautiful Person. One time it was Alek Wek, then Gabourey Sidibe – Precious Jones in the movie ‘PRECIOUS’ now, they have forced Lupita on us. tered, but flattered sounds like such a flighty word, you know? I’m flattered with, like, gravitas under it,” she said. This year’s most beautiful cover issue is the 25th annual for People magazine. The first honour went to actress Michelle Pfeiffer in 1990, and last year’s most beautiful person was Gwyneth Paltrow. As it is, everything we read, watch and hear of late is Lupita. Nevertheless I have come to agree with what my friend said a few months back, just before Lupita won the Oscars for Best Supporting Actress Award. In my opinion, whilst Lupita is indeed a sweet and cute young lady in her right, the courtship with the media and the high fashion praises are getting somewhat exaggerated. I’m not saying she isn’t fine-looking, but the ‘Most Beautiful Person’ in the world; is just too much! The “12 Years a Slave” actress has won an Oscar for best supporting actress and signed a deal with cosmetics giant Lancôme to become its first black ambassador, and now People magazine has bestowed one of its highest honours on her -”Most Beautiful Person for 2014.” The Kenyan star joins a cast of Hollywood A-listers who have headed the list, including Julia Roberts, Cindy Crawford, Tom Cruise and Beyonce. This year she topped others on the list including “The Americans” celebrity Keri Russell, singer Pink and Johnny Depp’s future wife, actress Amber Heard. During the 2014 awards season Lupita Nyong’o was often hailed for being one of the most fashionable on the red carpet. She made headlines in February for a moving speech she gave while accepting the best breakthrough performance award at the 7th annual Black Women in Hollywood luncheon. “I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful,” she said. “I put on the TV and only saw pale skin. I got teased and taunted about my night-shaded skin.” The actress to 8