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Samantha Mussa’s outfit generated comments

Tafadzwa Zimoyo Fashion Talk 263

The awards season is upon us locally and internationally.

From the recently held Grammy’s and National Arts Merit Awards to Zimbabwe Musical Awards and Zim Dancehall Awards which are only a week apart, many people are not really concerned with who is the biggest winner of the night but who is wearing what.

Yes, fashion has continued to rule the world with top local designers each year coming up with the most outrageous outfits, studded dresses or tuxedos.

Let us delve into the successes and disasters of NAMA 2015. At least the decor was acceptable this year. As usual fashion-wise, anything goes at NAMA and this edition was no different.

We have seen a lot of posts on social media with people criticising and applauding some of the fashions that our own A-Listers presented themselves in for art’s biggest night of the year.

The 15th annual NAMA red carpet kicked off at 1745hrs, as award favourites; musicians, fashionistas, comedians, poets and filmmakers among others thronged the red carpet.

The red carpet time was little, compared to Grammy’s or other international organised show where it starts pre-noon, but hey, we have fewer stars.

I thought of the late fashion guru Joan Rivers who once commented Cate Blanchett’s white puffed dress at one award show.

She said: ”This dress is like a naked Elton John. Folds of pasty white in front with a big gaping hole in the back,”

So I am not holding back on this one.

Choices for early arrivals to Saturday’s night ceremony ranged from tuxedos to gowns to jeans and sneakers to oversized jackets.

You would have been forgiven for imagining that this was a Halloween costume ball after seeing the make up on some of the ladies as they seemed to have set out to portray the octopuses, the pumpkins and the zombies.

A word to Jah Prayzah and Winky D; red carpet does not mean that you must also come out in red, unless so requested in the invitation. Red is an overwhelming colour and frankly best left to the ladies. It does things for them which men just cannot pull off without appearing to be aspiring clowns.

Here is my top list of best and worst dressed celebrities:

This is based on what I saw. If someone did not catch my eye, too bad if they were on the button and lucky them if they were committing fashion crimes.

Glowing vs Lowing Ladies

Overall best dressed — MisRed

Worst dressed female —Too many to mention but if you were wearing your aunty’s two piece costume, put your name down here.

Rumbidzai Takawira, Candice, Patience Musa, Samantha Mussa, Rumbidzai Chigova and Selmor Mtukudzi made an interesting combination of hits and outright misses.

Guess it is about knowing what suits you and the occasion. The dresses ranged from shimmering, one arm to coloured glowing. Well done ladies. The best of them all was Samantha’s which she managed to pull as the dress doubled from ball gown to award show.

She chose the colour white to stand out against those who thought dull colours are for the night.

Samantha chose too to have a long curled weave which complimented her dress. On jewellery, it would not have killed you to add one or two.

Oversized suits and Road Block attires

Best dressed — Napoleon Nyanhi

Worst dressed — Josphat Somanje

For the men, they didn’t do well at the red carpet and still you could tell that we still have a long way to go. This year’s edition was of “legends and their kids” but alas the celebrities forgot to dress up for the occasion. Even on stage they acted like they were at home with their sons discussing how best to water the garden. Please!

When it comes to colour coordination, I think they still need to go back to nursery school to study the colour palettes and find out what works with what. I am not sure that fathers and sons dressing alike works.

It seemed like Willom Tight was going through a mid-age crisis and trying to pretend that he is the same age as his son.

But Josphat really went through the whole fashion offence charge sheet by wearing over sized shirt, tie, trousers and jacket. For screaming out loud, it was not a suit for that matter. The dude seriously needs a makeover.

Musician Jah Prayzah thought wearing the British royal police like attire could steal the show. But again it looks like he overstated his vital figures to the tailor. He was simply swamped in the huge jacket and looked like a kid playing dress up.

I think your usual fatigues which make you look so hunky Officer Jah would have worked better if you did not want a conventional suit.

Winky D wore a screaming red suit, since it was Valentine’s Eve maybe. I am not sure how the outfit looked on the planning pages, but whatever allure it might have had did disappear as soon as Winky stepped on the red carpet.

Kudos to our boy Napstar who wore the slim fit blue suit with a red lapel which stole all the stars for the night. He rocked well on the red carpet.

We were not all born with some innate sense of how to dress. A few achieve it in their lifetime. But for the majority of us, we need the advice of a proper stylist. Or at least a real friend who will tell you that you look ridiculous before you strut out in your misfiring duds.

We hope to see better style at other awards that are coming up.