Lupita Nyong'o has sparked an interest all around the world following her Oscar nomination for her role in 12 Years a Slave. It is with no surprise she is super talented, super smart and incredibly beautiful and she has got the fashion world head over heels in love with her. We have seen Lupita grace the red carpet in stunningly beautiful gowns with the poise of a Supermodel. Her natural beauty is uncompromising of her heritage and who she represents, it is refreshingly wonderful to see a dark skinned black woman in media representing natural African beauty. Society has almost cornered black women into mirroring their European counterparts with the notion that lighter skin is much more beautiful hence the birth of the black Barbie look of the likes of Nikki Minaj, Lil Kim, Beyonce at al. Whilst we gotten used to such representations and accustomed to hair extensions and weaves in a bid to have long silky locks in contrast to our tight coiled "nappy/kinky" hair that grows upwards rather than flowing down our backs. Long before Lupita Nyong'o stepped on our radar we had Lauryn Hill rocking her natural locks and even released song about it "That Thing" then followed by another songstress India Arie with her debut singles "Brown Skin" and "I am not my hair". These women almost succeeded in revolutionising the natural Afro and turning our backs on the fake hair phenomenon but the black male musicians were not helping with their feature of light skinned models in their music videos rocking the disgraceful weave and on the other hand our white female counterparts were dashing off to the hair salon requesting "The Rachel". Frustrating as it sounds black women had to be inventive in creating hairstyles that were a nod to our heritage such was Braids (Brandy Norwood), Bantu knots (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Cornrows (Beyonce Knowles circa Destiny's Child before Sasha Fierce), Pixie crop (Toni Braxton) and if you had to go there (the long flowing mane) then you had to follow Aaliyah with the Relaxed hair. Fast forward to 2014 like a fresh of breath air Miss Lupita Nyong'o steps on the scene with an unapologetic attitude of a true icon and with the confidence of a woman who knows who she is and is comfortable with it. She completes the work Arie and Hill had started and does it with an Oscar nomination, Mui Mui Campaign and star-studded selfies including her hero Oprah Winfrey.
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| Mui Mui Campaign |
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| Mui Mui Campaign |
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| Red Carpet 2014 |
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| With her hero Oprah Winfrey |
