How to make this Maki Oh-inspired look a part of your spring aesthetic
Introducing “Runway to Real Life,” a new Yahoo Lifestyle series where we will be choosing a Spring/Summer 2018 runway look and teaching you how to re-create and wear the look today — through current shoppable fashion and beauty products that will deliver you the perfect, fresh-off-the-runway look at a fraction of the price.
If you’ve been keeping up with Yahoo Lifestyle‘s “Runway to Real Life” series, you know that we’re showing you how to copy a runway look and wear it now. Last week we showed you how to re-create a look from Kate Spade. This week we’re showing you how to get the Spring 2018 look from Maki Oh.
If you don’t know the woman behind Maki Oh, Maki Osakwe, she is one of the biggest fashion industry disrupters to arise from Lagos, Nigeria. She’s able to fuse traditional African dying techniques (such as adiré) and create garments that fit effortlessly within a contemporary marketplace. Osakwe’s Spring 2018 presentation made her one of the buzziest designers from NYFW, because as the industry is finally inching toward greater diversity, she went ahead and cast only models of color. A huge step in the right direction, as the pieces were inspired by Nigerian women, after all.
The collection featured a beautiful series of maxi dresses, midi skirts, and ruffled trousers inspired by Osakwe’s childhood in Lagos, such as dress styles that one would’ve worn to birthday parties and festive occasions. Also, there were blouses and dresses printed with celestial graphics, including moons and stars inspired by the ’90s TV show Tales by Moonlight. But what makes Osakwe truly special is her masterful skill of mixing and matching bold patterns in an effortless way that’s comparable to the work of Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi from Preen.
Runway:
Model wears a purple blouse featuring puffed sleeves and lavender star prints. The blouse is paired with an abstract, striped midi skirt featuring an asymmetrical orange wavy slit. The skirt’s accent color is complemented by the model’s similarly colored pointed leather heels.
Real Life:
Yahoo Lifestyle Beauty Editor Jacqueline Laurean Yates wears a vibrant striped blouse from Diane von Furstenberg. We wanted to choose a shirt that would feature a similar color scheme as her skirt, as shown at Maki Oh. In the end, we chose an abstract, color-blocked midi skirt from PH5. The wavy, asymmetric detail seen on the runway look is reworked here along the skirt’s panels. To give the look an extra pop of color, we styled Yates with a pair of yellow slingback leather heels from Topshop, currently on sale for only $40.
If you love this look and need a little extra color in your wardrobe, we suggest wearing it to the office and straight into the evening hour for cocktails. It still provides the necessary professionalism, but has an extra high fashion appeal that will impress your colleagues and friends. You can also wear each item separately with items you already own in your closet. For example, you can style the DVF blouse with a simple black skirt, a white blouse with the PH5 skirt, or the yellow heels with a traditional gray suit to jazz up an otherwise dull work outfit.
Shop the “Real Life” Maki Oh-inspired look below:
Clockwise from left:
Diane von Furstenberg Collared Shirt, $348, shopbop.com
Topshop Jemma Point Mid Heel Courts, $40 (on sale), topshop.com
PH5 Ziva Colorblocked Asymmetric Skirt with Studs, $425, ph5.com
Makeup at Maki Oh was centered around smooth skin, strong brows, and a deep bold lip. To get this look, start with an even canvas with a soft matte finish by using Sephora Collection PRO Foundation Brush #47 to apply Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Primer and Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation. Next, define brows using Sephora Collection Retractable Brow Pencil to frame the face. Follow by defining the lips, starting from the corners of the lips. Try Bite Beauty The Lip Pencil in Deep Navy. Then add a coat of Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipstick in Squid Ink on top. Complete the look by curling lashes and brushing on a layer of mascara.
Nigerian designer Maki Osakwe explained in a statement that she wanted to “depict Black beauty across the diaspora, in all its varying skin tones, and highlight how it depicts itself naturally” — and the rich variety of naturally coily hair accented with strategically placed bobby pins worn by models at her show definitely illustrated this vision. When starting out on straighter hair textures, Kérastase consulting hairstylist Matt Fugate advises to mimic the look of tight curls by using a small barrel curling iron. Then tease hair with a rat-tail comb to create “airiness and texture.” Next, create an off-centered part and crisscross gold bobby pins on both sides. To keep hair length above shoulders, pin up ends to “shrink” shape.
Photographer: Priscilla De Castro
Visual Editors: Casey Hollister, Nadeen Nakib
Beauty Director: Dana Oliver
Beauty Editor: Jacqueline Laurean Yates
Fashion Editor: Julie Tong
Sephora Makeup Artist: Karoline Karakeosian
Kérastase Hairstylist: Matt Fugate
Read More from Yahoo Lifestyle:
• Spring ahead with this fresh denim-on-denim look
• All the beautiful natural hair moments at fashion week
• Every Model at Maki Oh Was a Woman of Color
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