Celebrating the African Woman

The style showcases the uniqueness of your identity; every woman’s style does that. As a matter of fact, every individual tells stories of themselves through their style—whether it’s through a preference for a clean, professional ensemble, a relaxed, casual outfit, or through a dark gothic look. Despite the authenticity of each person’s style choices though, no style is independent of influences. Every woman’s style is influenced by something (or someone), and this is very obvious from pop-culture fashion influences to cultural and domestic fashion trends in different continents.

The only problem is, when style influencers discuss style, they often mean Western fashion. After all, there is an unspoken rule that Western-style is trendier than ethnic styles. Think about fashion icons and trends globally, and on a long list of fashion influencers you will find the West at the helm.

From America’s list of designers to the style influence of Europe’s monarchy and Italy’s impeccable tailoring craftsmanship, Western styles have been equated with sophistication. While on the other hand, ethnic styles are often considered to be uninteresting, like they somehow do not match up to the elegance of Western fashion. But ethnic styles have been wrongly stereotyped. And more than their usefulness as a costume, ethnic styles have something that most other style influences cannot boast of authenticity.

Ethnic style is seamless, original, and geared towards upholding a cultural heritage. That is why we at Cynthia Abila are excited to be one of the brands that are upholding our cultural heritage, the African cultural heritage. Since coming on the fashion scene, we have stayed true to this mission by designing vibrant collections that effortlessly fuses ethnic and modern influences. Through the preciseness of each of our pieces, Cynthia Abila aims to help every woman announce her ethnicity proudly, subsequently giving African ethnic identities the prestige that they are truly deserving of.

With our ethnic-inspired pieces at Cynthia Abila, we aim to tell the authentic African story. Cynthia Abila is a premium, Nigerian-based fashion brand for women who love to travel and explore diverse cultures all around the world while holding passionately to their roots. The pieces are mostly made with modern aesthetics. We explore the beauty of African culture through our creative, colourful, and intricate ethnic designs. We have done this through pieces like our SS19 collection that was inspired by Nigeria’s Niger-Delta KruKrubite.

With ethnic fashion, one of our aims at Cynthia Abila is to fuse different cultural and modernistic elements to create a remarkable style. We know that ethnic fashion seeks to drive home one point: I have a culture. I belong somewhere, and I am proud to be a part of that place. Whether it’s expressed through the beautifully woven Kente piece on a Ghanaian, or the proudly adorned Kanga on an East African woman, or the Masaiare dress of the Kenyan people, we understand that style is expressive. And that is why we love expressive designs at Cynthia Abila.

Inspired by the vibrant hues of the African continent and our creative inclination, we love to infuse the vivid pattern of cultural fabrics with the minimalist preference of the modern woman. We also love to play with colourful fabrics, mixing our designs with coral beadwork, eco-friendly pieces, and more.

With that said, you’re possibly thinking about why you should take a chance on ethnic fashion if you already have a preference for modern, Western styles. Well, we would love nothing more than to show you all the reasons why you should take that chance.