Sky's the limit.....virtually!

I have a couple of Big Fs in my life that make me happy, Food, Fast Cars, Fashion and some others. My focus today will be on F A S H I O N, especially as I started watching Britain's Next Top Model Cycle 6 (so far so fierce!). Now for a quick history on my love affair with Fashion. Fashion is in my blood, I respect it but I don't take it too seriously (some people will wear a thong on their head if Anna Wintour decides it is the next big thing.....pls!) and I am definitely not interested in spending hours behind a sewing machine, pretending to be the next Pierre Balmain. Funny enough, I was a muse for my mum back in the early 80s, modelling in some of her fashion shows and wearing creations from her wedding line as a flower girl or little bridesmaid. I recall browsing tonnes of catalogues in her show room, dressing up her mannequins, watching her turn her sketches into real life garments and also sitting in on classes in her fashion school BUT I always knew I was more intrigued by the vanity side of fashion rather than the actual art behind it (I'm fickle, shoot me!). I am not totally useless though, I can knit, crochet and do some funky stitches but that's as good as it gets lol.

To me, fashion unlike so many other industries loves to embrace and celebrate the "elephant in the room". Fashion is expression, personal, liberating, bold, insightful and unpredictable. When I started dwarfing guys my age and sticking out like a sore thumb in photographs with my friends because I was way taller than them, I've got to admit it didn't feel as fabulous as the fashion industry tells you it should. It also didn't help that I was relatively skinny considering it was the pre-size 0 era as back then everyone wanted to look like the video girls on MTV (note, Naomi Campbell in Michael Jackson's In the Closet and George Michael's Freedom '90, were some of the few videos that incorporated fashion's idea of what is beautiful, into the mainstream music scene). Then came the pressure of shopping for my height, I could never find trousers that were long enough and was grateful to the fashion gods that picked the eras of pedal pushers and Capri pants but cursed those behind hipsters lol. With time and several late nights watching Fashion TV, I started learning to enjoy my awkwardness and stopped limiting myself to low heeled shoes just to seem less intimidating and masculine as I always imagined guys would rather approach a girl they towered over. Moving to London also did wonders for my confidence as people were generally taller than in Lagos, models were idolised and so I found myself being approached by scouts a few times but never dabbled heavily as my parents would have had my head! So at A-level school and university, I worked the runway and almost always had the honour of opening or closing whatever show I did. To top it all off, being tall has been great for my Investment Banking career as bankers almost always go for the model types (of course you need to know how to model in Microsoft Excel!). I believe this year to be one of the most exciting times for fashion. There is something for everyone and it is great, needless to say, the big movement in the Nigerian fashion scene has awakened even the fashion unconscious amongst us. In my bid to stay true to why fashion became a great love of mine, I frequently wear "outrageous" outfits and skyscraper heels, and turn the streets of London into my runway, doing my best Naomi Campbell catwalk impression and secretly thinking of myself as the elephant in the room that fashion set free!

A list of other tall ladies (i.e. 5' 10" and above) that have broken the glass ceiling literally!
Venus Williams
Yolanda Adams
Ana Ivanovic
Kimora Lee Simmons
Ann Coulterer
Macy Gray
Elle MacPherson
Brooke Shields
Uma Thurman
Geena Davis
Wendy Williams
Taylor Swift
Rebecca Romijn
Rachel Hunter
Tyra Banks
Gisele Bundchen
Marion Jones
Michelle Obama
Nicole Kidman
Grace Jones
Khloe Kardashian Odom
Blake Lively
Kim Cattrall
Queen Latifah
Naomi Campbell
Leila Ali
Mandy Moore
Minnie Driver