African Fashion Archives - Sara is in Love with…

In Fashion

Beauty is Overrated, Be Bold

25th June 2023 No Comments

I want to be that bold girl that has the attitude to pull off anything, not the beauty who is the perfect clothes rack. Beauty lasts just a short while; individual style lasts for life.

I’d always choose to express my unique personality and stand out of the crowd to be the perfect empty canvas. My goal is to make a bold statement about who I am, and I am willing to break away from conventional norms. You can find a hundred beautiful girls with stunning faces and beautiful bodies, but you can only find one Sara.

I embrace my uniqueness and don’t see it as a fault. I don’t have the longest legs, the prettiest face or the most stunning eyes. Well, this is me; everything I am makes me unique. I do not allow you to restrict or exclude me based on beauty standards. I am not the beauty queen, but the source of inspiration you cross on the street. I am a symbol that everybody can reach their dreams.

The canvas of my body belongs to myself alone, and I play with it, turn it into art and display my personality on the outside. I am a vulnerable being, but I am bold enough not to hide beneath an anonymous facade that gives you no room to criticise how I look. I am an ambassador of colour, spreading it wherever I go.

I am who I am; if you are gentle with me or not, it will not change, but it would be wonderful if we could accept each other the way we are.

Blazer: Fenci Couture, Coat: Pedro Lourenço, Trousers: Maya Seyferth
Shoes: Underground London, Necklace: Swarovski
Makeup: Angela Rosamilia, Location: African Fashion Night
Photographer: Nordfriisk

In Fashion

Africa Suits Me

16th June 2019 1 Comment

Sara is in Love with… Swiss Fashion blogger African Fashion pink hair

As soon as it gets warmer my love for African prints awakes. Well, actually it wasn’t sleeping during winter, but since there are rarely warm jumpers or coats featuring those strong prints, I had to put them aside and wait till it was finally African Season in Europe again. Let the pattern mania begin!

Just like last summer, I see quite some European/American labels featuring African prints in their collections and this fills me with puzzlement: Most of them just seem to repeat what was done by African designers already, same fabrics, not very different cuts and silhouettes and not much innovation. Why do they bother if they don’t add something different I ask myself and even more so: Why should I not just go for the real thing and support the African designers with my shopping?

This is just what I do in this look with my pencil skirt and jacket made in Nigeria. I believe that cultures enrich each other and it makes me happy that in my everyday life there are little signs of many different influences all mixed up to a beautiful union. This feeling is what I expect from European designers using African Prints: I want them to work with those fabrics because they adore their strong uniqueness and I want them to add something of their culture, to reinterpret them and create something new with love. This is what I’d buy, hang next to my original African designs, my Chinese kimonos, and British tartan skirts and take out to combine it to wild looks that know no boundaries.

My Outfit
Jacket and Skirt: Tufafiii from Hanimanns, Jumper: CeliaB, Shoes: Ego & Greed,
Bag & Sunglasses: Maude Studio, Hat: Lack of Color, Belt: HM x Moschino,
Kneesocks: Retropunk

Pictures: Marco Borromeo. This post contains sponsored products.

In Fashion

The Philosophy of Colour

1st November 2018 No Comments

Sara is in Love with… rainbow look blogger

Why yellow is the most warm, noble and closest to the bright light;
why Blue is that mix of excitement and serenity, so far that it evokes the shadows;
and why Red is the exaltation of Yellow and Blue, the synthesis,
the vanishing of the bright light into the shadows
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

This is what Goethe wrote to South American revolutionary Francisco de Miranda in a letter, referring to the flag of Colombia which has the same three colours as my jumpsuit in this look. Reading Goethe’s words gives my look another dimension and reveals the philosophy behind colours.

As a true colour enthusiast, thinking about the meaning of colours is one of my favourite topics to keep my brain cells busy on some calm evenings. A lot of interesting questions and hypothesis are linked if you allow yourself to open up your mind: What is colour actually? Let’s start with the fact that colours don’t have a physique, you can neither touch nor taste them. They only exist in dependence of light and change in different light situations while complete darkness makes them disappear as well.

Colours only emerge within our perception of objects, people and in nature, which leads to the question if they only exist in the eye of the beholder. To make the topic more complex we have to consider the fact that every observer experiences colour in a different way: The exact shade of red of my bag might be seen differently by every one of you. How would you describe it: Maybe as a bright red, a firefighter red, the perfect lipstick red? What feeling does it evoke in you: Is it warm, aggressive, female, powerful or dangerous? Maybe some of you are colourblind and experience it as a shade of green.

How would an animal with its very different way of seeing colours perceive my bag? Dogs and cats see mostly in green and have an especially poor vision when it comes to red tones, for example, butterflies see colours we don’t perceive and vipers don’t even have eyes but “see” with feeling the heat of objects.

Let me finish with the ultimate question of the day: Imagine if we would live in a world of blind people or a world without light: Would colours just stop to exist without somebody capable of perceiving them? I am curious to hear your thoughts about this…

My Outfit
Jumpsuit: Tufafii from Hanimanns, Jacket: 90s Moschino from Love at the Bus Stop,
Shoes: Love Moschino, Bag: Moschino A/W 2014, Sunglasses: Saint Laurent,
Brooch: Schmiley Mo, Bangle: Les Georgettes by Altesse, Belt: Vintage

Pictures: Marco Borromeo. This post contains sponsored products.

In Fashion

An Ode to Strong Women

11th October 2018 2 Comments

Sara is in Love with… blogger ootd style fashion Frida Kahlo Celia B African print fascinator Fumbalinas pink hair Melissa shoes Karl Lagerfeld

This one is dedicated to all the strong women out there. To the women who made history because they went their way without being stopped, not listening when people said they should behave, shut their mouths, busy themselves with being pretty and live a conventional life.

A few of them turned into icons and those are the ones who inspire thousands of women, including me, day after day to keep their back straight when they feel weak and vulnerable. I want to name three of them in this post:

Hatshepsut

who ruled Egypt as the second female pharaoh. She is considered the first great woman in history and one of the most successful rulers of Ancient Egypt. Hatshepsut made herself immortal with a breathtaking temple, showing her power.

Frida Kahlo

the surreal Mexican painter refused being stopped by livelong chronic pain, several miscarriages, and fatigue after a horrible bus accident that changed her life. She put all her soul and heart into her surreal and very personal art and had herself carried to her own exhibition with her bed when her legs didn’t carry her.

Umm Kulthum

the Arabic singer who dressed as a boy at the age of 12 to sing on a stage. She became the most famous Arab voice of the 20th century and no other Arabic singer ever reached the glory of this diva. When she was buried in 1974, more than four million people attended her funeral in Cairo and until now, her songs are loved by a lot of people.

There are many more female icons I l admire and I intend to tell you about more these very soon. But let me tell you one more thing: Besides the famous women and not less important are the amazing women I can call friends and family. Yes I mean you out there, you don’t build temples or have millions of fans, but you master the difficult task called life day after day. You are independent and even if you don’t have an easy time you are kind and have always an open ear and a shoulder to lean on for your girls. We laugh together and sometimes we cry together, then lift our chin and face what we have to face without fear in our eyes.

You are heroines in my eyes and I adore you and your stories! Let’s continue to empower each other, share support and watch each other grow! I couldn’t be more grateful for having you in my life what makes you better than Hatshepsut, Frida, and Umm!

My Outfit
Dress: CeliaB, Earrings: Dakota Rae Dust, Bag: Sophia Webster,
Shoes: Karl Lagerfeld x Melissa, Fascinator: Fumbalinas, Blue Bangle: A Gift,
Silver Bangle: Charriol, Pink Bangle: Vintage, Pink Cuff: Les Georgettes de Altesse

Pictures: Marco Borromeo. This post contains sponsored products.

In Fashion

This is not LA. This is Sara-Land.

26th July 2018 12 Comments

Hi, this is Sara without the H, a girl captured in Zurich in an LA-style setting while wearing gorgeous African wax prints mixed with designer pieces and high street fashion.

Quite a clash isn’t it? And totally where I do feel home: Dancing over borders, always looking for moments when different cultures, styles, and worlds come together, unite and melt into something new and beautiful. An entity is nothing but the combined amazingness of all its parts. Something as mundane as street style can become an expression of a life philosophy if you look twice and don’t think clothes are nothing more but the fibres they are made from.

“What is Sara is in Love with about?” I got asked quite often. Well, I think this post shows it especially well: It’s about building a world seen through my eyes, a joyful place of colours where individuality and being different is embraced, it’s the empire of a crazy fashion chick sourcing inspiration from a globalized world.

I want to help to empower all the creative weirdos out there: It’s ok to not fit in, just use your energy to change the world according to your visions and most important: Create and go your own way till you discover all the drawers they want you to put in have got too small.

I believe no matter where you are, you can find beauty in a place if you just keep looking hard enough. I heard bloggers complaining that we don’t have such colourful and pretty walls as in LA over here: Look at my post, we do! It might have been more work to find them and capture them the way I imagined, but the harder things are to find the more precious they are!

My Outfit
Top: Tufafii from Hanimanns, Skirt: Massimo Dutti, Bag: Marc Jacobs,
Bangle: Bally from Fashion Fish Factory Outlet, Sunglasses: Craig&KarlxLeSpecs,
Shoes: Sophia Webster, Belt: Vintage

Pictures: Marco Borromeo. This post contains sponsored products.