M.A.G. blog, signed by Lydia

Lydia's Weekly Lifestyle blog is for today's African girl, so no subject is taboo. My purpose is to share things that may interest today's African girl.

This week's contributors: Lydia, Pépé Pépinière, Titi, this week's subjects: Black Style Reimagined: The 2025 Met Gala's Bold Fashion Statement, The gynecologist, Cyril Bar and Grill? and +233 Jazz bar and grill presents poetry and soprano saxes

Black Style Reimagined: The 2025 Met Gala's Bold Fashion Statement. Celebrating “Blackness, Superfine Tailoring and Dandyism” Through the Lens of Black Celebrities. The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The 2025 MET Gala dazzled us with a theme that pays homage to tailored elegance and the fabulous world of dandyism. As the saying goes, “God created Blackman and Blacks created Style”. Black celebrities brought their A-game, embracing the essence of bespoke suiting, bold prints, and extravagant accessories. Here’s a roundup of the top 10 looks that stood out on the red carpet, along with our ratings!

Janelle Monáe 10/10 A fashion masterpiece, avant-garde, and a high dandyism concept altogether. Designer Thom Browne created a deconstructed constructed pinstripe suit, complete with exaggerated shoulders and a clock monocle. The structured overcoat gave the illusion of stepping out of a time machine and revealed a deconstructed suit beneath, drawing inspiration from 1930s Tailoring. The real showstopper is the 5.5-carat tequila diamond brooch, crafted from tequila and upside-down diamonds. The entire look was a poetic statement of Black Dandyism Art of Style. Janelle Monáe

Teyana Taylor 10/10 Powerhouse femme fatale had a dandyism moment. She dazzled with quintessential Black excellence and dandy twist, styled in a red pinstripe suit by Ruth E. Carter. This look was accessorized with a large red flower on the right side, silver lapel pins on the left, red leather gloves, a complementary cane, and a red fedora hat complete with a feather. And her shoes screamed “Iconic”. Teyana Taylor

Lupita Nyong'o 10/10 She made a colourful return to the MET GALA this year in a vibrant, custom-tailored pastel green Chanel suit that was part edgy, part elegant, a double-breasted jacket, sheer cape and crystal-studded accessories, with shoulder flowing scarf that trailed behind her. Lupita embraced boldness and elegance, combining a dandy silhouette with vivid colour. This look was fresh, fierce, and perfectly tailored to accentuate her figure. Lupita Nyong'o

Alton Mason 10/10 The male Naomi Campbell looked absolutely stunning in a Hugo Boss costume. His look was daring, yet refined and was still on theme. The glittery silver eye patch added a daredevil aura to his appearance. This is bold black dandyism paired with confidence and style to stand out. Alton Mason

The gynecologist. I don't think that any of us fancies going to a gynecologist, but sometimes you have to. Most of us would prefer a female. But still, some of these females can be quite unfriendly and unaccommodating, as if you were bringing something dirty. And that is exactly something we did not need at such moments. So ask around, now, who is a good professional and friendly at the same time. Ask your friends and colleagues at work, ask your ordinary doctor. So that the day you need it, you know where you will go. And the same goes for midwives, some can be outright blunt and rude.

Cyril Bar and Grill? (10 Kakradamu street, East Cantonments, Accra). This is a restaurant bar run at the Bulgarian cultural centre, but apart from some pictures on the wall and the semi-Bulgarian menu, I don't see much of that cultural centre, which is fine with me, the food is an experience. They serve a good cold draft beer at 35 GHS and a virgin Mojito cocktail at 50 GHS. We had turkey wings with boiled potatoes, garlic bread (theirs is a bit fluffy like a flat egg cake but without the egg, nice when fresh), kebabche, which is not kebab but short grilled spicy minced meat sausages, nice, and mussels (180GHS, a big portion). The mussels were the main reason I went there, amongst the reasonably priced restaurants in Accra, and I don’t know of any other that serve them. Though not too common, one can also find mussels in Ghana on the rocky outcrops along our beaches, especially during low tides in April and October. They are generally smaller than what Cyrils serves. But unless you are a good swimmer, I do not suggest you go mussel hunting; then better to arrange with the local boys and stay safe. Whilst they harvest them, you make a small fire and eat them fresh on the beach. You will never forget.

+233 Jazz bar and grill presents poetry and soprano saxes. Sunday evenings at +233, which has “keeping music alive” as its slogan, are normally quiet, but last Sunday was one of the exceptions to the rule with the Israeli Yogev Shetrit Trio. Yogev is the drummer and founder of this trio, which changed things a bit from the usual Tuesday's Frank Kissi & the Electric Band (here too it is the drummer, Frank Kissi, who is the founder of the band). One of the guest stars was Apiorkor Seyram Ashong, who presented one of her poetry pieces, accompanied by the trio. I'd been reading some of her printed poems, not the easiest to digest, but worth exploring. But it became a different matter altogether when she presented one of her poems herself. Maybe it was the sound system, maybe she was nervous or had just recovered from a cold, but her voice was terrible and spoiled it all. But she had sufficient fans in the hall and got the applause she had come for. Next to come up was young man Sefto on soprano saxophone. You don't see these often, we seem to prefer the alto and tenor saxes. He blended in nicely with the Trio, and especially when they played some Moroccan/Arabic style tunes, a bit like snake charmer music, his instrument made a worthwhile contribution, and the applause was well deserved. An interesting evening, keeping music alive indeed, +233. Ayeeko. Footnote: The famous Marrakesh snake charmers have been told to reduce the amount of charming they do in a day, the snakes are tired and nervous because of too much dancing, and might become aggressive. The fallout of too many tourists visiting the place.

# Lydia...

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