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: The 2025 MET Gala part 2: “Well Tailored and Dandyism” Top 10 Looks, Bella Afrik Restaurant, Is good food and a balanced diet too expensive? and What is a Certified B Corporation?

The 2025 MET Gala: “Well Tailored and Dandyism” Top 10 Looks. The Met Gala is always a spectacle, filled with breathtaking fashion that pushes the boundaries of creativity and style. This year's theme, “Well Tailored and Dandyism,” drew inspiration from the elegance of tailored suits and the flamboyant flair of dandyism. As the stars descended upon the blue-black carpet, they redefined menswear and brought an air of sophistication with quirky twists. Here are the next 6 of our top 10 looks from the unforgettable evening and our ratings! Actor Colman 10/10 Fashion Uncle stepped out like a sermon in Silk, paying tribute to our Vogue icon André Leon Talley. He was draped in a beaded and embroidered royal blue cape as his first look. Then, I made a reveal into a second Valentino look. A delicious mix of prints and textures that highlighted fashion from the Times of the Moors. What a Superfine Tailoring!!! Actor Colman

Whoopi Goldberg 10/10 Mother indeed showed up as a high priestess of Dandy energy. She gave us the powerful Mother of the clan Vibes, dressed in a custom Thom Browne couture: a sequenced hourglass suit dress and a sharp top hat. The emphasis was on her silver-capped fingers. Whoopi Goldberg

Super Model Imaan Hammam 10/10 The model defined Superfine Tailoring. She dazzled in a reinterpretation of the Zoot suit, showcasing the one-piece creation of stunning proportions at the right places of the whole costume. Her Margiela x Louboutin heels peeked through the hem of the pants and crowned the look with an ostrich feather hat. This look embodies the “Superfine Tailoring & Dandyism.” Black Excellence at its peak. Super Model Imaan Hammam

Lewis Hamilton 10/10 He graced us with a beige on beige suit by Grace Wales Bonner. This costume featured a Cropped Jacket, High-waisted trousers with tuxedo stripes, coattails, and a white bow tie. He topped it off with a matching backwards cap, diamonds in his ears, lapels, cuffs, and all the way down to his shoes. He is Superfine himself. Lewis Hamilton

Anok Kai 10/10 Another masterpiece from Thom Browne. This costume featured a black brocade bodice with trompe l'oeil jacket sleeves, tied at the waist, and a dramatic, stiff white skirt at the bottom. Her sleek pixie cut and bold makeup emphasized her striking facial features as perfection. Anok Kai

Nicki Minaj 10/10 Thom Browne crafted the queen of RAP music's look, an impeccable fusion of avant-garde elegance and sartorial mastery. This custom pinstripes suit-inspired dress, with its mermaid silhouette, was accented by cascading ruffled flowers. Her sleek hairdo, crowned with a gilded headpiece, elevated the whole costume to an ethereal level, while the vibrant blue nails added an unexpected touch of modernity. Nicki Minaj

Bella Afrik Restaurant at Afrikiko leisure centre, Liberation road, Accra. This is a very popular Italian restaurant, which I normally avoid because in the evenings, parking is a huge problem, and Afrikiko and Bella Afrik are packed. But because it had rained I expected fewer crowds than usual and I indeed managed to park (but hardly managed to get out). Prices are high, plus they slap a 10% service charge on top. If these waiters are really getting that service charge, then they must be earning very nice money. I guess that 10% was mentioned somewhere on the menu, but not in such that I didn't notice it. GHS 49.50 for a soda water is a bit stiff, I think. And so is 66 GHS for a shot of vodka. But the place is very nicely decorated, ideal if you want to impress your guests. Service is good, but could be better. But there are ushers you can complain to, and then things get sorted out fast. We had a 4 seasons pizza, which was ok, and a Carlona chicken, which I have not been able to find in any cookery book or site. It was grilled chicken but off the bone, cut into small pieces, sautéed mushrooms, tomato sauce, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. To most, the Italian kitchen is spaghetti and pizza, but there's a lot more, and if you come to the right place, it definitely matches the French cuisine, if not surpasses it. A nice place, but bring funds.

Is good food and a balanced diet too expensive? A friend of mine, also called Lydia, recently fell seriously sick, and spent about 1800 GHS on hospital and laboratories, and medicines. She somehow got a little better, though the real cause of the ailment evaded everybody. I discussed her diet with her, which turned out to be mainly milk- and wheat products like Milo, bread, biscuits, pastries, spaghetti, and Indomie. She rarely took meat, fish, eggs, fruits or vegetables. First of all, I told her to take out the milk products (which includes Milo), 80% of West Africans have lactose intolerance, there's a certain sugar in cow milk which our body does not digest and which affects the well-functioning of our intestines (and thus obstructs proper food digestion). Now she is eating banku (akple, corn, cassava) & okro stew, beans, soup (chicken, jute leaf, groundnut), fufu, gobe, kebab, yam (mashed, pudding, pounded), oats, rice (pudding, balls), ripe plantain, spinach stew, tom brown, vegetables (salad), fish (herring, keta schoolboys), eggs, beef, pork and fruits (watermelon, pear, oranges, pawpaw, mango, coconut, banana). As you can see, she's also left out the wheat products because she thought that maybe she had gluten intolerance. Once she's fully recovered, we'll reintroduce that one and see what happens. She has not been sick since and claims to feel better than before she fell sick. And she now spends about 100 GHS more on food a month. A balanced diet may be cheaper than hospitals.

What is a Certified B Corporation? I saw this logo on a Mr Marvis advertisement for male shorts and shirts. My first thought was that it had something to do with the environment, but upon searching, I found out what it means. “Nothing really”. To be certified, the company has to achieve 80 points on the B impact scale, which sounds good, maybe worth a B. But it is a scale of 200, so 80 means a D. Fail? Maybe the B actually stands for Bullshit. Don’t be fooled, check things out. The net is there to ask questions, not only to post your selfies. WhatsApp AI, in this case, was misleading and only talked about the 80. Wikipedia was much clearer and mentioned that the scale was 200.

Lydia...

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