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 Bottom Line: Be Ready to Mix Tradition with Innovation!, Fake high end thrift fashion, Black paints black, and Jazz in Accra

The Bottom Line: Be Ready to Mix Tradition with Innovation! The upcoming corporate fashion trends in West Africa are nothing short of exciting. From Afro-futurism to gender-fluid designs, the corporate world is embracing a more inclusive, sustainable, and creative approach to workwear. It’s about breaking the mould, celebrating culture, and looking to the future with designs that feel both relevant and fresh. As we have stepped into 2026, expect to see these trends popping up everywhere, from boardrooms to coffee shops. Whether you’re looking to revamp your work wardrobe or just keep up with what’s hot, West African fashion is sure to inspire. The Return of Bold Prints & Bright Colours: One of the things we love about West African fashion is its unapologetic use of colour. Bright, bold prints are set to dominate the corporate world in 2026, making your 9-to-5 wardrobe a whole lot more exciting. Think vibrant, eye-catching patterns like tie-dye, floral prints, and of course—Ankara. Whether it's a printed shirt under a structured suit or a bold, patterned dress for those important business meetings, expect to see a lot more vibrancy in your workwear. And let’s not forget those matching accessories—brightly coloured bags, shoes, and scarves will be the perfect finishing touch to any corporate outfit.

Fake high end thrift fashion. Fake fashion brands are common here and you can buy a nicely branded handbag for 100 GHC, the real thing would probably cost you 500 USD or more. LVMH, holder of 18000 intellectual property rights (including trademarks, designs, and copyrights) through brands like Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Tiffany & Co, Moët & Chandon and Hennessy, fights tooth and nail to make sure no one copies, and has many many court cases simultaneously, sometimes initiated by them, but also initiated by artistes against them, who claim their designs were copied into one of the LVMH items. For some reason they are not doing anything here, maybe the average length of a Ghana court case of 980 days is a deterrent. But careful, don’t carry these things to Europe, it may be taken from you plus a hefty penalty. There is also the thrift market for real luxury branded items, like Birkin bags or Rolex watches. These items are offered on specialized web sites who earn brokerage money. Turnover was 50 billion dollars in 2024, 50 billion US dollar of high end thrift items. Up 7% on the precious year. But is it real? Or fake? So they have experts checking every individual item before it is put up for sale. The leather, the threads, the zip, the lock, every little item is checked. Basic training to become an authentication expert takes about 5 months, after that you specialize in bags, shoes, watches, clothing, jewelry. Fake items offered for sale to these specialized brokers used to be 30%, but now that it's up, half the items offered to the brokers are fake. The broker and the original manufacturer now cooperate, the manufacturer points out the little secret details which few know, and the brokers inform the manufacturers on the latest in fakes. And some don't care to walk around with a fake, like us here.

Black paints black. Paintings of black people have become fashionable of late, and as a serious art collector you better have at least one painting of a black person in your collection. It may be worth while, some paintings go for several hundreds of thousands of dollars, sometimes millions. Will it last? I doubt it, because everybody is now producing the same fashionable things. Examples are Emy Sherald, a black American who became fashionable after painting Michelle Obama and Ghanaian Amoako Boafo who was a forerunner here in Ghana. Emy Sherald's painting of Michelle Obama Amoako Boafo

Jazz in Accra. About 12 years ago Dr Adrian Odoi of Akai House Clinic and Co (some family, some friends) started the +233 Jazz Club and Grill at Dr. Isert Street in North Ridge, Accra, at the former Bass Line Jazz Club with the motto “keeping music alive”. The name +233 was a genius, Ghana's international dialing code, and also the addition of “grill” was clever, they took a very good kebab griller from Zorzor bar, a popular bar in Osu, (now closed) and that alone brought customers. From a small inside stage which soon could not hold enough public the band slowly moved outside, then that stage was enlarged, then the platform for the customers was enlarged twice and now there are even 3 upstairs, 2 facing the stage. The sound system is absolutely tops, and indeed Odoi and Co have kept music alive, ayeeko. Though it is called a jazz Club there is also evergreens, highlife, local Ga and others. Except Mondays there is something going on every night, Tuesday being for the Ghana Jazz Ensemble. Some foreign artistes like Joss Stone – Grammy-winning English singer-songwriter known globally for soul, R&B and pop, Milena Casado – American jazz trumpeter and composer, Jackie Ribas – Brazilian-American jazz vocalist, Native Vibe with Jeff Kashiwa & Kevin Flournoy – U.S.-based jazz fusion band and their special guests (including saxophonist Jeff Kashiwa), and Alune Wade – and Senegalese bassist and bandleader have performed at the +233 Jazz and Grill bar. Food is not too bad, though pricy, the kebabs are still mostly very good, a beef kebab goes for 65 GHC but looking at what you get it is worthwhile. Though sometimes they are out of beef. Yam chips are often nicely crispy. They sell local and foreign draft beers but often run out of the foreign ones and then it is back to the bottle And no hot dogs. Sunday is mainly football but without the sound, rather a DJ with nice music. They have a large vodka list but in reality only have a few. Grilled chicken and jollof go for 140 GHC, meat samosa 65, soda water 25.

Lydia...

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