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: Tech-Infused Fabrics, Cannes Film Festival, Toothpaste, and Champagne, Prosecco, Sekt and Cava

Tech-Infused Fabrics: Tech isn’t just for gadgets—it’s now playing a major role in corporate fashion. The fusion of fashion and technology is already happening in the West African fashion scene, with designers experimenting with fabrics that adapt to your environment. Imagine a blazer that adjusts to your body temperature or fabric that repels water and resists wrinkles—perfect for the busy corporate lifestyle. Wearable tech is also gaining popularity, from smart watches to bracelets that help with productivity. So, if you thought the future of fashion was still years away, think again—it's here, and it's happening now. Power Suits with a Twist: While the classic power suit isn’t going anywhere, it’s getting an upgrade. The 2026 power suit in West Africa will be all about standing out. Think bold hues like deep emerald greens and fiery oranges, paired with soft, fluid fabrics that make you look as powerful as you feel. Corporate fashion will continue to honor the structured look of the classic suit, but designers are adding modern, playful touches: asymmetrical cuts, unconventional lapels, and creative tailoring. This gives the traditional business suit a fresh, modern energy while maintaining its authority. It’s all about merging strength and style!

Cannes Film Festival is from 12th to 23rd May 2026. We've finished with the fashion weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris, telling us what we should wear this autumn and winter, but there's more coming up. The Cannes Film Festival, held on the Côte d'Azur in the South of France (careful, there’s another Cannes in France somewhere inland) is a glamorous celebration of cinema. But as all these Global film stars show up to see their own films they also dress up and showcase haute couture from the luxury fashion houses as they strut the festival’s red carpet. So both film and fashion lovers get their share. It's pretty crowded, so if you want to see anything you need to arrive early. And of course the real events are strictly by invitation and with a lot of security. While it is a film festival first and foremost, the Cannes Film Festival has become known for its elegant and opulent looks. As a result, it is now considered one of the most stylish fashion events on the international calendar.

Toothpaste. We all want to smell fresh and have smiling teeth. But like so many things this one too comes at a price, and not only the price of the toothpaste. Digestion is a very important issue. If we do not digest properly part of what we eat will never get into our bloodstream, our body, to give energy, to build cells, to protect cells, what not. Irritated bowels can even lead to depression. So we know that the food is first digested in the stomach. Wrong, it starts in the mouth. If you chew long enough on bread or rice it becomes sweat, the enzymes in our saliva break down the carbohydrates in the bread or the rice into smaller sugars which can more easily pass through the intestine walls into our bloodstream. You can look up what enzymes are, if you like. And in the intestines it is bacteria which chop through the food and make it more digestible. Billions of bacteria. But in the mouth too there are bacteria, about 700 different ones. They help break down the food before it even enters into the stomach. Indeed, some of the bacteria in your mouth are bad ones and try to damage your teeth and especially your gums. So the toothpaste kills them all, the good ones with the bad ones. According to my dentist brushing your teeth and gums with water is sufficient, remove leftovers from between your teeth, that's all. And a new toothpaste is on the way, it stops the growth of the bad bacteria, allowing the good ones to thrive. The active ingredient is called guanidinoethylbenzylaminoimidazopyridine acetate (a mouth full, indeed) and the toothpaste is a called Periotrap, a German product. A 75 grams tube should cost about 225 GHC when it gets to Ghana. I estimate the product will come off patent in a few years and should then be more affordable.

Champagne, Prosecco, Sekt and Cava. Champagne is a famous sparkling wine, maybe the most famous of all wines. The French did a good marketing job here. It is made like wine, allowing grapes and their juice to ferment and produce alcohol, but with champagne they later add more yeast and some sugar and manage to create bubbles. So the alcohol you drink is in fact packed in bubbles which make it act faster, so you'll easily get tipsy. Happy celebration. Because of it's popularity Champagne sells at a premium, and for a low end bottle you pay an easy 350 GHC, in a restaurant that would sell at 700-1000 GHC. The more expensive bottles go from 550 GHC upwards to an easy 6000 GHC a bottle. But the Champagne process is not unique to France, though the name is, the Germans have their sekt, the Italians their Prosecco, and the Spaniards have their Cava. It's more or less all the same stuff, but I can get a decent bottle of Prosecco here for 150 GHC, half the price of a low end French Champagne. And a German wine maker Henkell just bought the nr 1 Spanish cava wine estate Freixenet for several hundreds of millions of Euros, so at least they reckon there's a future in these champagne copycats. Freixenet recently suffered drought and got into financial problems. Henkell already owns several brands of Prosecco, Sekt, Cava and Champagne. Cheers

Lydia...

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