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Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on Instagram

— by Alyson Walsh

A lifelong lover of dressing up, the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie admits to changing her appearance and pretending not to care about clothes when she wanted to be taken seriously as a writer. Now that she is taken seriously, the award-winning author has reverted to wearing what she likes: vibrant colourful dresses, full skirts and feminine jackets, often accessorized with bold jewellery and heels. Something that her twin 20-year-old nieces hadn’t failed to notice when they persuaded Adichie to open an Instagram account. Which I’ve just started following @chimamanda_adichie.

There’s a lovely feature written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, on style, designing her own clothes and supporting the Nigerian fashion industry, in the FT HERE. On returning to wearing the clothes that she loves, Adichie mentions how disillusioned she’d become with the lack of pockets, sleeves and ‘dresses assuming the absence of non-flat breasts.’ Going on to add:

‘My greatest gripe was with the word “modest”, used to describe clothes for what they were not — short or body-baring — rather than for what they were. “Modest” brought a moral, frumpy taint to what was often an aesthetic choice. I loved midi lengths because I found them sexy, sleeves because they were more flattering, higher necklines for their air of confident chic.’

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A lifelong lover of dressing up, the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie admits to changing her appearance and pretending not to care about clothes when she wanted to be taken seriously as a writer. Now t…