By Chinazam Ikechi-Uko.
“I believe in manifestation and like speaking things into existence. When I first started calling myself a celestial being, it just came to me, it was something I would just say to myself. I do not know where the word came from but it just came to me.”
In her documentary Dare To Dream, Ayra Starr gives the audience an insight into how she came up with the moniker “Celestial Being”. For the exceptional music star, this is a befitting title. Starr describes herself as a celestial being, that is, a being associated with the heavens or the sky. Science teaches us that thousands of solar systems possess a series of planets revolving around stars. In every system, there is the Goldilocks zone, a zone that, due to its distance from its star, makes it perfect for water to remain a liquid. Any further, it would be frozen; any closer, it would evaporate.
In Starr, there is a Goldilocks zone, and all factors are aligned to make her exist in her solar system at this time. Starr is a singer and dancer who bears an undeniable star power. Naturally, she has a commanding presence on stage, a talent that was recognized by her family, friends, and teachers during her early years. Off the stage, she has proven to be a fashion icon, scoring magazine covers like Teen Vogue, Dazed, and Numero. She hit the scene with a recognisable style— her love of mini skirts. However, there seems to be a hurdle that Starr can not jump— a red carpet.
WHAT WAS THAT VMA RED CARPET LOOK?
Nigerians have a saying about God being fair, so in Starr’s case, she gets to be a stellar artiste and fashion icon but at the cost of always having a miss on a red carpet. A fair trade one will presume. However, there is only so much one can take, and when Starr walked the Red Carpet for the Video Music Awards (VMA) on the 11th of September, everyone was done. Starr, who was nominated for Best Afrobeats music video, became the subject of a debacle.
Starr wore a dress by Tom Ford for YSL paired with Gianvito Russi’s ‘Metropolis’ Sandals. Several internet users called for her to fire her stylist. A tweet read, “I love Ayra Starr so much but my goodness she needs a new stylist because all her recent looks have been misses.”
Another read, “Ayra Starr has the worst stylist ever, that colour was too dull. She’s dark, so let her wear a bright and elegant dress.” Some dropped the niceties and simply asked if Starr’s stylist was a drug user because that would explain the brown, ragged look. The mean comments subsided when photos of Starr at the VMA after-party hit the internet. The only term that encapsulates her look is ethereal; she looks like a supermodel in a brown sequined corset by Erik Barshai.
For the rest of the night, the cry for the head of the stylist was put to sleep. This was a close call; however, this dichotomy is typical of Starr. Starr’s status as a fashion icon is championed by her performance and casual looks. In her three years as an artist, Starr has only had one red-carpet look that received positive reviews. Poetically, it was her 2023 VMA’s dress.
MEET THE CULPRIT:
Starr was on every high fashion account’s best-dressed list as she donned an altered archival Thierry Mugler dress from their Fall 1990 collection. The vintage piece is a far cry from her 2024 monochrome piece. The stylist behind the operation is Janice Mahenge. The internet might be convinced that Starr is the people’s princess and Mahenge is the dragon that must be slain to save the princess. But before I throw Mahenge to the wolves, is she really to be blamed for all these red carpet-looks that everyone hates?
In a Rolling Stone Africa article, Eniafe Momodu details how Starr and Mahenge’s partnership came to be. “The story of Starr and Mahenge’s creative partnership starts with a miniskirt: Starr’s team had been hunting down a specific Diesel skirt for her “Sability” music video when a mutual friend reached out to Mahenge hoping she would be able to track it down. Well, she did just that, and the rest is history.”
Sability by Ayra Starr made its debut in February 2023, while the firsts of many hated red-carpet looks include her 2022 Headies award and her 2022 British Fashion Award (BFA) looks. The Headies were held in September, and the BFAs were in December. The timing absolves Mahenge of all past red-carpet sins, and Rudy Simba Betty is credited with the BFA styling. So while the conclusion is Ayra Starr’s stylist is always putting her in nonsense red carpet looks, the truth is the stylist is responsible for one hated red carpet look (VMA 2024), one loved look (VMA 2023) and one mix-reviewed look (Grammys).
That is not a bad odd; the probability that Starr will have a good red carpet look remains ⅓. The next two red carpet looks will be the deciding factors on whether Mahenge is truly the antithesis of a red carpet slay. Mahenge is behind a handful of Starr’s looks like her Jimmy Fallon look, the iconic outfit on The Year I Turned 21’s album cover, her Dsquared2 look, her Paris Fashion Week looks and many more. For a stylist who was employed in the first quarter of 2023, Mahenge has done a good job at establishing Starr as a global style icon.
Yes, her recent red carpet YSL pull is infamous, yet it is not enough to discredit Starr and Mahenge as a good duo. In Mahenge’s words, “Fashion plays such an important role with this new generation of African musicians because it’s a way of translating who they are through their clothing.” Starr is simply discovering how to translate her eclectic mini-skirt-loving style into a red carpet-worthy look.
