Do you know that there are many celebrity women in Abeokuta who spend a lot every week to look good at Owambe parties? For those who don’t know what Owambe is all about, let’s quickly tell you.
Owambe is a lavish and flamboyant party, which is usually thrown and steeped in a show of luxury, lavish spending, colour, extravaganza, lots of food, music, dance and networking. It has its origin in Western Nigeria, particularly among the Yorubas. Such parties are usually thrown during birthdays, house-warming, naming ceremonies, reunions, and most especially during weddings and sometimes, funerals.
Generally, the larger the Owambe party, the more successful it’s perceived to be. In all of these, Abeokuta is not left out of the show. We can reveal that if it comes to spending big to prepare for a party Lagosians are known to be big spenders as they will go as far as getting a diamond necklace and Aso-Ebi that are worth hundreds of thousands just to look good for a party, Abeokuta women also spend big too.
In Abeokuta today, celebrity women now spend big. They take their time to assemble what to wear, how to look and the necklace to put on. Most of the women hardly wear the same outfit or jewellery twice after spending a fortune on it.
Now let’s start from their Aso Ebi, the popular matching outfit called Aso Ebi is a Nigerian outfit made from matching fabric to be worn by a group of people to a party, wedding, or funeral as a uniform. Wearing a certain Aso Ebi identifies the group of wearers. For instance, at a wedding, all the bride’s friends might wear blue and gold, the bride’s family might wear white and gold, and the groom’s friends might wear black and pink, and so on. They could be Aso-Oke (traditional hand-woven material), cotton, damask, lace, guinea brocade or even wax fabric (Ankara). Wearing Aso Ebi has its benefits; several times, it dictates the kind of treatment the wearer gets at the party especially with regards to food and souvenirs.
Abeokuta celebrity women now have a style of spending more than the cost of fabric on designing the cloth, especially if it is Ankara, their styles speak volume as some would have Swarovski stones all over the Ankara, which is very expensive. Some go for beading all the way and some would buy expensive fabrics to mix with the Ankara, to achieve perfection and to show class when they are asked where they made their dresses. Some of these Abeokuta celebrity women make their clothes from popular designers in Lagos, and when they step out at events they turn heads and make a fashionable statements. If you have met the likes of Oloori Olabisi Akamo, Chief (Mrs.) Temitope Adeshina, Honourable Adijat Adeleye Oladapo, Chief (Mrs.) Veronica Atobatele, Oloori Khadijat Taylor, Barrister Funmi Adeyemi, Eniola Iwalaye to mention a few. All these women don’t come to play when it comes to spending big on Owambe parties. If a big society woman is having a party in town and the general Aso-Ebi is Ankara, rest assured that she would definitely choose another expensive Aso-Ebi for the Abeokuta celebrity, which will run close to two hundred thousand naira and when they step into a party you will know them with their styles and combination.
Their jewellery are also something to write home about. If they want it simple, it’s always beautiful and the bogus ones are always eye catching. If you meet these women in twenty parties afterwards, they won’t repeat the same necklace. Apart from the fact that some of them travel abroad to get all their expensive jewellery, there are two particular places in town they go to for their jewellery when they are set to rock their weekend parties. Khadtay Stop Centre, it is owned by Oloori Khadijat Taylor, the Oloori of Olu Kobape, she is also one of the celebrity women in town, and her place is one of the two places they go to pick their necklaces for the weekend. Some of them take their cloth there for stonning and beading, as the outfit stocks the most expensive and nicest jewellery in town. Ayaba’s Closet is owned by Chief Mrs Veronica Atobatele, the wife of the Balogun Egbaland. Her one Stop Centre located in Isale Igbehin area of Abeokuta is the second place celebrity women go to for their jewellery to rock their weekend events. She also prescribes toiletries that would make their skin glow for them.
After all these are set, few weeks or days to the event, they must have made a reservation with their makeup artists to complement their outfits, most weekends it’s hard to get a quick make up without notification from the most sought-after makeup artists in town, although there are many makeup artists in town but these celebrity women have particular makeup artists they patronise regularly. HVS make-over owned by Tessy Igwe located on Quarry road of Abeokuta is one of the favorites in town. The brain-behind the outfit is, no doubt, good at what she does, as her studio is a standard one with beautiful wall papers to enhance their photographs after. Her place is always filled up with celebrity customers waiting for their turn to get their makeover. Mary G is another most patronised and popular makeup artist in town, who is, no doubt, good at what she does. Her outfit is located at Abiola Way area and she has many celebrity women in town as her clients. It’s hard to get a makeover without prior appointment when it comes to getting a makeover at Mary G’s studio. After the makeup is ready and they are good to go, there is a standby photographer attached to the make up studio, who is ready to take their photographs and send them immediately. That is why you see some celebrity women on social media every weekend and you begin to ask if they take time out to go for a photo shoot every weekend. All of these don’t come cheap at all, and it is for the purpose of looking good and standing out at their weekend Owambes. At a close quarters, with the women, you will perceive what a designer perfume smells like as they have special perfumes they use when they are attending a party for the weekend. Their purse is stuffed with different denominations of naira, their Italian shoes and bags looking beautiful and on point.
Now, if they are close to the host of the Owambe, rest assured that they are storming the party with good tidings, personal expensive souvenirs will be shared among their friends and when they are going home, they send for their driver to pick up the exchange gifts as they all come with gifts to share.
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