Amara Ogboi (@sweetyungcoconut) was running errands.
What’s your style philosophy? Be cute and be comfortable. I wear clothes that make me happy, like with colors, unique prints or silhouettes. Sometimes they aren’t as physically comfortable but as long as a piece makes me feel great, I’m comfortable.
Who and what inspires your outfits the most? I draw inspiration from different places: nature, my mother, my grandmother, old R&B music videos—whatever strikes me, really. I like to tell stories with my outfits. I always have a description of what I’m wearing and what I was thinking when I put the outfit together. Like, “Who is this girl?” It’s very serious.
Who is this girl tonight? Honestly that’s a “I had time to shower before running errands after work” look. I wear lipstick religiously and I live in denim—those are vintage Lee jeans, I think. My whole outfit is basically made up of vintage finds from the thrift store. At the moment, ninety percent of my clothes I found thrifting.
When and why did you decide to grow an Afro? I was like nineteen or twenty and out on my own, broke and tired of going to my hair salon every two weeks to maintain my chemically straightened hair. I kept my Afro as a statement to people—especially to young black girls—that my hair is just as normal and beautiful as anyone else’s.
What was the best compliment you got for your hair? I like when people say it’s very round because I’m into symmetry. I get a lot of weird ones that are very dear to me. One time I was at a bar and a guy just out of nowhere smelled my hair and was like, “Mmm, it smells so good… like coconut oil.” I was very creeped out and I avoided that guy for the rest of the evening. But he was right: my hair smells really good.
Journalist Isa Giallorenzo was born in São Paulo, Brazil and has elected Chicago as her beloved home since 2009. She runs the street-style blog Chicago Looks and wants to see this town become one of the fashion capitals of the world.
