One means by which the average Nigerian celebrity tries to stand out from the crowd is through the purchase and wearing of high-end designer luxury items, especially accessories like bags, wrist watches, jewelleries, mobile phones, dresses, shoes and perfumes. The top labels like Gucci, Christian Louboutin, Chanel, LV and others get huge yearly patronage from those who walk the corridors of fame. Though these designer items often come at a price that would make the average man on the street open their mouth wide in shock, for the celebrity, the cost is worth it as it is the price they must pay for keeping up with the latest fashion. Not to mention it buys them easy relevance from the throngs of admiring and worshipful fans who ooh and aahh at the pictures posted by their icons on social media.
The craze for designer items among Nigeria’s red carpet-walking crowd has become so pervasive that the instagram accounts of many of these stars have all but become an arena for showing off their latest expensive acquisitions. While this is all well and good – celebrities, after all, live and die by the stylish and classy image they try to give off – it has led to a situation where some of them go all out to acquire the latest high value trending item, often at great financial cost, just so they can prove that they belong. And when all else fails, they have been known to buy counterfeit accessories which they try to pass off as the real thing.
Shocking as it may sound, the ongoing recession in the country has made the use of fake designer items an attractive proposition for many popular personalities who can no longer afford their favourite luxury items because of the Naira’s steep drop in value against the dollar. Facing a decrease in their purchasing power, these local celebrities have been forced to look for alternatives to their favourite brands. This is borne out by reports that many renowned premium fashion and accessories stores have witnessed a sharp downturn in sales to Nigerians.One would think that their recession-induced inability to buy the latest Rolex wristwatch or Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery would make Nigerian celebrities start massively patronizing local designers, or at least turn their attention to cheaper, if less well-known, foreign alternatives. The reality cannot be further from this. Reports surfacing in recent times shows a trend whereby Nigerian celebs are turning more and more to fake designer items as their solution. It seems the prestige attached to some renowned labels is so great that the average local star prefers to risk being exposed spotting a reproduced fashion item than to use a less famous brand. Indeed, Hope Efoghe, a fashion watcher, believes that more than fifty percent of Nigerian celebrities now spot fake versions of designer items.According to a source who is a big player in the entertainment scene, this is not a new trend, but it has become more common as the recession bites harder and harder. Stars now see using fake items as a way of spending less money while still retaining the feeling of being part of an exclusive club that comes with using the products of world class designer labels.However, while this practice offers rewards for those nimble enough to avoid being caught, the opposite is the case for those unlucky enough to be busted by eagle-eyed fashion police or online followers. They inevitably become the butts of ridicule and caricature on social media and popular forums like Nairaland.
Not a few stars have suffered the ignominy of being caught pants down parading fake designer items as if they were the real deal. Sometime last year Nigerian actress Liz da Silva was exposed for showing off with a fake Chanel bag and Christian Louboutin shoes (though she later owned up to the act). Music acts Terry G and Patoraking have also suffered the embarrassment after they were called out for posing with a fake Rolex watch and Yeezys shoes respectively. And just recently, Nollywood superstar Mercy Aigbe was embroiled in controversy after a US personal shopper accused her of parading around with a fake Gucci bag though she swiftly debunked the story as a ruse.