Fashion & LIfestyle
How to A-Dress a Man: What the Men of BN at 20 Can Teach Us
by
Adekunle Olopade
Minute read
4:00pm
Published Date
The theme was High Fashion Icon, so nobody was dressing for Tuesday. But look closely at how the men approached it, and you'll find a real-life playbook: commit, tailor, control your colour, and know where you come from. Here is what you can borrow without the top hat.
On October 2, BellaNaija marked 20 years with a Grand Red Carpet Experience themed High Fashion Icon, and the men's answers to that brief were anything but uniform. Shawn Faqua went vintage in pinstripes, Larry Hector brought Victorian tailoring, Yemi Cregx played with blush and metallic tones, and Sydney Ihonu built his look on Eastern Nigerian royal regalia.
The carpet gave them permission to be theatrical, and most took it. That is exactly why it is useful for the rest of us. Strip away the theme and you can see the choices that made some looks land harder than others, and those choices work at a wedding, a client dinner or a Saturday brunch. BellaNaija has the full photo coverage, linked at the end of this piece. This is the part they did not write: what a regular man should actually take from it.
The strongest looks on the carpet were the ones that followed through. Shawn Faqua's pinstriped three-piece did not stop at the suit: the fedora, the sunglasses and the cane all belonged to the same idea. Larry Hector's tailcoat carried through to a top hat, gloves and a single splash of red.
You do not need a cane to use this. The everyday version is deciding what the outfit is saying before you get dressed, then making every piece agree with it. A man in a sharp shirt, scuffed shoes and a mismatched belt has not committed to anything. A man in a plain shirt, clean shoes and a matching belt has.
Lesson Two: Proportion Is the Quiet Flex
Look across the men's looks and one shape keeps repeating: wide-leg trousers. Yemi Cregx, Uti Nwachukwu, Kola Omotosho and Henry Orakwue all wore them, usually balanced with a structured jacket, a high collar or a longline coat on top.
That balance is the real lesson. Volume on the bottom only works when the top half is deliberate, and the reverse is true too. Whatever your build, the rule is that one part of the outfit can be roomy as long as another part is sharp. This is also where a good tailor earns his fee: the same trouser looks expensive or accidental depending on the break at the shoe and the length of the jacket.
Lesson Three: Colour, Pattern and Texture Without the Chaos
The loudest looks were not the messiest ones, because the best of them limited themselves to one move. Uti Nwachukwu stayed in a single teal family. Kola Omotosho wore royal blue head to toe. Shamz Garba let a checkerboard jacket be the only pattern in the outfit. Folagade Banks let black velvet and pearl trim do the talking, and Elozonam paired a grey plaid jacket with plain white trousers.
The pattern is simple enough to copy: choose one colour family, one pattern or one texture, and keep everything else quiet. When three things compete for attention, the eye reads confusion. When one thing leads, the eye reads confidence.
"A man doesn't need more outfits. He needs to know which room he's walking into." - MENtion Editorial
Lesson Four: Heritage Is a Foundation, Not a Costume
Sydney Ihonu took the brief somewhere none of the tailoring-led looks could: Eastern Nigerian royal regalia, finished with red coral beads. It stood out because it did not read as dressing up. It read as a man standing on something that belonged to him.
That is the quiet argument for the traditional piece done properly. At an owambe, a wedding or a family event, a well-cut traditional outfit says you know where you come from and respect the room. The mistake is wearing it loose, borrowed or half-finished. Fit it like you would a suit and it carries the same authority.
Takeaway? The Red Carpet Cheat Sheet
Here is how the four lessons translate to the rooms a man actually walks into.
Work and meetings: commit to one idea (Lesson One) and get the tailoring right (Lesson Two). A well-fitted jacket over a plain shirt, shoes cleaned, belt matched.
Owambe and weddings: a traditional piece cut close to the body (Lesson Four), with one colour family and no competing patterns (Lesson Three).
Weekend and hangouts: wide or relaxed trousers balanced by a fitted top (Lesson Two). Keep the colours quiet.
Date night: one colour family head to toe (Lesson Three), minimal accessories, and shoes that look cared for.
The red carpet is theatre. Real life is the same grammar with the volume turned down.
That is where this connects back to everything PTBCI is about. Boys learn what a grown man looks like by watching the men around them, and effort is something they can see. A man who dresses with intention is showing a younger one that how you present yourself is a choice, and that the choice is worth making. Dress how you want to be addressed, and let the boy watching learn the standard from you.
Source: details on the looks come from BellaNaija's coverage of its Grand Red Carpet Experience (October 2, 2026): menswear recap and event feature.
#BN20 #BNHighFashionlcon #BlackExcellence #Icon
