L.A. Confidential

"You do that and I'm calling my lawyer. I don't owe you guys anything."

"There's a loan repayment of 500,000 dollars due on your account."

Where was the Yes Sir, any other special requests sir, what can we do for you today sir? The schlep on the phone had no respect whatsoever! Didn't he know who he was? Didn't he know?!

Jäger Johnson swaggered over to the brandy cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Hennessy. Grabbing a scotch glass he poured himself a generous amount and sat on the marble floor of his rented villa. 

He looked around the parlour, opening his eyes to the consequences of the previous night. Half empty bottles of Dom scattered across the living area, remnants of cocaine on the glass table, lingerie that definitely did not belong to him. 

"Shit. SHIT." He muttered to himself, pushing his fingers through his thick blonde hair. 

What the hell was he going to do? There was no money left and he knew it.  

His inheritance was under lock and key until his 30th birthday. Twelve million dollars a year and his dumb ass was too young to start cashing the cheques.

His mind couldn't begin to process the call he received from his step sister last week. His late Father's illegitimate 24 year old kid. Begging for money as per usual. Said her mother needed to clear a 100,000 dollar hospital bill. Where was he supposed to get that kind of money? Did they think he was made of money because he had made a mediocre name for himself in Hollywood?   

Stage three lung cancer and not once had he gone to visit his step Mother. He had his excuses though. Money was tight. Business was bad. It was a difficult time in Hollywood. He needed the space. He needed the 10,000 dollar trip to Abu Dhabi last week. Damn it, there was no loyalty in Los Angeles. Friends come and go and family only show up when they need something. What kind of a life was that? 

Now he owed a ton of money to the bank and who could he call to help me out with a 500,000 dollar loan repayment? At 26 years old, 30 was a long time away. 

Whipping his white Givenchy shirt off, he slapped himself on each cheek, grabbed at his box of Marlboros and disappeared through the sheer white curtains that led to the front porch. Inhaling deeply on his last cigarette, he watched as the tidal waves on the beach crashed and cooled. 

There was a way out of this mess.

A producer gig with Paramount films. It was a one million dollar deal and word was out that the executives were still looking for their perfect match. Jäger Johnson. Movie producer. Yeah he could do it. His Father was a movie mogul who owned a production company for 20 years... produced some of the greatest movies in Hollywood. Jäger felt his confidence lift. Why wouldn't they hire him?  He was Jäger Johnson Junior. Soon to be billionaire. Soon to be King of the world.  There was a movie premiere after party at the Beverly Hills Hotel tonight and unlike any other night he was finally going to put his premiere invitations to good use. 

His best friend Zachary had mentioned the deal earlier in the year and he had seemed incredibly excited about it. Wait, Zachary didn't think he could land a deal like that did he? Zachary was a Law School graduate, what did he know about making movies? Jäger's Father was a legend. A mogul. Jäger was blue blood in Hollywood. The publicity alone would break box office. That had to count for something. Wringing his hands into a tight ball, he thought quickly about what could be done about Zachary.

A deal was a deal was a deal and in Hollywood his soon to be billionaire status had to count for something to someone.

Classe | Comme des Garçons

Don't compare me to frills and flowers and lattes

Don't compare me to to tattoos and museums and dark music

Draw me like one of your French Girls

But know

that I'm not the same.

Tell me, would you love me if I was pretty, and ugly too?

Dressed in oversized jumpers, long skirts and scruffy patent boots

Or is it soft hues of nudes and icy blues that seduce you

Do you prefer messy purple hair or is it honey blonde that attracts you?

Because purple won't shine the same way in the sun.

Not like it would in the eyes of the moon.

And oversized jumpers won't flatter the silhouette

Like every garment you believe should. 

When they tell you you are not beautiful enough

When they tell you are too beautiful

and they will

Tell them you don't care.

Comme des Garçons

Comme des Garçons is based in Tokyo and Paris and is targeted at girls who aren't afraid to be who they want to be, utilising from all angles and all sides art, politics and culture in search of their own story. 

In a superficial world we seek liberation in the purest form.

23.03.16

Classe | A Valentino Love Story

08.03.16 

Paris, France.

How easy it must seem from the outside looking in

Delicate ballet tulles and silk made flats

wounds carefully hidden beneath 

and within

Unseen teardrops that fall from Swarovski chandeliers 

Hair slicked back in the tightest chignon. Face defined to perfection with powder and a strong nude lip. Hands clasped loosely, heart softly paced.  A powerful surge of energy hits as the lights go on. The thud of the music begins, matching the pace of a pulse - soft and empowering. Ready to spring into grace, ready to exploit the fuel we crave. This is the dance of our lives beginning in

5, 4, 3 , 2

5.30A.M and nobody else is awake to feel the aches and pains of working late into the night. When all motivation is lost, in routine we must trust. One last time because practice will make perfect. One more try and it'll be worth it. Hearts heavy, we drag ourselves out of bed swallowing the gaping hole that threatens to engulf us. Like war veterans we are broken into a thousand and one pieces. Like ballerinas we face the world eyes shining, hoping that soon the rain will end and the sun, emerge. The cold shower washes the self pity away. Dressing in uniform to prepare the mind for what is to come - hard gruelling work. 

Wondering when our time will come, 

for beautiful ballet tulle dresses and silk made flats.

Diamants au chocolat 3.0

No longer what you expected.  

Img source: (Viral Vogue)

MOOD

There is nothing more beautifully reckless than the truth.

I want to depict a part of the human brain that is never on public display. We are not just good and we are not just bad. We're not protagonists or antagonists we're just people trying to get around in a multi dimensional world. I'm interested in what makes us do the things we do, the concept behind human emotion and how they contrast each other like opposing colours. What makes us go from joyful to spiteful? What makes us go from positive to negative? 

We write our own story, we are motivated by different things, our life experiences shape us into rubik cubes that we cannot entirely solve. I find it fascinating that no two human beings are exactly the same; that there are identical twins, but there is no such thing as identical brains. We are individuals, hugely flawed and often emotionally damaged. How does this shape our actions and reactions? In the hopes of drawing our own faith who do we become?  

Mood will never be just about me. It's about us. I take inspiration from everything and everyone around me and try to get inside your brain. I try to understand and interpret in the best way I can and with that comes a story. A look into someone's heart, head and life, and how all three work in tangent with each other. 

One day I'd like to write books based around human character and create movies with characters that you'll love, and some that you'll hate. There are too many young creative people in Hollywood - writers, actors, directors - that don't get a break no matter how great their talent. Isn't it time to break into that industry with the power of the Internet? 

WANDERLUST

Sometimes it's okay to leave reality behind and just dream. 

Mark Zuckerberg is in the process of testing a new project called virtual technology. It'll allow people to experience mind blowing experiences like skiing, surfing and more without actually leaving the comforts of their own home or their cluttered work offices.

Personally I will always be a soul wanderer. My heart can never sit in one place for too long. It gets bored, agitated, hungry for more. So I have to consistently feed it with the soul food that it deserves - exploring and discovering different cultures and ways of life other than my own. 

Travelling will never just be about beautiful palm trees and historic monuments for me. It'll always be about the people who cultivate ways of life unique to each country. This section of Diamants au chocolat will eventually be visually focused, creating meaningful documentaries that will show you a world you don't know. 

For now I'll depict stories of that for you, representing different cultures, ways of life and of course beautiful palm trees. 

DAC 

Because it's better this way. 

So you want to work in fashion? I'll always believe in fashion and how it can provide us with alter egos to shield our hearts. It's a big part of me and will always be but it's not the biggest part of me. To me fashion is an accessory to life: it can mould you into anything you want to be especially if you don't know who you are. 

But once you find out who that person is, the glitz and glam starts to become less important to you. Instead you find yourself truly wondering about the how and the why. How are fabrics made? How are fabrics sourced? What is fashion teaching people? Do we need to change? Of course we do, in a world like this there's always room for change. 

So I give you DAC: where a lot of my focus will be offline. There are so many things I want to validate in the fashion industry and one of them is ethical fashion; abandoning the use of animal products: leather, fur, wool, etc. I'm going to spend a lot of my time researching new technology in creating a concept of fashion that is harmless to the universe. Prove that we can still be stylish without killing animals, people and the earth.

I'm going to be researching the same with makeup and healthcare and these are going to be my big ventures - my career pit goals. Sometimes I'll write about insights on my DAC section from an ethical and business point of view. I'll show that the two can indeed mix. My entrepreneurship lecturer used to always ask what is something you can improve? Find an issue you can solve and then start a business. 

CLASSE

I'm deeply interested in branding and the stories companies tell to sell products. In a way, I feel we are often buying pre experiences and not products. We fall in love with stories and concepts and mood boards and things that make our minds escape. With the classe section I depict my own interpretation of branding and storytelling. 

So Diamants au chocolat is no longer a personal style blog but a documentation of fine tuned business concepts that is to come. Things will be changing in a major way. Are you ready for this? 

Find me on Instagram where I visually tell my story here: Ayisha Ogbara

08.03.16

Park Avenue Princess

WANDERLUST

Manhattan, NY

Slipping into some fluffy white slippers she pulled off her white robe revealing a skimpy white silk slip. Yawning and stretching her arms she looked outside her small window, it was 6am in the morning but the streets of New York were already as busy as a Saturday afternoon. There was no traffic to anticipate so early in the day so yellow cabs whizzed in and out of Manhattan at almost lightening speed. 

In New York, nobody ever takes anything for granted. 

A dispersed crowd of people dressed in mostly black went about their daily business, some entering giant law firms in nicely pressed suits, others stood out in the cold to set up their hot dog stands. Ambulances, fire brigades and NYPD surrounded West 46th. Another day, another commotion. Standing up she walked over to her small kitchenette, grabbed a tall glass and filled it with ice, lime slices, mint leaves and cold water. 

Downing her morning mojito she showered and dressed in a black turtle neck and blazer, flared work pants and a dainty silver necklace. Reminding herself she needed to make it to Saks on Fifth Avenue before 8AM she left her apartment. She had a friend there who slipped her some sample beauty products early Monday mornings. She was working as an intern in a top accounting firm and that pay really didn't cut it. Since she'd blown her college tuition on a year's rent in New York City, what choice did she have but to work her way up from the bottom? 

An 8am-8pm day job but night would soon fall and the real mojitos would soon come out to play. Her friends would soon arrive at her 4 by 4 apartment - one from brooklyn, another from Long Island, the Hamptons and Upper West. They'd indulge in pizza, and head to a rooftop bar, eventually ending the night in a reserved for the rich and well dressed nightclub discussing small victories and how they would one day own the world. 

Four friends, four different stories to tell. Yet the day in New York had only just begun.

Classe | Youth by Just Drew

XIV.II.MMXVI

Manhattan, NY.

Designer bags, designer cars, designer champagne, but what more? There'll always lie a craving for more and when one can't find it in luxury, one needs to look a little closer. 

Lounging around on chartered private planes. A trip to Bali because we crave a new form of reality. Sunsets and starry nights much more beautiful than any explosion of abstract art. Nothing is better than the original. Nothing is better than the real deal. Dancing under the stars in intricate metallic sarongs and lace bikinis. Drinking expensive champagne and eating chocolate covered strawberries. 

Showers of powdered paint cover us from all directions, destroying the materialistic things we lend so much importance to, breaking down the value until they mean nothing. Until the only thing left to admire is our beating hearts under the dark clouds melting into sunrise. But old habits die hard and once again we're searching for freedom in designer bags, cars and champagne. Craving cashmere like cocaine wondering who we are in a world built on swirls of confusion.