Denim is one of those fabrics almost everyone owns, and most of us wear it the same way: jeans and a jacket. Nengi Thompson, Ini Edo and Tolu Bally had other plans. One combined a denim top with a printed skirt in a single dress, another added shine to wide-leg trousers, while the third gave culottes raw hems and embroidery. None of them took the conventional way to denim.

Tolu Bally: Denim Culottes

Photo: Instagram/@tolubally

Tolu Bally wore her culottes to an outing. They came from her label, 2207bytbally. The culottes were low-rise and made from dark denim, with gold stitching on the waistband and seams. The hems were raw and slightly frayed, with a gold embroidered pattern running along each leg. The embroidery made this pair even harder to miss.

She wore the culottes with a fitted white tank top, a matching cap and dark sunglasses. Her heels were red and white with pointed toes, and she carried a Hermes Kelly bag. She added layered gold necklaces, bracelets and a watch.

Nengi Thompson: Denim Dress

Photo: Instagram/@nengiofficial

Nengi wore this dress on a rooftop at sunset with the captioned post “A little denim, a lot of diva.” The top was a long-sleeved button-up shirt in lightweight blue denim, with chest pockets, flap closures and contrast stitching along the seams. The skirt was styled as a mini wrap skirt. Blue denim formed the base and the border, and the middle was made of large printed panels in brown, tan, black, white, sky blue and burnt orange.

The print was a mix of swirling lines and geometric shapes. The buttons on the shirt and along the hem were printed designs. Combining a denim top with a bold printed skirt gave the dress its different look. Nengi accessorized with a brown croc-effect handbag and burgundy square-toe mules. Her hair was styled in a high ponytail, and her makeup was warm-toned with a nude glossy lip.

Ini Edo: Statement Denim Trousers

Photo: Instagram/@iniedo

Ini Edo wore these trousers on a night out for Tolu Bally’s birthday. They were dark, high-waisted, wide-leg jeans adorned with shiny discs in small, medium and large sizes, scattered in blue, red, green and pink from the thighs to the hem. Most denim is plain, but this pair adds sparkle and colour from the thighs to the hem.

For her top, she wore a sage-green pleated bustier with a lace base and tie straps. Her shoes were mint-green square-toe heels. For accessories, she went with green stone drop earrings, a gold cross pendant and dark sunglasses. Her long hair was left loose.

Tolu Bally’s embroidered hems, Nengi’s printed skirt and Ini Edo’s shiny embellishments show how designers are finding new ways to experiment with denim.

Aṣọ òkè usually shows up at weddings, naming ceremonies and owambe parties. Nancy Isime gave it a corporate twist on her latest hosting duty, and the photos she shared on Instagram were hard to go unnoticed.

Nancy co-hosted the Beauty in the Motherland Beauty Awards Night 2026 with media personality Enioluwa Adeoluwa. For the night, she wore a long blue striped aṣọ òkè dress over a white shirt.

Photo: Instagram/@nancyisimeofficial

The dress was fitted from the bust and stopped at her ankle. It had thin straps, a deep blue neckline and two large pockets at the hips. The stripes were blue with thin lines of orange, red and white.

The white shirt had short puffed sleeves with frills at the edges, and she wore a tie cut from the same striped cloth.

She paired the look with pointed white pumps with crystal bows on the toes, large silver earrings, a thin gold bracelet and a few rings. Her hair was done in a neat cornrows and her makeup had warm tones, and a glossy nude lip.

The Awards Night was one of the main highlights of Beauty in the Motherland, Africa’s largest beauty exhibition. This was its fourth edition, and it took place at the Eko Convention Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos. The night honoured the pioneering founders, exceptional creatives and leading brands who are shaping African beauty across the continent.

Photo: Instagram/@nancyisimeofficial

Just a few days earlier, Nancy wore a bronze taffeta gown to mark her new role as an executive producer. It had wide lapels, puffed sleeves and a fitted skirt that flared into ruffles at the hem. She added a gold leaf necklace and wore her hair in finger waves. The bronze gown had a warmer tone than the blue gown she wore to the awards night.

Dabota Lawson attended Day 2 of Beauty in the Motherland at the Eko Convention Centre in Lagos on October 6, 2026, in a coffee brown outfit from Trisho Couture. She shared the photos on Instagram and described it as the iconic Laser Cut series from the label.

Dabota is the founder of Dabota Cosmetics, which she launched in 2015. She is a former beauty queen and the author of From Likes to Launch, a guide for people who want to build digital businesses.

Photo: Instagram/@dabotalawson

She wore a coffee brown top featuring a sweetheart neckline and a close fit through the bodice. Flower-shaped cutouts covered the front from the chest to the waist, and the fabric underneath shows through each cut. A thin band wrapped her neck like a choker. One arm had a long sheer sleeve that ran from the shoulder to the wrist, while the other shoulder was bare. A wide belt-like band marked the waist, where the top met the trousers.

She paired it with wide-leg trousers in the same brown shade. The flower cutwork ran down both sides, over the hips and toward the hem in long panels, and the edges were layered. The fabric had a soft, velvet-like finish.

She accessorized with a wine-red woven Bottega clutch. Her jewellery were silver bracelets on both wrists, one set with small stones, and a few rings. For her hair, she wore a black wig with a middle part, styled straight, black and shoulder length. She completed the look with brown Fendi shoes.

Photo: Instagram/@dabotalawson

Beauty in the Motherland is an exhibition for African beauty brands, creators, professionals, buyers and entrepreneurs. The 2026 edition held from October 5 to 7 at the Eko Convention Centre, Hotel and Suites, Lagos. Organisers expected more than 300 brands, 400 exhibitors and 10,000 beauty professionals. It was produced with Fidelity Bank, Unilever and the Enterprise Development Centre. It also had a business pitch competition for beauty entrepreneurs, organised with the Enterprise Development Centre.