“I’m all the time chasing that feeling of strolling down the road and having somebody do a double-take at my outfit,” says Mbiye Kasonga, a D.C.-based podcast producer behind Bare Magnificence. “I’m all the time smiling, and I’m Congolese — we put on vibrant colours and don’t have any concern of standing out.” Right here, she shares a costume made for adventures and three books to debate at a e book membership…
Gown: Mara Hoffman. Bag: Luar. Footwear: Marni.
“At my outdated advertising job, at any time when I went into the workplace, I’d put on a cardigan, wide-leg pants, and clogs. However now that I work for myself, half the week I’m carrying T-shirts with swingy pants; the opposite half, I’m in attire. By no means will you discover me working from residence in exhausting pants.”
Gown: Free Folks, comparable. Purse: Luar. Sandals: Birkenstock.
“I put on this costume in all places. It’s good for these summer season days while you meet up with buddies for brunch and find yourself staying out all day lengthy. I additionally like taking myself on dates to learn at eating places, and this costume has large pockets for my keys, Kindle, and telephone. Final 12 months, The Strategist reached out to me for a summer season costume rec, and I shared this one. It bought out.”
“I went to enterprise college, then labored in market analysis, however I’ve all the time been taken with digital media. I labored on the morning information in highschool and within the TV studio in school, and I took a course on how you can produce podcasts. When the pandemic rolled round, I had further time on my arms, and my pal Brooke was searching for a podcast producer. So, I began that as a passion.”
Jacket: outdated Zara. T-shirt: comparable. Denims: Free Folks, comparable. Footwear: Vans x Telsha Anderson Boone collab.
“For 2 years, I produced Brooke’s podcast Bare Magnificence whereas working my full-time advertising job. Lastly, that December, my husband identified that producing was clearly now not a passion. I wanted to wager on myself and begin my very own company. Now, I’ve been working Moyo for 2 years.”
“My present staff is a mixture of people who find themselves youthful and older than I’m. At first, I felt imposter syndrome at any time when I needed to assert myself as their boss. However over time, I noticed that the proof is within the pudding. Bare Magnificence has received two iHeartRadio awards for ‘Greatest Magnificence & Style Podcast.’ I’m actually good at what I do.”
Gown: Dôen, comparable. Shorts: Warp + Weft denims, altered by Mbiye. Tote: made by Mbiye. Footwear: Miista, comparable.
“That is really a costume from Dôen, and it got here with a tie to cinch the waist. However I like carrying it as a prime with cutoffs. Being curvy, if I had been to put on cutoffs with out some layering, I might most likely cease visitors.”
“These cutoffs had been initially denims from Warp + Weft, which is a superb place to search out denim as a curvy lady. Nearly every little thing is underneath $140, and lots of of their silhouettes go as much as dimension 24. Plus, they’ve simply sufficient stretch.”
“My mother liked to knit and taught my two older sisters. She handed away after I was two, however my sister taught me to knit after I was in elementary college. For a very long time, I finished selecting up the needles. However after I moved to D.C. after school, I didn’t have any buddies, so I dove into knitting. Whenever you lose your mum or dad as a toddler, you lose the chance to do issues with them. However knitting is my manner of feeling near my mother.”
“Since studying to knit, I’ve realized that one of the simplest ways to get the garments I need is to make them. This going-out prime is the primary garment I ever made. I discovered the sample on TikTok.”
Gown: Dôen. Sandals: Dr. Martens, comparable.
“I used to be an enormous reader as a child, to the purpose the place the librarians would let me take a look at 10 books as a substitute of three. I devoured them; I’d go to mattress studying, then get up and skim. I additionally used to host a social studying occasion as soon as a month at Shanklin Corridor, a Black-owned bar. Everybody introduced a e book, and we’d both hang around and talk about them, or the entire bar would simply be studying. It was a lot enjoyable.”
“My entire factor is, I simply need to join with individuals over books in the identical manner that we join over actuality TV. Half the time, the stuff that’s occurring within the books is simply as wild! My prime three e book membership picks are My Sister, the Serial Killer, The Workplace of Historic Corrections, and Homegoing. These are my heavy hitters.”
Thanks, Mbiye. We love you! You may comply with her on Instagram, should you’d like.
P.S. Extra week of outfits, together with a graphic designer with the very best denim-on-denim set, and a author who’s over six toes.
(Photographs by Maeva Komenan for Cup of Jo.)
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