She puts the glam in glamma.
An octogenarian from a small farming village in Zambia has turn out to be an unlikely style icon by dressing up in her fashion-forward granddaughter’s outfits.
Margret [sic] Chola gained web fame after her granddaughter, Diana Kaumba, a NYC-based stylist, began snapping photos of her donning the glamorous ensembles.
“I feel different, I feel recent and alive in these clothes, in a way that I’ve never felt before,” Chola, who lives in a village of just 10 miles, north of the Zambian capital, Lusaka, told the BBC. “I feel like I can conquer the world … I didn’t know I could make such an impact at this age.”
Chola doesn’t know her real age since she doesn’t have a birth certificate but believes she’s in her mid-80s. She now has 119,000 followers on her Instagram handle @legendary_glamma.
The photos on the favored page range from Chola draped in the whole lot from a crown and sunglasses to a turban paired with a billowing skirt to ultra-long fake fingernails, blonde wigs, and multiple gold chains.
Her posts also pay homage to her life in Zambia, showing her holding an “ibende,” a picket stick used to pound millet, or posing with a “mbaula” a charcoal brazier made for cooking.
Kaumba launched the account last yr after she visited Zambia for the second anniversary of the death of her father, whom she credits for uplifting her fashion sense.
“I believed it might be nice to decorate up Mbuya in high fashion after which take photographs of her in her natural habitat,” Kaumba explained to the outlet.
When she presented the thought to her grandmother, or “Mbuya” within the Bemba language, Chola obliged.
“I wasn’t doing anything on the time, so I just said: ‘OK. If that’s what you need to do let’s do it — why not?’” she told the outlet.
“You’ll miss me once I die and a minimum of this manner you shall be remembering me.”
The primary picture the pair shared — of Chola donning a silver pantsuit — quickly gained attention.
“I used to be so nervous once I posted that first photo. I left my phone for 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes there have been 1,000 likes,” Kaumba recalled to the outlet.
“My mind was blown. The comments were flying in and other people were asking for more.”
The page really took off in April, after featuring Chola sporting a red Adidas dress, multiple necklaces, and a crown.
Chola, a mom of three, said her outlook on life has modified due to her newfound fame.
“I’m now in a position to get up with a purpose knowing that individuals world wide like to see me,” she told the outlet.
