The Wrap Life: Head Wraps Continue to Be in Vogue
Imagine sitting at home and wondering where your life went wrong or wondering what your passion is in life. Working a job that doesn’t suit you or feed your soul. Then you go on a retreat that changes your life and you quit your job to create a business that starts to flourish and grow into your baby. Well, meet Nnenna Stella the creator of The Wrap Life. Stella had taught herself how to sew two days before she launched her business. Now five years down the road The Wrap Life has been set to become a lifestyle brand, based out of Brooklyn with around eight employees. Jessica Williams, Issa Rae and Whoopi Goldberg have also been spotted donning the wraps, along with popular beauty and hair bloggers.
Stella’s designs imitate West African designs. Head wraps are integral to dress practices across Africa. Enslaved Africans carried this tradition across the Atlantic using head wraps as practical as well as beautifying accessories. “It feels good to wear something that gives you a connection to something that is lost. Headdress is one of those connections,” says Stella. “We aim to be inclusive — head wrapping is for everyone, [but] at the same [time], I am committed to the space that we created for women of color.”
Recently, the brand got a boost in its visibility when its wraps were featured on the March cover of Vogue Arabia on models Iman and Imaan Hammam. Stella was approached by stylist Michael Philouze to style their head wraps. According to Fashionista Stella mentioned, “I thought it was a joke at first. I wasn’t convinced until I received the call sheet.”
This only goes to show that it’s never too late to live your dream.
Hey there, just a fashion student working on herself while living her best life. Protecting my soul and drinking water. You can usually catch me with a book in my hands while wearing my head phones to silence out the noise of New York City.
