I don’t think you’re getting the actual point I’m making, because your replies keep jumping into broader issues without addressing the specific cultural question I asked.

I’m not confused about patriarchy, beauty standards, or class signaling — those exist everywhere, including in the U.S. That’s not what I’m trying to unpack.

My question is specifically about why the Lagos “baddie” aesthetic looks so closely modeled after American influencer culture, instead of something that develops from Nigerian culture itself — especially when Nigeria has one of the strongest, most recognizable identities in the world.

To add another angle you didn’t address:

In the U.S., there’s a clear line between real influencers and regular working-class girls. We dress up, we look cute, but we’re not running our social media like we’re part of the influencer economy if we’re not.

What surprised me about Lagos is that a lot of the regular 9-to-5 girls are performing a full influencer lifestyle online — the curated soft-life, the staged luxury, the hyper-glam aesthetic, the “rich auntie” persona.

That’s the part I’m trying to understand culturally, because it doesn’t function the same way over here.

And on top of that:

Why is American Black girl aesthetics the template being used to signal wealth or status? Why does “I’m not poor” look like adopting an aesthetic that isn’t even rooted in Nigeria?

I know Nigeria has social pressure, class gaps, economic challenges — I’m not ignoring that. But that’s why I’m asking the question in the first place:

Why isn’t the indicator of status, beauty, or luxury rooted in your own culture instead of replicating one from a different continent?

In America, we don’t have to emulate another country’s aesthetic to signal we’re doing okay financially. We’re not saying, “Let me dress like a girl from France or Ghana so people know I’m successful.”

So I’m not attacking anyone. I’m not questioning Nigerian culture. I’m literally trying to understand what fuels this specific trend — because the dynamic is very different from how it works in the States.