Charming Lupita Nyong’o graces ‘Vogue’ cover

The world of fashion just cannot get enough of Lupita Nyong’o.

Photographers, fashion stylists, and haute couture designers are falling over themselves to work with her — and the results are pure glamour.

Lupita, the award-winning actress who put Kenya on the Hollywood map, nay, the world screen by bagging an Oscar in 2014, is the archetypal star who can shine wherever she is.

For the second time in as many years, Lupita, who has a bewitching, disarming, bedazzling smile — an innocent-looking face that never seems to age — is on the cover of October issue of Vogue.

This time though, there is a difference: The shoot was done in Kenya, in her father’s Kisumu County home, and in the magazine, she poses with Dorca, her 96-year old paternal grandmother.

It is easy to say it was a family photo shoot, considering that she has posed with her parents — professor Nyong’o and Dorothy Nyong’o — too but Mario Testino’s photos may be a boon for Kenya’s tourism industry.

Vogue magazine is arguably the world’s most influential fashion and lifestyle magazine.

Lupita’s star power on its own could soon become Kenya’s main selling point for the who’s who in the world of film and fashion.

And Kenya tourism entities can bank on Lupita’s pull because this latest cover story is not just about her, but about her family and her country.

The stunning photographs are taken against the backdrop of everyday life in rural Kisumu County. In one shot, she stands regal-like on the shores of Lake Victoria, and in another, “she celebrates with her fellow Luo women” while donning a Roberto Cavalli dress, Cara Croninger earrings and Roxanne Assoulin bracelets.

Another image shows her mingling with a group of students of Ratta Mixed Secondary School in Kisumu County. But the icing on the cake is certainly the cheeky snap of Lupita — in a Riccardo Tisci dress, Tiffany & Co. earrings and 3.1 Phillip Lim sandals — on a boda boda.

The Kit Mikayi rock formation, a touristic site in Kisumu County which is shrouded in myth and mystery and a sightseers’ favourite, was one of the focal points for her Vogue shoot. But it was not just about the landscape and her family, but also Kenyan cuisine. The last time Lupita was home, her revelation that she could not cook ugali, a Kenyan staple, was met with ridicule.

Kenyans can now rest easy as it would appear that Lupita is picking up the skill, guided by her mother and documented by Vogue no less.  Dorothy is shown teaching Lupita how to make ugali, a dish that the Ny’ong’o family later thoroughly enjoys.

Since she won an Oscar, she has appeared on various renowned magazine covers and red carpets, where she has shattered many perceptions of what a typical Hollywood star should look like, appearing quintessentially Kenyan in short, untreated, natural hair.