It is still African-American History month, and I’m not finished “Cellibrating” yet!
Academy Award winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o made history with her performance in Steve McQueen’s, “Twelve Years a Slave,” as the young slave girl, Patsey. She arrived on the scene with warm cocoa colored skin, a flash of perfect white teeth, and a springy coif of curly black hair cropped short to accentuate her uniquely beautiful Kenyan features.
Her accomplishments are as follows:
1. Nyong’o is the first Kenyan and first Mexican actress to win an Academy Award.
2. First Black African to win in any category of the Academy Awards.
3. Second Black actor to win for a debut performance, in the 86th Annual Academy Awards (2014).
4. In 2014, she was named “The Most Beautiful Woman” by People and “Woman of the Year” by Glamour.
Lupita created a stir with her unapologetic, fearless, natural beauty and continues to influence the world’s perception about what and who defines beauty. In her acceptance speech she references what it feels like to be considered “different”. She says,”When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid…” Her style, grace, and elegance are impeccable. Lupita is considered to be one of today’s foremost style icons.
This year, Lupita Nyong’o WINS AGAIN! Nyong’o takes the prize for the most talked about, most beautiful, and probably the most expensive gown ever worn by an actress at an Academy Awards Ceremony. This year, Nyong’o left everyone breathless at the 87th Annual Academy Awards Red Carpet event, when she arrived in a custom designed Calvin Klein Collection, hand-beaded cultured pearl gown, a unique and original design.
The beautiful custom gown was created by Francisco Costa and featured cascading strands of 6,000 pearls and was paired with Chopard jewels adorning Nyong’o’s ears.
The price of the pearls alone were estimated at $150,000 USD, according to Fortune magazine (2015). The man hours, additional bead work and sequins could possibly tip the scale by an additional $100k USD. That’s one expensive, and luxurious gown, Lupita! Beauty defined…Bravo!

Celli Arenas, published author, has been featured in several magazines, such as: MIA Magazine, Success Magazine, Legacy Magazine. She is the host blogger at http://www.cellibration.com, and hosts MIA-Live.net for BlogTalk Radio. Her books, “30 Days of Dynamic Pursuit” a self-help journal, and “Sidetracked: He Used To Love Me”, a coming of age novel, are both available at amazon.com.