Nyong'o's success blossomed nearly overnight after her appearance in 12 Years a Slave. She's also landed roles for the upcoming flicks The Jungle Book and Starwars Episode VII. Want to strut with the same grace and confidence that this goddess does? Find out how to get the Academy Award winner's looks! I went a little overboard with these outfits, and not everything is going to be in a reasonable price range. A girl can dream though, right?
All photos and interview quotes are courtesy of Glamour.
GLAMOUR: Over the past year you've gone from being virtually unknown to winning an Academy Award for your first major motion-picture role. How has your life changed?
LUPITA NYONG'O: This is actually a conversation I look forward to having in 10 years, when all of this is behind me and I have some real perspective on what happened—because right now I'm still adjusting. I guess I feel catapulted into a different place; I have a little whiplash.... I did have a dream to be an actress, but I didn't think about being famous. And I haven't yet figured out how to be a celebrity; that's something I'm learning, and I wish there were a course on how to handle it. I have to be aware that my kinesphere may be larger than I want it to be.
LUPITA NYONG'O: This is actually a conversation I look forward to having in 10 years, when all of this is behind me and I have some real perspective on what happened—because right now I'm still adjusting. I guess I feel catapulted into a different place; I have a little whiplash.... I did have a dream to be an actress, but I didn't think about being famous. And I haven't yet figured out how to be a celebrity; that's something I'm learning, and I wish there were a course on how to handle it. I have to be aware that my kinesphere may be larger than I want it to be.
GLAMOUR: How do you react to an unpleasant truth?
LN: I like people who don't tell you what you want to hear. I've got stellar friends who treat me just as they did before all this. I've had two friends since I was five, and then I have a group of friends from [college], and I'm very close to my classmates from Yale. I have friends who say, "You're not leaving the house wearing that."
GLAMOUR: But you dress so well.
LN: Not without their help! I dress according to how I feel.
LN: I like people who don't tell you what you want to hear. I've got stellar friends who treat me just as they did before all this. I've had two friends since I was five, and then I have a group of friends from [college], and I'm very close to my classmates from Yale. I have friends who say, "You're not leaving the house wearing that."
GLAMOUR: But you dress so well.
LN: Not without their help! I dress according to how I feel.
GLAMOUR: Do you feel a responsibility to young women out there?
LN: I feel a responsibility to myself and my parents and the people whose love has gotten me this far—people who were in my life before fame. That's where I get my sense of self. It's deadly for anyone to take on that role of a deity; it's not sustainable. I've got tons of flaws. Call my mother—she'll tell you! She keeps it real. Sometimes you don't want to hear the truth; she'll tell it to you out of love.
LN: I feel a responsibility to myself and my parents and the people whose love has gotten me this far—people who were in my life before fame. That's where I get my sense of self. It's deadly for anyone to take on that role of a deity; it's not sustainable. I've got tons of flaws. Call my mother—she'll tell you! She keeps it real. Sometimes you don't want to hear the truth; she'll tell it to you out of love.
GLAMOUR: You've become so popular that people talk about "the Lupita effect," which includes everything from consumers running out to buy the lip gloss you're using to designers casting more women of color on the runway. How do you react to that?
LN: I giggle. I just heard it for the first time. I've heard people talk about images in popular culture changing, and that makes me feel great, because it means that the little girl I was, once upon a time, has an image to instill in her that she is beautiful, that she is worthy—that she can... Until I saw people who looked like me, doing the things I wanted to, I wasn't so sure it was a possibility. Seeing Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah in The Color Purple, it dawned on me: "Oh—I could be an actress!" We plant the seed of possibility.
LN: I giggle. I just heard it for the first time. I've heard people talk about images in popular culture changing, and that makes me feel great, because it means that the little girl I was, once upon a time, has an image to instill in her that she is beautiful, that she is worthy—that she can... Until I saw people who looked like me, doing the things I wanted to, I wasn't so sure it was a possibility. Seeing Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah in The Color Purple, it dawned on me: "Oh—I could be an actress!" We plant the seed of possibility.