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Rainbow and gold coloured wedges, an electric blue wig and a black and hot-pink strapless gown are not what you would expect a grandmother in rural Zambia to wear. But Margret Chola, in her mid 80s, has become an internet sensation and accidental fashion icon after she agreed to swap clothes with her New York-based stylist granddaughter, Diana Kaumba.
Photos of Chola dressed in a red Adidas tracksuit, and wearing strappy high heels paired with blue Adidas socks and gloves, chunky sunglasses, gold chains and a crown first went viral when Kaumba posted them on her Instagram account in April last year.
“There was something about that image that made me post it,” says Kaumba. “I love it, but I was so scared that people would judge me because I had put so many chains on my grandma. [But] I went away for 10 minutes, came back and there were about 2,000 likes and more than 200 comments.
“People were like, ‘Oh my God, who is this? This is what we needed.’”
A few days later, Kaumba set up an Instagram account for her grandmother, or Mbuya in the Bemba language, titled Legendary Glamma. It has more than 140,000 followers including singer Rihanna, the actor Jennifer Hudson, and the actor and film producer Viola Davis. Chola’s image has featured on the cover of magazines, on the BBC and in other media outlets, is printed on T-shirts, and Kaumba has appeared on TV talkshows.
Kaumba, who spends her time between the US and Zambia, hires a small team, which includes her nephew, to help her style and shoot Chola. She posts a new picture of her grandmother in a different outfit every other week as part of her granny series.
So far, Chola has posed in silver platform shoes; baggy jeans with a T-shirt emblazoned with her photo; black biker boots; a green American football jersey with a layered frilly red dress styled as a skirt in the colours of the Zambian flag; and more, always paired with an assortment of accessories.
In the background of the photos are scenes from the family farm in the village of Mungule, just north of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.
Kaumba, 42, inherited a love of fashion from her father, a diplomat. When he got a job in New York, she was 20 and moved with him. There, she was exposed to glossy fashion magazines, which served as further inspiration.
For the past three years, she has been travelling back and forth to Zambia, where she has a showroom and has styled local celebrities, such as Mutale Mwanza, a socialite with her own reality show, and the musician Chile One Mr Zambia. It was when she was in the country to mark the anniversary of her father’s death in March 2023, that she first had the idea to style her grandmother. She posted a couple of photos on Instagram, but it wasn’t until she featured different ones a year later, that there was a huge reaction.
While people outside Zambia celebrated Chola and were clamouring for more, the reaction in the southern African country was more critical. “The Zambian response was not positive at first,” remembers Kaumba. “People really judged me and they were laughing at me in Zambia. They asked, ‘Why would you do that [to your grandmother]? Why can’t you just leave her alone?’”
International interest, including an appearance on a US talkshow and on the BBC, changed that perception. “People in Zambia were like, ‘Oh my God, so this is actually a good thing.’ Then they started sharing it and it blew up in Zambia. Now, everybody is embracing her.”
The series has changed people’s perception of ageing. In Zambia, as in other countries, older people are often overlooked and maligned; and society dictates they should dress a certain way. Kaumba, who credits Iris Apfel, a renowned New York designer and style icon who found fame in her 80s, as a major inspiration for the granny series, has received messages saying her grandmother is bold and inspiring. Women in their 60s have explained that the photos have made them feel as if they can live again, and people have sent pictures of their own grandparents.
Chola’s view of herself has also changed. “She told me it has given her a second chance at life,” says Kaumba (pictured with Chola, left). “She has something to look forward to because, before, she would wake up with different pains and just talk about that. Now, you see this whole different kind of energy.”
This means a lot to Kaumba, who says Chola, who was not available to speak to the Guardian, has had a difficult life. She was raised by her grandparents, went to school until she was 12 and then for economic reasons was forced to marry a man in his 30s.
She gave birth to six children, started drinking heavily and eventually escaped the marriage. When Chola talks about it now, she becomes teary because of the trauma she went through. She had another son, but he died, aged 16. She now lives with Kaumba’s mother and has become the sole focus of Kaumba’s work when she goes back to Zambia.
“People are glued to the granny series because Grandma’s looks are unpredictable,” says Kaumba. “Today, she’s wearing chains and a crown; tomorrow she’s wearing a suit with a tie. This is what has kept the interest for people. They can’t wait to see what she’s going to show up in next.”
