Rare Picture Of Bianca Ojukwu Wearing ‘the Dress That Launched A Thousand Ships’

The former beauty Queen , Ambassador of Nigeria to Spain as well as the wife of late Igbo leader Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu went down memory lane on her Facebook page when she shared a rare picture of the iconic dress she wore to an event decades ago which also caused a stir and made front page news on almost all the National dailies when she wore it to the Nigeria Music Awards hosted by PMAN. It was widely referred to at the time, as ‘the dress that launched a thousand ships’…

THE DRESS THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS….

Clothes are extremely powerful tools. They can evoke memories of special moments in our lives. This white and gold full length Wayne Clark inspired ensemble is one of such. This was my showstopping appearance for the official launch event in the USA of the fragrance called ‘CAESAR’S WOMAN’ over three decades ago. This fragrance, created by Caesars Palace/Caesars World, Las Vegas, was designed to evoke the elegance and luxury of life in Ancient Rome.

It was the Eighties, the decade of excess. The launch party for the introduction of this Perfume was lavish and glamorous. the scents were brought into the expansive arena in a chariot led by models clad as Roman gladiators, soldiers and goddesses. To add to the razzmatazz the organizers intended to turn loose 25 doves whose wings were dipped in the fragrance in order to envelop the atmosphere in the luxurious fragrance (which apparently was how the Romans were said to have freshened the air), But regrettably, the doves refused to fly on the day of the launch😅!

This Dress ultimately became my future husband’s favorite dress of my entire collection. He said it evoked fantasies of Cleopatra, Helen of Troy and Mona Lisa all rolled into one. Incidentally, He specially requested that I wear the outfit again when I accompanied him a couple of years later to the Nigeria Music Awards, Nigeria’s equivalent of the American Grammys at that time, organized by Sir Tony Okoroji’s PMAN. It caused quite a stir!
He loved it so much, infact, that that he commissioned a series of Giaconda themed portraits of me in this ensemble with which he adorned the reception areas of our various homes.

Flash forward to Today, this Fragrance has been discontinued but the memory of this dress that launched a thousand ships still lingers!