![]() I did a rudimentary search of fake African weddings on TikTok and discovered that there had been at least a handful of different events all over the country: New Jersey, Boston, Houston. Masqueraders shimmied on the dance floor groomsmen wearing red Igbo caps and walking sticks strutted in front of the camera. This time, the video was of a fake African wedding in Houston. ![]() But TikTok’s For You page kept serving me more. Still, I thought it was an interesting concept for a party, though just a fluke, a one-off idea by some inventive zoomers. And marriage in general, especially the kind of marriages Nigerians idolize, tends to include a lot of self-sacrifice on the woman’s part (because all Nigerian marriages are heterosexual, of course). But you also have to tolerate a lot of waiting around, instrumental Ed Sheeran covers, odd “jokes” about the fertility of the bride, interminable prayers, wonky sound systems. They are fun the music is excellent, the dancing unparalleled the food - when it finally arrives - usually hits the spot. I have a complicated relationship to the festivities. And I’ve been going to Nigerian weddings since I was a child - I have a lot of cousins who are older than me. I have always thought that Nigerian weddings were ripe for dramatic reinvention, so much so that I wrote a novel that hinges in part on an opulent Lagos wedding. To say I was immediately intrigued is an understatement. ![]() Clips played in rapid succession: of young men and women wearing bright coral beads and colorful kente cloths, dancing to Afrobeats in a banquet hall of a handsome couple decked out in traditional Igbo attire, kissing on a bedazzled loveseat. A media star was born.“We threw a fake African traditional wedding and here is how it went,” read the overlay text on the first video I saw. People and brands noticed, and eventually LIFE magazine asked Gaba to pose for a photoshoot with Cynthia around New York. ![]() Gaba would bravely take Cynthia out on the town and pose with her in public spaces. Her appearance was so detailed and realistic that she even had human imperfections, such as freckles and pigeon toed feet. In 1932, sculptor and retail display designer Lester Gaba created a 100 pound plaster mannequin named Cynthia for Saks Fifth Avenue. Let’s dive in, starting with an unsuspecting character.ġ930s - Cynthia the “Gaba Girl” Mannequin Today we’re reviewing the history of fictional celebrities and how they set the stage for contemporary virtual influencers’ success. These early fictional stars proved that celebrities and bands didn’t need to be “real” people in order to gain a very real following of fans, a visionary lesson if you consider the role of virtual influencers today. Talking heads like Max Headroom (1985), who we’ll share more on in a moment, set the precedent for the tens of thousands of VTubers operating today. Persona-based music groups such as The Archies (1968-1973) and The Gorillaz (1998-Present) are early examples of 2D characters that helped set the precedent for virtual groups like K/DA to succeed today. However, the concept of fictional celebrities can be traced all the way back to the 1930s, well before computers were invented, and that’s not even considering the long history of cartoon characters in print.Įvery industry is born somewhere, and today I’m setting out to share some of the earliest inspirations that led to the virtual influencer industry as we know it. He idea of a virtual character achieving legitimate, wide-scale fandom may seem like a modern idea.
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