THEN [Jan. 17, 2014]: Perfect timing for photographer Sharif Hamza’s editorial ‘Free Spirit’ featuring actress Lupita Nyong’o for Dazed & Confused February 2014.

Nyong’o is styled by Robbie Spencer in bold artistry, designed to be in perfect harmony with spring’s focus on the arts.

Lupita Nyong’o: ‘12 Years A Slave’

Lupita Nyong’o is beaming today, after receiving a standing ovation for winning Best Supporting Actress at Thursday’s The Critics’ Choice Awards. Her performance in the film ‘12 Years A Slave’ helped earn the film a Best Picture Award and also Best Adapted Screenplay.

Mexico City-born, Kenyan-raised Lupita tells Dazed’s Ayesha A Siddiqi that British director Steve McQueen reviewed over 1000 women to play the role of field slave Patsey.

In one scene from the movie Patsey “sits humming to herself making cornhusk dolls, her long fingers trembling slightly as she braids the fibres, the raised scar tissue on her cheek the result of a jealous outburst from her master’s wife. We learn that this scene — played with an incredible veracity by Nyong’o, was her own idea.

Lupita Nyong’o also received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her role in ‘12 Years A Slave’, her first feature film credit.

The actress also covers the February issue of W Magazine. The 30-year-old Lupita, who graduated from Yale’s School of Drama in 2012, now lives in Brooklyn. Bravo! - Anne