Margret Chola standing in a recently tilled field in a shiny lilac top with purple feathers around her waist and black skirt clutching a silver bag.
She is wearing cat-eye mirrored sunglasses, a bejewelled gold necklace and bracelet in the shape of snakes and big gold ball.
A grandmother in rural Zambia has become a style icon and internet sensation – after agreeing to play dress-up and swapping outfits with her fashionista granddaughter.
Margret Chola, who is in her mid-80s, is known to the world as “Legendary Glamma” – and adored by 225,000 Instagram followers for her striking and playful fashion photographs.
“I feel different, I feel new and alive in these clothes, in a way that I’ve never felt before,” Ms Chola tells the BBC. “I feel like I can conquer the world!”
The fortnightly Granny Series was created in 2023 by her granddaughter Diana Kaumba, a stylist who is based in New York City.
Chola smiling in a field with her hand on her hip, wearing big green bejewelled sunglasses, a green sports jersey, a red dress and big plastic white, red and black beads around her neck.
She came up with the idea when she was visiting Zambia to mark the second anniversary of the death of her father – the person she says inspired her passion for fashion because he always dressed well.
During that visit, Ms Kaumba had not worn all her carefully curated outfits, so she asked her grandmother – or “Mbuya” in the Bemba language – if she wanted to try them on.
“I wasn’t doing anything at the time, so I just said: ‘OK. If that’s what you want to do let’s do it – why not?'” Ms Chola said.
“You will miss me when I die and at least this way you will be remembering me.”
Ms Kaumba wore Mbuya’s top and “chitenge” – a piece of patterned cloth wrapped around the waist. And Mbuya’s first outfit was a silver pantsuit.
“I thought it would be nice to dress up Mbuya in high fashion and then take photographs of her in her natural habitat,” Ms Kaumba tells the BBC.
That natural habitat is a farm in the village of 10 Miles, just north of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.
Most often Ms Chola is photographed in all her glamour outside – often sitting on an elegant wooden chair or lounging on a leather sofa.
In the background are exposed brick buildings with corrugated iron roofs, ploughed fields, mango trees and maize crops.
“I was so nervous when I posted that first photo. I left my phone for 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes there were 1,000 likes,” Ms Kaumba says.
“My mind was blown. The comments were flying in and people were asking for more.”
It was in April 2024 that the Granny Series really took off – after Ms Kaumba posted a series of photos of her grandmother in a red Adidas dress, several chunky, golden necklaces and a glittering jewelled crown.
“It surprised me to hear that so many people around the world love me,” Ms Chola says – who does not know her exact age because she does not have a birth certificate.
“I didn’t know I could make such an impact at this age.”
Ms Chola poses in clothes that are a mix of vibrant colours, textures and styles.
From a green American football jersey, combined with a layered frilly red dress styled as a skirt – in the colours of the Zambian flag to pay homage to 60 years of independence.
To a blue, black and green sequined top, complete with a golden snake necklace and bracelet.
Margret Chola in jeans, a blond wig and red gloves. She is also wearing a T-shirt with her image on the front, big jewelled necklace and red sunglassesLuxury Media Zambia
I had never worn jeans or a wig before – so I was happy, and I was dancing”
Margret Chola AKA “Legendary Glamma”
And Mbuya’s personal favourite – jeans, a graphic T-shirt with her image on the front and a blonde wig.
“I had never worn jeans or a wig before – so I was happy, and I was dancing.”
Ms Kaumba, who has been a stylist since 2012, says that her grandma has “courage, grace – and nails every look”.
All the looks reflect her maximalist-chic aesthetic – which celebrates the joy of excess, eclectic combinations, the big and the bold, and clashing patterns and colours.
At the heart of it all are eye-catching accessories – bold sunglasses, oversized hats, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, rings, gloves, bags, blonde wigs, crowns.
That influence has come directly from her grandmother, who has “always been a lover of pearls and bangles”.
In one particularly playful scene called GOAT – short for greatest of all time – Ms Chola appears with a goat – that is decked out in Mbuya’s beloved pearls.
In some shots Mbuya is holding the beloved radio that she carries around all day and takes to bed with her.
Or she’s clutching an “ibende” – a long wooden stick that over the years she has used to pound millet or cassava or maize.
She is smoking a pipe or holding a metal cup full of tea, and hanging off the edge of the chair arm is an “mbaula” or charcoal brazier that Zambians often use for cooking – especially now that the country is plagued by severe power cuts.
Kooma Jnr A side view of Margret Chola in a long black-netted dress sitting outside on a wooden chair wearing an enormous straw hat that obscures her profile. Her hand, on which she has a big gold ring and big gold bracelets, holds a long wooden stick that is used to pound grains and stands in a wooden mortarKooma Jnr
Ms Kaumba hopes that the Granny Series will highlight that older people still have a lot to offer – and making memories together is an important way to “leave footprints for the next generation”.
“Do not write them off, love them just the same till the end because remember we will be just like them one day.”
As a result of Mbuya’s photo shoots, Ms Kaumba’s been hired by four granddaughters to style their grandmothers – aged between 70 and 96.
Luxury Media Zambia A hand can be seen adjusting one of Margret Chola’s puffed white sleeves. She is wearing big blue-framed sunglasses and four strings of pearls of various sizesLuxury Media Zambia.
The more pearl bling the better
Ms Chola hopes that the Granny Series will inspire people “to live their lives and not worry about being judged by society”.
She urges people to “always forgive yourself for whatever mistakes you made. You can never change your past – but you can change your future”.
The photo shoots have brought granddaughter and grandmother closer – and through their special bond Ms Kaumba has learnt so much more about her Mbuya’s often difficult life.
BBC
