“I knew that I wanted to start designing from when I was in high school… I think it was because I was surrounded by some family members who were very stylish,” muses Abiola Olusola. The Ibadan-born, Lagos-raised designer has recently released her SS20 collection, the fourth since the launch of her eponymous label in 2017, and it is one seeped in her Yoruba roots.

Olusola realised her dream of becoming a designer by studying fine arts and fashion at the prestigious Istituto Marangoni in Paris and since returning to Lagos, her creative journey has included showcasing at both Lagos Fashion Week and GTB Fashion Weekend. Hailed as one to watch by Guardian Life Nigeria, she’s sold at luxury store Temple Muse and was also shortlisted for the Alara Emerge Award. Olusola’s clientele boasts names such as actress Eku Edewor and singer-songwriter Tomi Owó. Yet despite her undeniable talent and the steady growth of her brand, this emerging talent’s feet remain firmly planted on the ground.

“Since I started my label it’s been one exhausting trial after the other,” she confesses, followed by a knowing laugh that reflects her experience of the Lagos hustle. Far from being deterred by what she describes as “limited resources”, both financially and in terms of fabrication, Olusola has risen to the challenge of bringing her designs to life using the resources that are available to her. “I just try and work with what we already have on ground. You have to figure out how to tell your story with what you have at hand.”

Necessity has bred an authentic approach. A recent example of this is Olusola’s collaboration with a group of craftswomen in Abeokuta, southwest Nigeria, to create the playful hand printed adire fabrics that play a focal role in her SS20 collection. Originally inspired by the bold patterns worn by North African nomads, Olusola has interpreted them into a mixture of tie-dye, batik and stamping prints. “Once it’s hand-printed it’s never really how you design it because every fabric, every detail, each print is different from the next. That is what makes adire so authentic - it’s the fact that it’s not perfect.”

A combination of eye-catching prints and minimalist, often asymmetric silhouettes, the collection is no exception to the rule that her clothes should be “relaxed and cool” above all else. “I didn’t want anything to feel forced,” she explains, “I wanted it to be sort of vibrant, a bit different to what I’ve done before, and to also celebrate the spicy African woman, you know?”

Whilst Olusola’s aesthetic is at once inspired by her upbringing and the pared back clothing she encountered in France, her creative process is also informed by a commitment to sustainability. “I realise that even producing at a medium scale, so much will go to waste,” she says, “It doesn’t make sense for the environment and it’s just wasteful.” Therefore Olusola has adopted a less-is-more approach, which sees her and her team creating less product yet to an exceptional standard.

So, what can we expect from Olusola in the future? “I would like to find a more personal way of introducing my customers to my brand,” she says, “and I’m also working on my own online store.”

Words Galaxy Henry

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Published on 10/03/2020