If I said I knew nothing about fashion I would lying. I'm learning albeit slowly. To know fashion is to know history. I've got at least half a century of fashion history to learn before I'll feel worthy of the title of fashion blogger/journalist. As with all things there's someone who knows a lot more than I, Ola Ebiti, who I call Babs, because I almost never call anyone by their real name. He's a Fashion Communications student in Newcastle.
Anyway this is Olas's cue...
I have a love hate relationship with the collection. It feel like it's split in two halves. There's the bit I love, and then there's the bit I don't love as much. I really enjoyed the first half of the show, in terms of the newness he brought to the idea of "the native" with the layers and layering, the hems of varying length and the use of translucency when he placed sheer fabrics over opaque ones.
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However, I got a little bit lost with the printed half of the collection where the vast majority of the pieces were in blues and earth tones.
The sheers shown towards the end are a great alternative for those who like are layers and layering but can't pull it off in fifty degree weather... I'd definitely come back to Nigeria if meant I could wear a sheer coat.
What is most interesting with Bayo, having followed his previous collections and his personal style, is that his designs are rather self reflected. His collections embody his style. When you purchase a piece, you are buying into his world. Off the my head only female designers are known to do such (with Rick Owens being the only male exception I can think of)... It would be interesting to watch him progress especially in the context of menswear.
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My turn... (by my, I mean me, and by me, I mean Afam. Word!)
Bayo knows how to put on a show. Any other designer would have shown the pieces as they were, without any showmanship or pizzazz. Bayo, gave all his models laurels, reminiscent of ancient Greek society, and had them made up androgynously. And he had them wear white plimsoll trainers. The styling was successful.
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| That's a girl in the middle. She's Uju. She's a goddess. |
I like the layers he displayed, and I like that the shirts have an Asap Rocky feel to them. His mixing of the sheer with the opaque is masterful. I will probably end up buying the pieces that Uju has on.
I don't like the brown and blue prints but they slip from memory when the entire collection is looked at together. It is necessary to say that the prints are not bad in themselves. It's just that when they're put together they gain an offensive quality. Had they been styled differently, I may have been raving about them now.
Ola hit the nail on the head when he mentioned that Bayo's designs are self reflected. His refusal to button up his shirts is shown above. The shirt is forces me to imagine an extremely metro sexual Spanish matador, but that isn't always a bad thing. Some men like to get their tits out. You know? They like to show a little pec cleavage!!
Bayo's obviously one of the pec cleavage loving guys.
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It was a thoroughly enjoyable show. I was pleased to have seen it. And what's more, the international press present have been raving about it too. Anna Rykova, the creative director of Marie Claire, Russia said it was the best she had seen from Lagos at the time it was shown. Nick Remsen, a fashion writer for Style.com, Elle, Interview, and the New York Times Style Magazine said on his instagram yesterday that Orange Culture was the strongest label he'd seen in Lagos so far.
Happy Days,
Afam
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