Close up shot of custom ss12 print depicting 60′s style
For her Spring Summer 2012 collection, Africa Fashion International Designer of the year winner, Lisa Folawiyo takes us on a voyage back to Nigeria in the 60’s; a time characterized by independence and growth, a time of change and promise. With the emergence of great novelists Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka and the development of musical genres highlife and afro-beat with the masters Victor Uwaifo and Fela Kuti danced and swayed to at soirees; a time when modern architectural influences paved new streets – this collection immerses itself in this time.
Close up shot of the dancing African lady print
The Jewel by Lisa Spring Summer 2012 collection is inspired by a trip where Lisa visited the home of legendary photographer and historian, Okhai Ojeikere, one with over 5,000 photographs in archives and a career spanning 60 years documenting post colonial Nigeria’s socio-political landscape.
The heart of the inspiration – Ojeikere’s popular University series featuring Nigerians in the 60’s at University College Ibadan and University College Hospital. The men – in traditional garb; bubas and sokotos with agbadas thrown over, safari suits; the women in print dresses and full skirts. Black and white, and set in the backdrop of a new, modern Nigeria, the images represent a yearning for colonial western influences whilst embracing tradition. Merged together, they form and define a unique moment in fashion.
The collection revisits this past, celebrating heritage and culture, as it reworks & reinterprets traditional Nigerian menswear and key pieces within that era into modern female silhouettes.
Bejeweled Ankara in geometric shapes that match the guipure lace
Continuing to build on the brand’s custom-made luxury prints – in collaboration with recurrent Textile designer Banke Kuku, the collection features a range of vintage inspired print – dancing African women in ceremonial regalia and traditional head gears to match moulded into seams; vintage stamps and water stained badges with age old memorabilia. Simultaneously, signature exquisitely bejeweled Ankara in forms of clean and modern geometry and guipure reminiscent of the traditional laces of times past, still being worn and celebrated today, fuse the collection as a whole. The prints are in forms of cotton, heavy silk satin, silk chiffon check, silk habotai, and crepe silk.
Tags: Chinua Achebe, Fela Kuti, Lisa Folawiyo, Okhai Ojeikere, Victor Uwaifo, Wole Soyinka
