


Catwalk images: MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week
Yesterday on the second day of MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week 2011, as founded by Omoyemi Akerele of Style House Files, the Maki-Oh collection hit the runway.
A rich palette of bottle green, navy, nude, pink, oyster met textures such as velvet, sheer mesh, cotton print Adire and silk etc in the formation of a sinuous collection.
Designed by Amaka Osakwe, she employed appliqué and texture play to create a distinct sensuality.
This collection reinforces the fact that the designer is one to watch; the fine tuned balance (seen in her ability to juxtapose boxy tunic like shapes, button up collars with suggested provocation like the clever appliqué and piping placed on sheer base,the thigh high slit on a seemingly subdued velvet skirt etc), her uncanny insight into color (reminiscent of colorists such as Dries Van Noten), an ode to the female form through exploration of form and texture (the waves evident in the Adire print and micro ruffling, reiterating the curves of the female form) and a grasp of the visual expressive that is almost Picasso and Matisse in feel.
To me this Nigerian designer is speaking of the African continent in her collections (through her textures, color, sensuality and the embodiment of a tangible spirituality) in a voice-manner-song that sorely needed to be sung.
You will not find any gimmicks, stereotypical cliches or obvious literal references here. Rather in this Maki-Oh collection and the Osakwe vision at large, you unearth cohesion, strength, a regal sensuality and an assured visually expressive state of being.
Keep up with MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week 2011here.
More on Maki-Oh by Amaka Osakwe here.