The creative director of Nigerian fashion brand, Diuz! Authentic, Abiodun Olapade, in this interview with ROTIMI IGE, shares his experiences as a stakeholder in Nigeria’s burgeoning fashion landscape and why education is important to make a mark on the industry.
How do you define fashion?
Over the years, I’ve grown to define fashion in different context with how it is has shaped our world from time to time. So, if I’m to give a definition today, I’ll say fashion is a visual representation of how you choose to interact with your current environment.
What sparked your interest in fashion?
As a young boy, my mother had a boutique and I lived most of my early life in interaction with foreign designer brand clothing designs and various fabric textures. So, style consciousness has followed me since I was a kid. That evolved year in year out till I was 19. I was out of secondary school and wasn’t able to get into the university immediately because of forces beyond my control and I’ll say that was the most important period of realising what my true interests were. I just wanted to do anything that would keep me away from the streets and the wrong company, so it was a short period of self-indulgence that sparked that special moment.
Would you say having a proper degree in fashion designing matters to one’s success in the profession?
Of course! Having a degree in any creative profession is important, though it is not the sole perquisite to success as a lot of great designers we have today do not have a proper degree in fashion. Education is a source of confidence, assurance in knowledge and helps to refine that crude reservoir of information in the craft one possesses. A lack of a proper education will definitely take you through a more difficult route like any other creative enterprise, because success requires proper management than just having a skill.
What would you say is your greatest accomplishment as a designer so far?
Seeing someone who has no clue who I am, confidently putting on our pieces and looking good.
With the recent success in other categories of the creative industry like music and entertainment, what are the chances of the Nigerian fashion export reaching similar heights and having that global status or recognition?
The word export in that question is very important. Unlike music and other forms of entertainment, fashion products are tangible goods and like any other tangible goods leaving the shores of the country, there are a lot of factors that have not encouraged export. Fashion may not have it as easy yet but surely we have great potentials and many designers that will rock the world in due time.
What would you say is your greatest challenge currently as a designer operating in Nigeria and what role do you think the government can play in proffering solutions to mitigate these problems?
That will be challenges in financial interactions with possible and required business associates outside Nigeria as a growing brand. While Nigeria is blessed with many resources both human and natural, fashion is very broad and we still lack a lot in industrial requirements for home grown brands to reach that level of consistent delivery to our large market here locally, even before talking about export. Our government has to do a lot better in policies that will open the door for transfer and attraction of these industrial requirements to not just be available but also sustainable for lasting growth.
What is that key source of inspiration that has kept you motivated and kept your brand consistent over the years?
Our growth, I enjoy looking back to how far the brand has been able to grow over the years, so whenever I get to that moment where it feels like I should just give up, I look back and replay those key moments of victory and that belief just clouds me up with all the positive energy I require to charge ahead.
Who are your favourite designers currently both home and abroad?
I’ll say Diuz! of course. I am a big fan of Maxhosa by Laduma, respect for Mai Atafo. For foreign brands, Lacoste.
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