YOUR FASHION SHOULD BE YOU

Designer Profile: Duro Oluwu

Story-Bisola Atinmo

Summer 2005 so far has been about Identity, your personal Identity. More and more turn away from the popular designers because lets face it, the exclusivity of being able to purchase a top-notch designer becomes non-existent when everyone else can too. The obscurity of Anon becomes more and more inviting and chic.

The new thing that seems to have taken the very glitzy world of fashion by storm this season is the Dress by Anonymous. This chic little number from Who Can Guess Who is what we all want now. Anon, however has a name and it is Nigeria’s very own London-based designer, Duro Olowu.

About a year ago when Duro Olowu dreamed up a floaty, free-spirited silk dress referencing both louche seventies London and his Lagos heritage, he couldn’t have imagined what a sensation he would cause around the globe. The manner in which he became known was purely through word of mouth. A British vacationer saw it on a friend in New York and ordered one on her cell phone before she’d even returned home: Another woman, an American, read about the dress in the November 2004 issue of Vogue and sped to Olowu’s OG2 store in London which is located at 367 Portobello Road, Notting Hill, on the same street as Stella Mccartney’s store.

He’s sold 1,000 and counting of those $900 dresses and one thousand and counting women can’t all be wrong. Duro also won the best new label award from Vogue, UK with his one off dresses.

Duro Olowu was born in Nigeria in 1967 to a Nigerian father and a Jamaican mother. He was trained as a lawyer but got into designing as a hobby and from 1999 to 2003, designed an "elegant bohemian" collection called Olowu Golding with his wife. The collection had a loyal following across the pond, but it dissolved when his marriage ended. "I couldn't decide if I wanted to continue with fashion or do something else," he recalls.

Inspired by traditional Nigerian garb of the 70s and the colorful style of his mother and his aunts growing up, he whipped up a few of his now-famous dresses and has not looked back. "It's a dizzy quick visual beauty that reflects my culture and women — it's a very joyful dress, effortless, comfortable, and sexy without being in-your-face," he says. His fabrics, from Europe, offer a decidedly African feel and are limited edition, so there is no risk of seeing them everywhere. "That is all a part of the appeal

Duro is in fact not the only relatively unknown designer to have gained worldwide acclaim in recent times as women are finding clothes which don’t announce their origins more and more alluring. According to trend experts, name labels are definitely going out of fashion as people long more and more for artistry and individualism in whatever they wear. Consumers want a more personal style that has an Identity, their own personal Identity.

Email Bisola at aatinmo@yahoo.com