By Joséphine Li
The Nigerian stylist, creative director and the designer behind the label IAMISIGO — Bubu Ogisi, is making African fashion for Africans. Growing up between Lagos and London, and then going on to study in Paris, the young designer says it took moving out of Africa to bring her closer to it.
Ogisi is committed to celebrating African fabrics, philosophies and techniques. She and her close-knit teams of artisans have created a label that breaks many unwritten rules about what African brands are and should be.
Not interested in pandering to Western audiences or selling big, Ogisi’s work is focused on using fashion to tell the rich and colorful story of Africa’s history, present and future. It’s a goal Ogisi has been working towards for quite some time.
IAMISIGO was born in 2009. The label’s name is a combination of the words “I AM” with Ogisi’s surname stylized in the reverse. The label is her stamp on the world.
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While her pro-Africa outlook is by no means novel in the fashion industry, the commitment to applying it to all elements of the label is part of a shift in the approach taken by African designers. Ogisi recognizes that being accepted by the Western fashion world does not necessarily mean that she should take her sights off the many markets across the African continent.
Ogisi says her dream is to see her clothes on women in Lagos, Accra, Nairobi and Cape Town. She wants these women to feel that somebody understands their history, their bodies and the lives they lead. Every piece of her work is a love letter to the African people, and also to the African continent.
While fashion is often dismissed as frivolous, or separate from “real issues,” Ogisi proves that fashion can be used as a medium through which to explore cultural difference and creativity. The philosophy of fashion is everywhere: in the products we consume, in the people with whom we work and even the clothes we wear. Just as IAMISIGO stands for the hope of a self-sufficient, self-affirming Africa.
