By Joséphine Li
Photo credit: Getty Images
Duro Olowu, a Nigerian-born British fashion designer, has received a lot of attention for his remarkable work since he launched his eponymous label in 2004.
Known for his use of color and pattern, Olowu also favors the sharply tailored silhouettes of his multi-cultural 1970s upbringing, including fitted jackets, billowing capes and kimonos, precision-cut wide-leg trousers, and intricately cut yet liberating dresses with hemlines below the knee — all rendered in dynamic and unusually juxtaposed fabrics, textures and patterns.
His first collection included an empire waist dress that combined contemporary fabrics and vintage couture silks. After the dress was featured in American Vogue, it received international acclaim and was sold out all around the world.
Olowu enjoyed support from First Lady Michelle Obama, who frequently wore his designs. In 2015, Mrs. Obama commissioned him to decorate the Vermeil Room in the White House.
From the outset, the designer’s self-taught vision — Olowu trained as a lawyer — was bold, unique, and exquisite, a reflection of a refined aesthetic eye and solid philosophical grounding. Olowu believes that fashion should be used as a way to fully express the identity of the wearer.
Using both his business acumen and singular aesthetic to carve out a niche in the industry, Olowu has attracted an impressive clientele of loyal and influential women. Olowu believes that his creation of fashion for women is inspired by a form of radical respect for females.
Olowu said he was amazed by how women can do so much regardless of natural or imposed obstacles, and he felt he had a responsibility to design clothes that made them look good and feel comfortable.
Olowu reveals that his artistic inspiration comes from women of all ages and ethnicities and that he had great respect for their way of life and work.
“I hope that the clothes I’ve come to, with them as inspiration, would be of interest to them as well.” Said Olowu.
