Designer Maki Osakwe’s design ethos fuses traditional African techniques with playfully modern construction. She’s focused on creating a narrative of identity and culture through her clothes, this season inspired by the Nigerian working-class girl going out at night for a casual encounter. In tandem with Oxosi, Osakwe recreated a Lagos marketplace to introduce guests to the streets of Nigeria. In a display of eclectic confidence, the presentation, cast entirely with women of color, featured lively prints and quirky bits.
Osakwe’s reimagination of night-time wanderings is more chic than you might imagine; you won’t find a “booty-call dress,” as the designer put it. She’s casual and cool with hints of glam, taking public transportation in Nigeria (which is evidently uncommon), roughing it to get to her lover. Silhouettes, therefore, assumed elements of the hard and soft. Pops of bright yellow referencing bus colors were splashed atop long-sleeved tops with stitched slogans and traditional Nigerian prints, hand-painted and hand-dyed with indigo to mimic curving roads. Elements of seduction were incorporated via transparency and lingerie-inspired garters. Wrapping and ties referenced traditional clothing, and punched-out holes provided a quirky sense of subversion.