BellaNaija Style presents ‘The Designer’s Identity’ for #HeinekenLFDWAW17: Orange Culture

BN Style presents ‘The Designer’s Identity’ for Heineken LFDW Autumn Winter ’17 presentation at Red Door Gallery, titled Identity. See more information on the presentation here.

This BN Style series goes behind the scenes with the exhibiting designers, giving them a chance to speak on their brand identity and inspiration behind their A/W ’17 collections for Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week.

Amongst other designers who will showcase their collections, we have Adebayo Oke-Lawal, Creative Director of androgynous menswear brand, Orange Culture. Read his BN Style interview below.

Why did you decide to be part of this A/W presentation?

Lagos fashion and design week is a platform that supports the idea of communicating ones story and that is why this is the right platform for us . We love the idea of bringing all these diverse brands and showing the Nigerian story in very unique and beautiful tales. We love the support that lfdw has given loads of brands such as myself and the industry in entire and this is another step towards forcing the industry to progress in alignment with the global industry. We had to be a part of that progression.

What do you hope to achieve as a brand, from participating in the A/W presentation?

For us – it is getting the opportunity to network with press, buyers and of course consumers. Also giving people an opportunity to meet the brand one on one , understand the brand and touch our story in a very personal way.

For us – it is getting the opportunity to network with press, buyers and of course consumers. Also giving people an opportunity to meet the brand one on one , understand the brand and touch our story in a very personal way.

What is the inspiration behind your A/W collection?

For this collection, Adebayo Oke Lawal, the Creative Director chose to infer on garments, the religion of romance.
Romanticism is at the base of the fabrications and shapes. A story of blossoming teenage boys- the full spectrum of what it means to be young, which encompasses the carelessness of love, the angst of failure, and also the delicateness of hurt. The collection begins with that startling moment a teenage boy realises that hurt is part of the journey too. “As a Nigerian boy, you are not necessarily allowed to own hurt, even if it is staring you right in the face. It is a deeply rooted patriarchal system that invalidates pain as an essence to maleness. Mostly you are required to be a man before you are old enough to realise that being a man is overrated.” Oke Lawal tells.

But there is also a progression into recovery, into a subtle acknowledge of self bravery, and self love, and these teenage boys being able to find themselves despite some of the worst pains of abuse. The collection, as it is titled “pretty” shows there is no anger to it; no form of rebellion or self pity; no persisting shadow of victimisation. In some sense it is a collection of rebirths- the moment after, the sense of journeying along, despite it all, and the idea of being broken to become beautiful.

Quilted Parkas, soft crepes and lamb leathers were layered to express the intensity of the romanticism/vulnerability behind the collection.

The delicate prints, emotional colors and extra frilled detailing were added on to push the story even further.

What can we expect to see at the presentation?

A beautiful story told through beautiful emotional clothing . Come and experience , feel and touch Orange Culture in its purest form.

How will you describe your identity as a brand?

The brands identity is built on the idea that there isn’t just one type of a Nigerian man. We explore the uninhibited modern day Alternate Nigerian man – fighting stereotypes and discussing the things he feels , touches and tries to emote. We find beauty in his vulnerability and the battles he may have fought. As an androgynous menswear brand we use our delicate cuts, emotional prints and fabrication to continuously express this to our consumers. For us the story is a huge part of our identity every season. Our brand identity has nothing to do with political correctness , we continue to go against the grain.

“Orange in our name pin points the average mans first approach to the brand – it’s a unique color, odd and hard to adhere to but upon close observation becomes really beautiful.”