I have been in love with fashion for as long as I can remember. I used to do a lot of sketching when I was way younger and I knew I wanted to do something in line with fashion. I really don’t know how this love started but as a skinny girl I always found solace in fashion magazines where I get to see a lot of people like me (models) and so I fell madly in love with the industry. Also, I never got my size of any outfit and so I always had to amend, so I practically ‘grew up’ in a tailor’s shop.
As a lover of arts, the fashion world only felt like home to me. I used to imagine great designs, sketch d few I could, stay glued to FTV, avid reader of Thisday style and other fashion related magazine. I was attracted to the world of fashion.
While I was in university, I had almost all my shirts and skirts made by a tailor, after I tell her what to do. And one day I felt I was wasting time not really doing anything in fashion as every day Covenant university kept teaching entrepreneurial development. So together with a school mate I started a fashion label in school. We made T-shirts, shirts and suit for people. It was fun for a while, I had practical knowledge of stuffs I had read and I learnt more about fabrics. We did this for a year, and then we just stopped for really no reason. (became quite boring for me though because there was really not much creativity in corporate shirt and suit)
After school, I wanted to continue something…something in the fashion industry but Federal government thought otherwise and so I was posted far away to Maiduguri to serve. Also before I went for service, I lost my closest friend (my laptop that contained everything I loved and most of my designs and articles) and so I had to build my new laptop; downloading fashion books, researching about the industry and all.
In 2011, MTN called for fashion designers to submit their portfolio….i knew what a portfolio was, I could tell you everything about it but I didn’t have one ( I used to be careless with my drawings and I lost a lot of them in the process) and so in barely two weeks I made a shabby one and sent. I didn’t expect to be called, and I wasn’t.
That same year, I entered for the Lagos style week. It was a great opportunity, so I thought. In my naturally late self I showcased my rushed outfits and wasn’t prepared (no BB, no complimentary card etc.) and so apart from the ‘oh, Ese I saw your designs on Facebook and comments from friends, apart from the ‘feel’ of what the Nigerian fashion industry looks like and seeing what goes on in d backstage, walking and waving as a designer and all nothing tangible came out of it…..but I learnt some lessons….
1) Never to rush into things.
2) Starting small is great
3) To do a proper homework and get a proper education
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