She might not be a household name just yet, but Mowalola Ogunlesi – the Nigerian-born, London-based designer who’s part of fashion’s talented new vanguard and has dressed Solange Knowles, Kim Kardashian and Naomi Campbell – is about to hit the mainstream. Or about as mainstream as someone as iconoclastic as Ogunlesi will allow. The designer is part of the just-announced YEEZY Gap collaboration, a 10-year partnership between rapper/designer Kanye West and the American retailer, taking the prominent role of design director.
This isn’t the first time that Ogunlesi has raised eyebrows - or pricked people’s collective conscience - with her choices and her clothes. Naomi Campbell, who posted ‘congratulations’ underneath her YEEZY Gap announcement on Instagram, wore a Mowalola creation in 2019. The halterneck gown was optic white, almost startlingly so, and, about halfway down, was ruptured by a bullet hole that oozed blue. Although this was interpreted as a comment on gun violence, according to Dazed it was actually an expression of Ogunlesi’s experience as a Black person. ‘This dress is extremely emotional to me – it screams my lived experience as a Black person. It shows no matter how well dressed you are or well behaved, we are time after time seen as a walking target.’
After leaving Central Saint Martins’ MA programme after just one year, Ogunlesi applied to Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East. The sponsorship initiative for young designers has has launched the careers of Richard Malone, Charlotte Knowles and Supriya Lele, and, to Ogunlesi, is ‘where the fire’s at’ in fashion. She wants her clothes, which for Fashion East’s spring/summer 2020 show meant acid-bright leather co-ords and slashed to the naval/up to the rib cage silhouettes, to tell a story. ‘You’re designing for the world you want. How do you want to change the world with your clothes? What are you trying to say? Every time I design, there’s a purpose. I might not be able to speak on it, I’d rather just put it out there,’ she told Ssense.
You’ve got six months to wait before Yeezy Gap starts dropping, but why not immerse yourself in Mowalola’s world in the meantime? The fan account @peoplewearingmowlola, which features avatars from Animal Crossing and seriously cool editorials, is an excellent entry point.