“Last time I wore black all my colleagues asked if I was going to a funeral,” he says. Colour is the lifeblood of his eponymous line, an aesthetic the Nigerian stylist/designer traces back to growing up in Lagos. “Colour, prints, grandeur, extravagance – the idea of being over-the-top is normal,” he says. The label features tailored shirts embroidered with fiercely traditional Nigerian designs. No wonder it’s graced the hides of Common, André 3000 and Damian Marley. “When I started, the line flourished faster than I could understand,” says Dawodu who took a two-year hiatus, then relaunched this year. “I’ve been in the fashion game for a few years now, so I’m savvier about my direction.”
mobolajidawodu.com
This article was originally published in Issue 1, October 2008.