Nigerian-born Mowalola designer Mowalola Ogunlesi has been announced as the creative director of the just announced Yeezy Gap line (details here).
Foreshadowing the news, North West was spotted wearing one of her designs for a Father’s Day photo posted on Sunday by Kim Kardashian.
Ogunlesi was born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria and is now based in London where she attended Central Saint Martins. Ogunlesi has dressed Skepta, Dev Hynes, SolangeKnowles and Kanye West and worked with Nike to design Nigeria’s World Cup team uniforms.
She began her Central Saint Martins masters program in 2017, but withdrew in 2018 and chose instead to make her runway debut as part of Fashion East‘s London Fashion Week spring 2020 menswear presentation held in June 2019.
In a recent Ssense interview, Ogunlesi commented on her decision to work with Fashion East. She explained, “When I was doing my MA, I just knew I didn’t want a show with CSM. I didn’t like their platform. It was just too tight for me. I feel like I needed to be with people who understood me, who are more on my wavelength.
“So I dropped out and applied to Fashion East. I met Lulu Kennedy. She’s such a vibrant person. [Fashion East] really helps you a lot in terms of everything. Very hands on. I’m with these people that I don’t even pay and they’re doing so much for me.”
