Designer Mowalola Ogunlesi stated “I make clothes to challenge people’s minds”; and that is precisely what she did when Naomi Campbell wore a white dress with a red bullet hole wound to the Fashion for Relief Gala from Mowalola’s “Coming for Blood” collection.
Mowalola Ogunlesi was born to two Nigerian designers and graduated from Central Saint Martins at the University of the Arts London. She takes inspiration from London street fashion and her Nigerian roots to create striking and dauntless collections.
Following the Fashion for Relief Gala; Mowalola commented “I make clothes to challenge people’s minds. This gown is from my collection ‘Coming For Blood’ – delving into the horrific feeling of falling in love. 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. I’m in a privileged position to be able to speak on issues that others would be silenced on. Inequality is still rife and newspapers clawing at my work is testament to that.”
English Supermodel Naomi Campbell advocates for diversity, representation, and community within the fashion industry. She showed her support for Designer Mowalola Ogunlesi when commenting on the powerful dress she wore. Naomi Campbell stated “This dress is not about glamorizing gun crime in any way. It is an Artistic statement I support @mowalola. ”
Although this vital fashion statement was made in 2019, today Mowalola continues to make light of her perspective on the environment we are living in as a society. Her latest Fall 2023 ready-to-wear collection brought New York to London.
Mowalola commented “It’s about the collapse of society. What I envision people wearing at the end time.” That collapse’s trigger, she reckoned, might be sparked by the membrane that now connects us all: “low-key we’re literally in the last fight between life and tech. And I feel like a lot of corporations are gaining massive
power over a lot of things.”
We are excited to see Mowalola’s future collections and the impact they will have in the future!
MOWALOLA
