My favourite brand: Mowalola

Mowalola showcases the battle of upholding individualism and poise in a society where technology has covertly weaved into our lives. While referencing the interconnectedness between machinery and fashion, she finds a way to input intricate elements of Afro-futurism into her collections. This is evident through her application of 90/00s black streetwear into Darkweb AW23. Through Mowalola, you witness the bridging of old and new concepts which are neatly tied together with parts of our culture, Nigerian culture, to make it authentically her.

Darkweb AW23

Mowalola plays around with concepts such as rebellion; embodying what it means to deviate from socially constructed ideas. You see this when she deviates from the definition of and traditional use of clothing, previously thought as items meant to cover or categorize humans into man or woman. This extends beyond the clothing she creates and includes the models who although, all look different racially and often androgynous, draw the look together by enclosing what it means to physically rebel. One way she deviates is by rewriting what it means to “clothe oneself”, by using it to clothe fans and onlookers in an idea, rather than clothing to cover up “taboo” ideas or parts of the body i.e. Burglarwear SS23

Linking back to the prompt, I enjoy Mowalola as this brand takes back the idea of ‘the self’, the most defining part of humanity, from technology by pioneering and creating in a way that cannot be mimicked or parodied by machinery. Her brand captures parts of her ‘self’: her proximity to Nigerian culture, her British nationality, her position in the industry, and what it means to exist in a society approaching imminent transformation.

Her creations and ideas evoke emotion that can only be generated by human cognition which is the most defining part of the brand for me.