After a stellar debut at Paris Fashion Week, Nigerian born fashion designer, Kenneth Ize, reflects on the African inspiration for his work and his commitment to promoting ancient weaving techniques. Ize describes the vibrant traditional dress his mother wore to as the starting point for the collection. Ize, who relaunched his eponymous label in 2016 with menswear, now shows on the women’s schedule with dual-gender collections, thanks to the fact that a majority of his men’s pieces were actually being bought by women. The 29-year-old is now based back in Lagos, but divides his time between Vienna, Paris, Italy and Nigeria, where he works with artisans in the craft of aso oke handweaving, a technique developed by the Yoruba people to create the traditional cloth for special occasions.
SOURCE: VOGUE