The Wonyosi collection is Ade Barake‘s most recent work which debuted last Sunday at the Wheatbaker Hotel, Lagos, where he also launched his new perfume, Ade Bakare Signature.
The collection is named after a luxurious lace fabric in Nigeria from the 1980s. Though the lace isn’t present in the collection, the designer uses an array of luxurious fabrics to depict his message of opulence.
In an interview with the BellaNaija Style editor, here’s what he told us about the Wonyosi collection.
Tell us about your new collection
The name of the collection is Wonyosi. Wonyosi is a luxury lace that was popular in the 1980s. it signifies luxury because it was very expensive and you had to be really wealthy to afford it. Let me put it in context, a yard of this lace was N100 and a return ticket to England at that time was N300, a man had to buy 10 yards. The cost of a Volkswagen then was N1500 so it was almost the cost of a car. It was quite expensive so the government banned the lace because it made people a bit too ostentatious. It’s not like the collection has the Wonyosi lace, there is lace in the collection but the word Wonyosi signifies luxury and it is a word that Nigerians from that era can identify with.
Some of the highlights of the collection are the kaftans with a Northen feel, open at the sides. Fabrics like neoprene but a wearable version mixed with Adire, giving it a modern edge. I also used my signature Silk Adire. We did a lot of beautiful cut blouses, modern evening wear so you don’t have to wear a ball gown. We also showed bubus in a very colourful way because it’s always great to have that for our climate. It’s still simple and more about the beauty of the fabrics with Silk Chiffon and Silk Georgettes, very rich but bright colours with trimmings as well. So basically, the collection is luxurious but still relaxed.
Read the rest of the interview here. Click the gallery below to see the collection.
