The eagerly awaited Spring Summer 2016 collection from the Lagos based label is officially out and featured on Vogue.com. See the REVIEW – COLLECTION – VIDEO – CLICK HERE
For Spring 2016, Maki Oh is inspired by the absurdity of life.
The collection explores the ideas of finding purpose through actions of futility. It takes us on it’s own existential journey in four parts.
Firstly, it draws from philosophical questions of endeavor.
“Even in the most pointless of tasks, there is hope and this is why we continue to do them”. – from the script of Pedro Almodovar’s film, Talk To Her.
This is amplified by French philosopher, Albert Camus’ essay on the Greek King, Sisyphus who was forever condemned to repeat the meaningless task of pushing a boulder up a mountain, and then watch roll down. Camus muses that Sisyphus must find happiness in this pointless endeavor. He expresses that life is built on the hope for tomorrow, yet tomorrow brings us closer to death.
The collection also journeys this philosophical absurdity closer to home through the playful merry-go-round of Yoruba ‘Arodan’. This seemingly meaningless Yoruba word t is understood by the adults in a community but not the children. A sophisticated and most times unrehearsed delay technique. It used to get one’s bored or unruly children out of the way by sending them to look for non-existent objects at neighbours homes. Children often go from home to home, performing this pointless task and naturally return home empty handed.
Lastly, the cycle of the Karuwai; courtesans from Northern Nigeria. Karuwai means “free women” and refers to any woman not living under the control of a man. These woman are highly coveted, and perform a cycle of freely moving in and out of marriage as career moves.
The Maki Oh woman is reflective this season. These four concepts give rise to questions about life and how in it, we find both nothingness and meaning.
A silk satin adire wrap dress houses two distinct patterns, on the one hand, of what most see life as – a wave of ups and downs, and on the other, our interpretation – chaos!, represented in the “jagajaga”(scattered) adire print.
This restrained surrender, expressed in the colours and fabrics this season, sees the use of rainbow-coloured waves, held together with the deep blues of adire. Blacks and blues converge with bronze, orange, fuchsia and florals, but are halted by blood reds which pierce for answers.
Fulani womenswear from Northern Nigeria inspire a looser and more considered style of embellishment using a loose thread embroidery and Aso-oke fringe from western Nigeria form waves that typify life’s ripples and unpredictability.
Maya Singer, of Vogue states that, ‘Osakwe is a designer with an urgent need for her clothes to mean something; this time out she encompassed that meaning in looks that were her most wearable yet.’
Maki Osakwe, is the creative director of Maki Oh. The Maki Oh label is a favourite amongst international high-profile figures including Mrs Michelle Obama, Solange Knowles, Lupita Nyong’o, Thandie Newton, Lee Sobieski, and Arden Wohl.
To be part of “Maki-Ohness” find out more at https://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-2016-ready-to-wear/maki-oh or to be part of the Twitter conversation, follow Maki: @maki_oh and/or Instagram: @maki.oh.
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