Grace Ibironke-Ojo is the creative Director/CEO of Grace’s Stitches, an emerging fashion line. Born in Birnin-Kebbi, Kebbi state, Grace is from Oye Local Government Area in Ekiti state Nigeria. MORAKINYO OLUGBIJI caught up with the talented designer who marveled many with her designs showcased at the just ended Nigerian Fashion Week in Lagos state which had in attendance many members of the crème de la crème of our society and foreign guests including top Spanish designer, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada from the famous Prada family.
Could you tell us more about Grace’s Stitches?
Grace’s Stitches is an line known for its simple and stylish style. We try to blend in Western style into African designs. So it’s a blend of African and Western style. Also because I’m coming from a corporate world, I’m trying to encourage indigenous, African fabrics to be incorporated into corporate fashion. I want a situation where we can wear our own African fabrics to the office and our bosses will not think we are out of place.
There seem to be a saturation in the use indigenous fabrics by designers lately, one would think there is no more space for creative in that aspect anymore, what’s your take?
There is so much more space for creativity. Creativity can never be exhausted. Enough has not been explored yet. Even for me as a designer I continue to see new create opportunities every day. At the Nigerian Fashion Week, I’ve been able to see new designs that have inspired me and will be able to bring out my own original designs. I’ve seen things that I’ve not seen before and this goes to show that there are endless possibilities in African designs.
When did your foray into fashion start and how has the journey been for you?
I started four years ago. So far, for me I’d say it’s been very good. I’ve been expanding. My client base has been expanding. The joy of it is that there is no single design I make that people don’t appreciate. That’s the joy of it. So I get encouraged and feel I’m growing as the days go by.
What has been the high-point of your fashion career so far, or would you still call yourself a starter?
For me, I wouldn’t call myself a starter anymore. I think I’m at the mid stage right now, but if I have to base it on another criterion, I might say I’m a starter on some level. But I’m not a starter anymore because I’ve learnt a lot and I keep getting better every day. On the business and creative side, I’ve learnt so much and exposed to so many thing. So the major point of my career is right now that I’m growing at a high speed.
Why fashion, if I may ask?
I chose fashion because I love to look good and love making people look good. I love blending designs and colour. I realise I’m good at that. Though my designs are very simple, they are very classy.
If you look at the global fashion stage at the moment, the Ankara fabrics has found its way to places you wouldn’t expect, what’s your take on this?
That’s to tell you that we are making progress and the future of African fashion is very bright. Everybody wants to be part of the African revolution. Imagine at rate at which many international celebrities rocking African Fabrics nowadays. Just some day back, Rihanna wore Ankara to the white house. So the attention is really on African fashion at the moment and we need to wake up to the reality.
Tell us about your experience at the Nigerian Fashion Week?
It’s awesome. It’s great to be in the midst of so many other designers and you’ll see so much competition in the industry but for me, it’s not about competition; it’s about self-expression. It’s an eye-opener for me because I’ve been challenged and also seen that I can do better. I’ve been encouraged because so many people walked up to me to appreciate my designs and I got very eye-opening feed-backs. It’s a good stepping point for me and I realised I’m on the right track.
Tell us about your showcase?
Going by the fact that the theme of this year is “Going Green”, most of my designs and fabric, I made sure are emphasized on that. I also showcased what people can wear in the corporate world, what they can wear to evening outing and just everyday casual wears all with the Ankara fabrics. I just generally tried to express my talent and creativity with the African Fabric.
Do you honestly think indigenous fabric can be incorporated into formal office wears?
Why not? It’s very achievable to a very large extent. If you look at the heart of the corporate world, such as the banking sector for instance, the importance of African design or fabrics is already recognised that’s why you have a day set apart for workers to wear the African design or a touch of African fabrics. So, as you can see, there is hope. Not only the banking world is encouraging it but many other corporate environments have been encouraging African designs. We just need to start appreciating our own products. That’s my message.
Who do you look up to in the Fashion World?
To be candid with you, I look up to so many persons, but I would say I love Prada because her designs are simple yet unique in their own way. Good for me she came to Nigeria for this year’s Nigerian Fashion Week and it’s a great privilege and honour to be at the same event with her. We’ve met and I even took a photograph with her. Meeting her is a memorable moment of my career.
How do you get your inspiration?
I get my inspiration from things that are abstract; things that are not fashion related. If you look at the fashion world now, you’ll find out that there is so much recycling going on. If you don’t want to fall into that category of designers recycling, then you need to draw your inspiration and ideas from things that are abstract so you can come out unique.
A lot of copying is going on right now like you said, what can you do when other designers copy your designs, is there a form of intellectual property laws guiding designers?
Honestly, the best way to protect your work right now is to create a design that you know will be very difficult for anyone to copy. Otherwise, how many people do you want to sue? If you are the first to come out with a design and you popularise it that can go a long way in stamping your signature on it. Everybody is copying someone somehow. Even if you are not copying someone directly, you probably draw part of your inspiration from an existing design. So that’s why it’s difficult to restrict people much from copying your designs.
Any international ambition yet?
Yes, by God’s grace next year I hope to showcase my designs at the African Reception in Paris. I look forward to that.
