So tell us more about how you invented the Gaia print and your inspiration behind it?
We did that with a Nigerian woman called Adebusola Ekoko, from a print company called Grapes Pattern Bank, and I sent her a mood board and we started by discussing colours. She said she found my voice very fluid. So that was what inspired her to come up with the Gaia. When I first came up with it it was actually very different, I just knew I wanted lots of colours and brightness. It only took a few weeks of back and forth as she really understood my vision. It’s definitely our best selling product, and it’s frustrating that everyone has copied it because then it looks like I was just playing into a trend, and so now I’m figuring out what we do. It’s become what our brand is known for, as even our packaging incorporates it.
Do you get your love of wearing colour from growing up in Nigeria?
In the UK as the weather is not good, you tend to gravitate towards black, grey and brown, but growing up in Nigeria it’s always warm, always sunny and there is so much going on. You drive down the street and there’s markets, lots of people and most are wearing colourful prints, like Ankara, and because it’s hot you don’t wear black. I grew up seeing different textures and colours, and I’m really beginning to embrace that as I get older. I moved to London at 16—before I came to London I had never ever worn things like boots and jackets before. I came here and fell in love with Dr Martens and leather, and became a lot edgier and started playing with different textures. Living in London I have more room to try a lot of different things. London for me represents a lot of freedom in my style and was the place I was able to come into my own and explore myself fully without fear of being judged because of what I was wearing. Nigeria is a bit conservative so things I’d wear here without thinking twice about, if I wore it in Nigeria I would be judged. You find people wearing skimpy things in Nigeria, but generally it’s a more conservative society.
