It has taken more than a year but finally we have a new collection from Nigerian premium women’s wear brand Lisa Folawiyo. And it is most certainly worth the wait.
Earlier this year, Folawiyo teased her newest collection, as an AW16 collection, shooting with Mayowa Nicholas and Lakin Ogunbanwo. When Fall season passed and the collection still hadn’t been released, and Folawiyo began to tease new pieces different from what we’d already seen, we at the Other Style we feared the collection had been scrapped and Folawiyo was going to start from scratch. Turns out she didn’t, she simply rolled over the collection, blending it into a 27 look Spring 17 collection. She unveiled the new merch to an exclusive crowd at New York Fashion Week hosted by Tamu McPherson, (familiar hunting grounds; she released her Spring 15 collection there too).
Now this collection differs greatly from the Lisa Folawiyo we’ve come to expect in the past few years. The label all but ditches its signature, heavy embroidery and beading for hand painted fabrics and exquisite weaving. The zany prints that we know the label for have remained, but have been updated from their distinctly african origins and influences to a more global aesthetic. Asymmetry is the hallmark of this collection and shows up in almost every piece, either as uneven skirts or zig-zag frills or peplums. Another strong detail is the use of oversize iridescent sequins to mimic fish scales, a technique we’ve seen Maki Oh use. Striping, minute colour blocking and the silhouettes are all Lisa Folawiyo hallmarks and we’re so glad to see them again.
This is how you make a triumphant return!
PHOTO CREDIT
Model: Mayowa Nicholas
Photography: Lakin Ogunbanwo
