With a design team that features not one but three designers, Baobab Ghana has a much larger pool of influences to draw from when it designs. And with a collaboration with Da Viva fabrics taking the polarizing problems of a fabric/print template on which to build a collection on, Baobab has twice as much to prove.
The collection showed at the 2016 Kumasi Fashion Week is quite simply a revelation. The design trio set their focus on asymmetry and work on that premise, creating flirty dresses that skirt the edge of risque but never quite cross. But what is truly fascinating about this collection is the scope of their prowess in construction.
Layered circle cut mini skirts with wide band hems flit down the runway, anchored by structural vests with raised bra cups created by pleating fabric. The designers craft harness bralet tops out of notoriously limp cotton wax fabric, pleating to create the required firmness. They ruche fabric to create textural detail on skirts, layer it to create a stiff crop cape/jacket combination.
But they are at their most ingenious when they create a structured asymmetric dress with tulle and wax. It is so delicate yet so beautiful, you can instantly see it on the most glamorous of runways.
Photo Credit: Chasquido Studios.
The only problem we have with Baobab is that there aren’t enough clothes. We could have watched them send a thousand dresses down the runway if they all were made with this level of dexterity and technical prowess. A brilliant collection.
