There are nowhere near enough Nigerian made accessory brands, there are even fewer Nigerian owned accessory brands churning out timely, trend cognizant lines and collection that can offer sensible (design and wallet wise) alternatives to international brands. So we try to profile the few that do, like Femi Handbags and their gorgeous on-trend bucket bags and Okiki Marinho’s forays into luxury accessorizing. And then there is Morin O, here to bring some more diversity into the original leather accessory race.
The label’s Spring 16 editorial for it’s new collection of premium leather bags is the label’s first proper push into rebranding itself as a proper player in the international scene. It does so by casting a number of European and American models. and shooting the editorial itself in an exotic locale. The scenes show the kind of woman Morin O wants to covet their bags, a widely traveled, well versed socialite, just as comfortable en pointe in a park as she is in heels in a board room. The styling helps sell this idea as does everything else, except the bags.
The bags aren’t as prominent as they should be in the editorials, save for a few images. We see them as an afterthought, after we’ve been taken in by the model herself, and then the environment she is in, then the clothes she is wearing. This says a lot about the bags themselves, particularly that they are understated and would have done much better with a more minimalistic editorial. This is not to mention that because Morin O prides itself as a Made in Africa brands, not having a single model of colour in the entire editorial is quite damning.
But overall, Morin O makes good bags, though some bear too many similarities with a number of high profile it-bags, they are very much their own aesthetic.
