First debuting at the MASA 2016 Fashion show, emerging Ivorien designer Yalé Woody is a new strong voice in francophone African menswear. He has just released editorial images for his new collection themed ‘Eloha’, a play on the Hebrew word ‘Elohim’ which roughly translates to “Those who came from the sky.”
Yale Woody’s collection is super casual, a swift deviation from the very lofty collection name, but other than this misleading name, is pretty well made. Comprised of fitted and low cut v-neck jersey shirts. Forgoing conventional zip and button closures for draw strings and rope ties, the label creates a collection of casual shorts, straight leg pants and military inspired jumpsuits for a contemporary man who prefers a minimalist palette to bright colours.
But what this collection suggests is that Yale Woody has a limited repertoire, save for a single printed co-ord ensemble, the rest of the collection just reiterates the simple concept of substituted closures. I’d have hoped to see more experimentation with the shirts and maybe possible accessories. The shirts in the collection are only barely elevated by the more interesting pants and shorts.
We look to see what Yale Woody does with it’s next collection.
Photographer: Yves Dumas
Models: Mamadou Diabaté & Marc Landry