Lisa Folawiyo trained as a Lawyer but her heart has always been for the creatives as a young girl. This passion developed and gradually she started her brand, Jewel by Lisa in 2005. Two decades later, she is waxing stronger by the day and has metamorphosed as Lisa Folawiyo.
You run into the designer recently at the Fashioned Museum show which took place at the Alliance Francaise Auditorium, Lagos which had stakeholders and students talking about ” Bridging The Gap’, a vibrant celebration of Africa’s rich Fashion Heritage.
Happily, she opened up about her passion, early life, and has perfected the art of wearing “Ankara” a local West African fabric, and built a collection of womenswear and accessories around the textile.
First, Folawiyo takes you into her world and the opportunities for the younger generation of designers. “I see growth in the industry. It is going to be something that would be established In Nigeria, which is what we are doing as designers”.
That takes the discussion to the future of fashion, especially with the new opportunities technology is bringing to the industry.“ We are an industry that is growing, even though it is still in its infancy. But looking back to when I started in 2005 a lot has changed. What I see now is that we have a lot of talents and better opportunities.
Going down memory lane, Folawiyo talks about the things that motivated and inspired her at the beginning. “When I started I could count the number of designers that we had in Nigeria that were doing amazing work. But now, it’s incredible. For example, the Lagos Fashion Week just ended and I was amazed by the brands, the designers that were shown, and the work that they put up on the runways”.
Folawiyo opined that this is actually evident in the things that are to come. ” I think that fashion is being taken very seriously and more seriously now. I think that people are pursuing it now as a career, not a hobby or a side attraction. It means that the industry is growing and people are paying attention, people are seeing that you can be financially successful in this industry. So, the future is bright”.
Setting the pace and putting Africa strategically on the map, she noted is the way to go: ” We have so many African, and Nigerian brands on the global platform now. When I started to design, one thing I said as my mission was that I wanted to just create. I wanted to make beautiful clothes, I wanted to fill a gap that I felt was present in Nigeria and this was bringing modern ideas to our local fabrics and textiles. Just creating fashion that that I wanted to wear. And I did that.”
Folawiyo goes on to advise the younger generation to be focused because the sector is getting bigger and better. “The future of the industry is that more people are doing this now. Attention is now being paid to the industry, to the arts and I feel that we are growing locally, on the global platform and there is no limit. No limit at all and I look around sometimes and say Oh my God, this industry is growing. It is wonderful to see”.
Now, you want to know where she draws her inspiration from and she responds this way: “You can draw your inspiration from anywhere. I am inspired by culture and my childhood memories. Sometimes, I look at the collection we have done and what we are about to show for the next direction. So, it can be my mood and sometimes how I am feeling just before I start to wrap up a collection and that drives the collection. I would also say that I have been inspired by trying to express or tell a story from my childhood memories, culture, history, or even street styles”.
That is not all. ” Sometimes, when I start to design, I am inspired by something but then it changes as I go along. Sometimes, I may begin to think about something else and start to change details and then change the direction that the collection was going. Sometimes, I print as well and I believe that has to do with my mother being West Indian, she’s late now”.
Her mother’s dress sense she informed also helped to shape and influence the things that she puts together. “When we were much younger, she would dress us up in all these beautiful crepe dresses. She was very particular about how we presented ourselves, and I believe that stayed with me. I am inspired by print, color, places, and what is happening in society, or when someone says something I am inspired by it. That simply says it.
Folawiyo also talks about her experience studying Law and the things that keep her going. “ I was encouraged to do Law because apart from having an innate creative ability which my parents knew from a young age, I used to write a lot of books when I was younger. I had a series of books and I used to make fashion magazines, draw quite a lot and of course I used to talk a lot when I was younger. I would agree with things out there as well as add my voice to it. I feel my parents took that and said she should be a lawyer. As you are growing up you hear that a lot and you say, of course, I am going to be a lawyer. So, I wasn’t forced, I was guided, encouraged and I don’t regret doing Law”.
So, Folawiyo’s heart was drawn to the legal profession and she went to Law school and even practiced briefly. ” But I think that with fashion I had this innate ability, it was a desire within me to do something creative with clothing. I practiced Law for a year and I was convinced and knew that this was not fulfilling for me. I then told myself that I was not doing this and I was old enough to tell my parents that this was not for me, I was going to do something else”.
Still doing some reflection, Folawiyo confessed that fashion pulled her and swept her off her feet. “I could have done something else and so for me, I had the passion. I believed that I had a fantastic eye for symmetry, was very good with my drawings, very good with fine arts even though I didn’t train in fashion. I loved fashion and from when I was younger I was always dressing up from primary to university, everyone noticed the way I used to dress. I really had a natural love for it and I showed that I could do it. So, I decided this is what I wanted to do, come what may, I am going to do it.”
In addition, she had a goal, had a vision, and was committed to it. “I was disciplined and I wanted it for myself I think that when people see your drive, when they see what you are doing and the fact that doing it quite well, I feel that they will support you. They may not agree with you but once they see that you are driven and you are doing it very well, then they will be convinced”.
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Now, you also want to know if she has always stuck to her ethics and values while making clothes for her clients. “Every designer has an aesthetic and you also have what you want to say as a designer. It is important that you are original, you must have a clear point of view which people can identify with you and distinguish you from any other designer. For me, when I started the idea was to take the local fabric, the Ankara, and create the modern piece, texturizing the fabric, making pieces that younger people like myself would wear then. I had a clear vision, I knew exactly, the type of clothes that I wanted. I knew exactly the gap that I was filling about styles and trends at that time. I have stayed true to the brand’s expectations”.
Being focused and staying true to her brand earned her the trust desired.”Let your brand have personality and identity. Stand out, be different, and be original. This distinguishes you, it defines you in the industry. Also, people come to trust you and see that you are keeping to what you started with, keeping on your lane and they trust that”. Also, pertinent in the industry is the need to ask questions and keep on learning.”When I started to design, I was so naïve with the naivety came boldness, and courage. I knew I wanted to design clothes. I have a goal, had a vision but wasn’t thinking of the bigger picture”.
For Folawiyo, fashion is a universal language and she never saw boundaries geographically or in any way. “I just wanted to design beautiful clothes for women to wear. I went in and then you get to the point where you start to think of the next steps. I worked from my home for many years. I just kept going and as a designer, I continued to learn. The things that I should have learned in fashion school, I learned on the job. I also had a team of people I could learn from”.
She continued: “ Do not be shy to ask questions, you can never know everything. Don’t ever think you sound silly or foolish, I have children about your age ( the students) and I say to them to ask anything. It is also about teamwork, if you cannot do something you will have someone who can do that for you.
Young people, she added must be creative and make financial success their goal. You must also remember that it is beauty that you are creating, you are telling stories and you are marking times and seasons. You are influencing what people are wearing, and selling choices and I think it is important that you know that it is a business. It’s about what you are bringing to the world, expressing yourself. How you mark time”.
On her experience at the presentations at the Fashioned Museum, Folawiyo reacts: “I think that from just being here today and what I have seen today, I am excited. It gives me promise and hope that the fashion industry, the creative industry is really bourgeoning. It is really growing and it is being taken very seriously. People can see the impact that fashion is having in Nigeria, Africa, and on the global stage. So, this for me just stamps that even further”.
So, what can our designers do to be innovative?
” I always say that when you have challenges, when there are difficulties, when things seem impossible, that is the time that you would be most creative. Take what you have and take it as power, this is the time that we need to embrace creative fashion sustainably. This is the time that you start to recycle and upcycle. This is the time that you start to look outside of the box and find other things to do. I know we are focused on the opportunities and the financial success of this period. But this is the time to start and this period can inspire collections. The times have always sort of dictated fashion but fashion has dictated the times too. Let this be the time to be even more creative, even within fashion”.
