Still basking in the euphoria of his recent award, Igwedinma Rodney Emeka , winner of 2013 Lagos Fashion and Design Week (LFDW) Young Designer of the Year Award, shares his success story with Adetorera Idowu.
IF anyone had said Emeka Rodney, a 26-year-old creative director of McMeka and the least “qualified” among the 10-man final shortlist for the Young Designers Award Lagos Fashion and Design Week 2013, would clinch the much-coveted prize, many might not have believed.
Despite the staggering and somewhat intimidating resume of nine of the finalists, Emeka, through grit, hardwork, determination and a whole lot of creativity, became the proud winner of four million naira (N4, 000,000) and a six-month paid internship programme with international ethical brand, Edun.
Many may call it luck, but he certainly lived up to the proverbial statement: “the harder you work, the luckier you become”. Emeka spent time preparing himself from October 28, 2012, the day the winner of last year’s edition was announced.
He took painstaking efforts to examine the process of assessment, selection of models, style of clothing and other criteria and determined what would appeal most to the judges. From that point on, Emeka didn’t look back.
“Every two weeks I went through the last edition of Lagos fashion and design week. The young designers’ pieces, I studied each designer’s piece twice in a week or once in a month. I studied them to find out what they did that made them win. I particularly studied the winner. I followed and studied his collection and the show generally in order to know people’s mind on fashion,” he said excitedly.
An elated Emeka could not hide his joy as he reiterated the start of his journey to success: “I was already getting set two days before the close of applications when I submitted my application. It wasn’t more than 10 minutes that I got a reply that I had been invited for the show. It was a blessing for me.
“The ASUU strike gave me enough time for the preparation. Originally, I would have been writing my exams at the time of the show and it would have been really stressful. The ASUU strike was a blessing in disguise.”
During the show, Emeka grabbed everyone’s attention from his first piece, which was the red suit he showcased on the first day. This piece, he said, built up the tempo for his collection which he named “Man about Town”. Every piece in the collection portrayed a fearless man who is not afraid of taking risks. Every piece in the collection was carefully chosen and he was able to shock the crowd with his last piece – an orange suit which left everyone spellbound.
Winning, for him, was not a mere accident; it was a product of careful planning and a determination to succeed. With the award and platform that LFDW has given him, he plans on pushing the McMeka brand forward and making it known to all. The notion that only popular fashion brands make money, prompted his desire make his a global brand through the look books, collections, fashion shows like Arise Magazine fashion week and Mercedes Benz Africa, creating an online store and ready-to-wear collections which people can get off the rack.
His journey into fashion began through inspiration from his mother. “My mum was a tailor and she always put us through tailoring when we were young, although I was very stubborn and never wanted to do it, she always insisted that we must do it as though she saw my future,” he said, with a wide grin on his face.
“What I saw my mum pass through being a tailor inspired me to do more. I saw her trying to pave the way for one of her kids who ended up being me. She saw the future and knew one of us would make her proud. She didn’t have the chance to take her designs as far as she wanted. She inspired me to work hard to make her proud someday.”
With a sound knowledge of tailoring, he also got inspired during his school days and saw a business opportunity through the boys on campus who were always well dressed.
He did not miss that opportunity. He set out to Yaba Market and designed his first piece of clothing which was a pair of chinos pants. “The first clothing piece I designed was a pair of chinos pants, the fabric was 750 naira in Yaba Market. People were making shirts and I was the first to make chinos pants. I was the only one that made chinos, so the business of shirts and chinos sold for me,” he reminisced
Emeka started making shirts and chinos pants for people and grew more popular. Finally, on the October 29, 2011, he launched his bespoke clothing brand which he named McMeka, derived from his name Emeka.
McMeka has since then experienced a massive success with a growing celebrity clientele base that includes Desmond Elliot, Uti nwachukwu, Chinedu Ikedieze(Aki), Gbenga Ajibade of Tinsel, Elenu the popular comedian, Ushbebe (Justice Nuagbe), Yomi Casual, Toyin Lawani, the biggest fashion stylist in Nigeria, to name a few.
Emeka believes his fastidiousness and hard work have brought him this far. His mother who serves as his inspiration is proud of him.
Asked if fashion has paid off as a career choice, he was quick to share his story: “In my house, all the guys are artists except the girls. Everyone draws, but I was the only one who put that skill to fashion. I was the only one that felt fashion could be a business.”
One may view his growth in the business as smooth sailing but he said he went through some hard times. He started with no funding or support from anyone. “I started it myself with ten thousand naira (N10, 000). The first order I took was for someone and the job cost me 10,000 naira which was the only money I had then. I sent this outfit to the guy in Abuja and he still hasn’t paid me. I had to start all over again. I made sacrifices, using my school fees to pay my bills, being unable to pay my school fees, but look where I am today,” he said.
Today, the McMeka Brand has not only excelled but also prides itself as one of the brands to be reckoned with as it is well ahead of its years, being only three years in the market. “The McMeka finishing is not something you expect from a young designer because our finishing is so perfect. As a young designer who sees ahead of others, what we value most is our finishing. We also make our suits with straight cuts which is exclusive to my brand,” Emeka said with confidence.
As a man of style himself, he views fashion as a luxury item and reflects this through his designs.
“Fashion is a lifestyle. Fashion is comfortable, something expensive, and sophisticated, fashion is lifestyle,” he said.
Citing the wise words of his father, “the ant goes to get its food in summer and in winter he eats his food,” it is clear that McMeka is not resting. He is moving ahead with full speed, surrounded by a host of cheerleaders in the persons of his pastor, family and friends.
Emeka is not without mentors, he draws inspiration from designers like Tom Ford and the Okunoren twins in Nigeria, Tiffany Amber, Lanre Da Silva, Mai Atafo and Ozwald Boateng.
