Wale Oyejide is the brain behind Philadephia-based African fashion brand, Ikire Jones. His recent F16 editorial tagged “After Migration” deals with issues designers do no usually address- the issue of migrants and sylum seekers.
Black immigrants, especially the men are usually neither seen nor portrayed in a positive light. At best, they are seen as peddlers of trinkets and babbles at worst they are seen as criminals waiting to prowl Oyejide seeks to change that with this collection.
Another interesting fact about this collection is that he uses real asylum seekers in Italy. Wale Oyejide then styles them to look like real people who are actually harmless, employable. They are dressed up in dapper outfits suits in the streets of Florence, Italy.
The West African models and asylum seekers, Abdoulay, Gitteh and Madi were scouted from a local settlement organization that houses asylum seekers. Not only are the pieces elegant, they are also making a political statement.
Wale oyejide, the creative director and brains behind is also an Afrobeats musician, writer and attorney.
Find Ikire Jones here
www.Ikirejones.com (photo credit)
@IkireJones
