Welcome to the World
of
By Bola Babs
An exclusive interview with world reknown couture designer, Yemi Osunkoya
Q. Tell us about your educational
background.
I went to Primary School at
Senior Staff School, University
of Ibadan, Ibadan and Secondary
School at International School
Ibadan, University of Ibadan and
obtained a BA Fine Art (Textile
Major) Degree from Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile – Ife. I
then came to the UK and studied
Women & Menswear at the Paris
Academy School of Fashion,
London (since closed down).
I was formally trained in Old-School Couture, which is creating gowns with an individual
client in mind in a process that
involves creating an individual
Body Block for that client on
paper, drafting all patterns from
that Block, making up a mock
version of the gown in muslin or
calico (the Toile) to fit onto the
client in order to ascertain and
correct any technical or aesthetic issues, going back to correct
these issues, and creating
another Toile to ensure a
perfect fit has been achieved
and only after these steps
developing the pattern for the
actual garment. The creation of
this type of garment takes hours
of painstaking work and lots of
hand finishing details. The end
result is a gown that is of such
high quality that makes casual
