Nigeria’s fashion scene is garnering so much attention internationally, and Nigerians in the diaspora are taking the world of fashion by storm. One such person is Mowalola Ogunlesi.
If you are wondering why the name is familiar, her brother is Odunsi Ogunlesi, the alte singer popularly known as, Odunsi the Engine. Her mother, Adenike Ogunlesi, owns the popular children’ s clothing line, Ruff N Tumble. In a way, you could say creativity runs in the family.
For a 28-year-old, Mowa has a lot of achievements under her belt. Born in Nigeria, she went to London, UK to study Fashion at the University of Arts in 2017. Since then, the trajectory of her career has been one many people can only dream of.
In 2019, she had a showcase at the London Fashion Week and caught the attention of none other than Skepta. In the same year, she styled Naomi Campbell in a controversial outfit.
She designed the outfits for Skepta’s Pure Water music video in 2019, and was also one of six designers British Vogue commissioned to style Barbie dolls for the company’s 60th anniversary. In 2020, Kanye West picked Mowa as the Design Director of Yeezy Gap.
She started working with MGA Entertainment in 2022 as a designer for a collection of Bratz dolls.
We can attribute Mowa’s success to her envelope-pushing, genderless and almost intergalactic yet immensely creative designs.