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Chasing Evil

Bubu Ogisi for IAMISIGO (Kenya)

Autumn/Winter 2020

Bubu Ogisi founded womenswear brand IAMISIGO in 2009. Based between Lagos, Nairobi and Accra, Ogisi works with small artisan communities across the continent to create collections which spotlight a variety of indigenous textile traditions. Ogisi’s work explores the role of clothing as a vehicle for communication, noting, ‘Our work primarily focuses on how fashion and textiles can not only keep history alive but also pass on information for the future through preservation of techniques and expression through matter.’ Present throughout her work are ideas of rawness and anti-finishing, which Ogisi uses as a visible representation of anti-Eurocentrism.

This ensemble comes from IAMISIGO’s Autumn/Winter 2020 collection, ‘Chasing Evil’. The collection was centered around the Belgian exploitation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the turn of the 20th century, but also the colonial exploitation of Africa as a whole. Through the collection Oigisi wanted to explore how to overcome issues of post war trauma, post-colonial exploitation and neo-colonialism through fashion. Ogisi worked closely with war victims in Bukawa and Kinshasa to research the collection. Palm leaf raffia, sourced from the Congo and Nigeria, was a prominent feature in the collection, with Ogisi using it to visually reference forms of Congolese dress. The jacket from this ensemble is made from cotton with cut raffia woven into the warp. It is paired with a cotton dress and pink faux leopard slippers.

Victoria & Albert (Accession number: T.2338:1to4-2021)

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