Duro Olowu

Last updated

Duro Olowu
Born
Lagos, Nigeria
NationalityNigerian/British
Occupation(s)Fashion designer and curator

Duro Olowu is a Nigerian-born British fashion designer. He is best known for his innovative combinations of patterns and textiles that draw inspiration from his international background.

Contents

Early life and education

Olowu was born in Lagos, Nigeria, to a Jamaican mother and Nigerian father. [1] He grew up in Lagos, spending summers in Europe and immersing himself in multiple cultures. [2] [3] He moved to the United Kingdom when he was 16, [4] later earning a law degree at the University of Kent. [5] [6]

Career

Ensemble by Duro Olowu for Spring-Summer 2013 2013 Duro Olowu ensemble, Spring-Summer 01.jpg
Ensemble by Duro Olowu for Spring-Summer 2013

In 2004, Olowu launched his eponymous women's wear label, beginning with a Spring/Summer 2005 collection. An empire-waist multi print silk dress from that collection, discovered by American Vogue editor Sally Singer, became an international hit. Selling out in renowned stores including Barney's New York, Browns and Harrods in London and Ikram in Chicago among others, it was hailed as the dress of the year by both American Vogue and British Vogue, and was known as the "Duro Dress." [7]

In 2005, Olowu won the New Designer of the Year Award at the British Fashion Awards. The only designer to do so prior to their first catwalk show. [8] In 2007, he made his runway debut at London Fashion Week. [6] He married Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, in 2008. [9] In 2009 he was named the Best International Designer at the African Fashion Awards, and was also one of six designers nominated for the Swiss Textile Federation's coveted prize of €100,000. [10]

Olowu enjoyed early support from American First Lady Michelle Obama, who frequently wore his designs. In 2015, Mrs. Obama also commissioned Olowu to decorate the Vermeil Room in the White House. The designer said, "My idea [was] to create a beautiful feast for the eyes reminiscent of a warm and joyful season filled with international treasures and signature fabrics." [11] Olowu was included in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 edition's of the Powerlist, ranking the 100 most influential Black Britons. [12] [13] His designs are held in the collections of the Rhode Island School of Design(RISD) Museum Collection and the FIT Museum.

In recent years, Olowu also began curating contemporary art exhibitions in galleries and museums beginning with his highly praised exhibitions, "Material" (2012) and "More Material (2014) at Salon94 gallery in New York. His first museum exhibition was 2016, the critically acclaimed, "Making & Unmaking" at the Camden Arts Centre in London. [14] [15] In early 2020, Olowu curated his second museum exhibition,"Duro Olowu: Seeing Chicago" at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. It features his selections of over 380 artworks from that museum's collection, as well as other institutions and private collections in Chicago. The exhibition marks the first time in its fifty-year history that The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago has hired a guest art curator. [16] The accompanying publication, 'DURO OLOWU: SEEING', edited by Naomi Beckwith and published by Prestel, includes contributions from Beckwith, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Ekow Eshun, Valerie Steele, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Thelma Golden.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion Institute of Technology</span> Fashion school of the State University of New York

The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It was founded in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago</span> Art museum in Chicago, Illinois

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues. The museum's collection is composed of thousands of objects of Post-World War II visual art. The museum is run gallery-style, with individually curated exhibitions throughout the year. Each exhibition may be composed of temporary loans, pieces from their permanent collection, or a combination of the two.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles James (designer)</span> British-born fashion designer

Charles Wilson Brega James was an English-American fashion designer. He is best known for his ballgowns and highly structured aesthetic. James is one of the most influential fashion designers of the 20th century and continues to influence new generations of designers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Roy</span> American fashion designer

Rachel Irene Roy is an American fashion designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isabel Toledo</span> Cuban-American fashion designer (1960–2019)

Isabel Toledo was a Cuban-American fashion designer based in New York City. She was widely recognized in the fashion industry for her attention to craftsmanship and the "sophisticated simplicity" of her garments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jason Wu</span> Canadian artist and fashion designer (born 1982)

Jason Wu is a Canadian artist and fashion designer based in New York City. Born in Taiwan and raised in Vancouver, he studied fashion design at Parsons School of Design, and trained under Narciso Rodriguez before launching his own line.

Thelma Golden is an American art curator, who is the Director and Chief Curator of The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, United States. She is noted as one of the originators of the term post-blackness. From 2017 to 2020, ArtReview chose her annually as one of the 10 most influential people in the contemporary art world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bibhu Mohapatra</span> Indian American Fashion designer

Bibhu Mohapatra is a New York-based fashion designer and costume designer.

Amaka Osakwe is a Nigerian fashion designer and creator of the African-based fashion label named Maki Oh. She has led her womanswear label since 2010 from Lagos, and it is a Nigerian-based label that is globally acknowledged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Wintour Costume Center</span> Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, housing The Costume Institute

The Anna Wintour Costume Center is a wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art main building in Manhattan that houses the collection of the Costume Institute, a curatorial department of the museum focused on fashion and costume design. The center is named after Anna Wintour, the longtime editor-in-chief of Vogue, Chief Content Officer of Condé Nast, and chair of the museum's annual Met Gala since 1995. It was endowed by Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch. As of August 2017, the chief curator is Andrew Bolton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lagos Fashion Week</span> Annual international trade show in Nigeria

Lagos Fashion Week (LagosFW) is an annual multi-day clothing trade show that takes place in Lagos, Nigeria. It was founded in 2011 by Omoyemi Akerele and it is Africa’s largest fashion event drawing considerable media attention, nationally and internationally. It showcases over 60 Nigerian and African fashion designers to a global audience of more than 40.000 retailers, media and consumers. It has helped propel African designers and fashion brands, such as Orange Culture, Lisa Folawiyo and Christie Brown to international recognition.

Christine Y. Kim is an American curator of contemporary art. She is currently the Britton Family Curator-at-Large at Tate. Prior to this post, Kim held the position of Curator of Contemporary Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Before her appointment at LACMA in 2009, she was Associate Curator at The Studio Museum in Harlem in New York. She is best known for her exhibitions of and publications on artists of color, diasporic and marginalized discourses, and 21st-century technology and artistic practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omoyemi Akerele</span> Nigerian businesswoman

Omoyemi Akerele is a Nigerian executive, businesswoman and entrepreneur. Akerele is the founder and CEO of Lagos Fashion Week, Style House Files and special advisor to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC). She has several advisory positions including Industrie Africa and Jendaya, and has been an advisor to the MoMA, the Victoria & Albert Museum, UN, British Fashion Council and State of Fashion Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peju Layiwola</span> Nigerian artist, sculptor and academic

Peju Layiwola, is an art Historian and visual artist from Nigeria who works in a variety of media and genre. She is listed as a "21st Century Avant-Garde" in the book Art Cities of the Future published by Phaidon Press. She is currently a Professor of Art and Art history at the University of Lagos and has been described as a "multi-talented artist." Her works can be found in the collection of Microsoft Lagos, Yemisi Shyllon Museum, Pan Atlantic, Lagos and homes of private collectors such as JP and Ebun Clark and the Obi of Onitsha.

Eric National Mack is an American painter, multi-media installation artist, and sculptor, based in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Wales Bonner</span> English fashion designer (born 1990)

Grace Wales Bonner is an English fashion designer, whose work "proposes a distinct notion of cultural luxury that infuses European heritage with an Afro Atlantic spirit". Her designs are characterized by a blend of sportswear and tailoring, as well as her interest in infusing everyday wardrobe essentials with a refined elegance. In 2014, she founded the London-based label Wales Bonner, originally specializing in menswear.

African design encompasses many forms of expression and refers to the forms of design from the continent of Africa and the African diaspora including urban design, architectural design, interior design, product design, art, and fashion design. Africa's many diverse countries are sources of vibrant design with African design influences visible in historical and contemporary art and culture around the world. The study of African design is still limited, particularly from the viewpoint of Africans, and the opportunity to expand its current definition by exploring African visual representations and introducing contemporary design applications remains immense.

Kadara Enyeasi is a Nigerian fine art photographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion in Nigeria</span> Fashion in Nigeria

The fashion industry in Nigeria plays an important cultural role and contributes significantly to the country's economy. Clothing incorporates a variety of colours, fabrics, and embellishments. Many of the component cultures of Nigeria wear styles that are characteristic of their tribal society and customs. Nigeria produces fashionable textiles and finished garments and has designers who have achieved international recognition.

Robert Paige is a multi-disciplinary artist and arts educator working across textile design, painting, collage, and sculpture based in Woodlawn, Chicago. As an artist and textile designer allied with the Black Arts Movement, Robert E. Paige trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and worked at the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Sears Roebuck & Company and Fiorio Milano design house in Italy. Paige was raised in Chicago's South Side where he continues to live and work, further developing his longstanding career in the decorative arts. His work visually and conceptually interrogates political and cultural themes that reflect both historical and contemporary African American art references, as well as traditional textile practices of West Africa.

References

  1. ↑ Suzy Menkes (14 November 2012). "My Lagos: Duro Olowu's Home Town". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ "Duro olowu biography". Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  3. ↑ "Duro Olowu - Fashion Designer". Fashionmodeldirectory. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  4. ↑ "Duro Olowu, a Michelle Obama Favorite, Curates Art Exhibit". W Magazine | Women's Fashion & Celebrity News. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  5. ↑ Hartman, Eviana (5 June 2015). "Duro Olowu, Inspired by the World". The New York Times.
  6. 1 2 "Duro Olowu". Art Base Africa. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  7. ↑ "Duro Olowu - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  8. ↑ Steele, Valerie. "Michelle Obama-approved designer Duro Olowu's pursuit of the 'culture of style'". CNN. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  9. ↑ Indvik, Lauren (24 June 2016). "The Anti-Power Couple: Duro Olowu and Thelma Golden". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ Amy Odell. "Mary Katrantzou Beats Jason Wu for €100k Swiss Textile Prize - The Cut". Nymag.com. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  11. ↑ Morgan Winsor. "Who Is Duro Olowu? Nigerian Designer Decorates White House For Christmas [PHOTOS]". Ibtimes.com. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  12. ↑ Hicks, Amber (23 October 2018). "List of 100 most influential black people includes Meghan Markle for first time". mirror. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  13. ↑ Lavender, Jane (17 November 2020). "Lewis Hamilton ends incredible year top of influential Black Powerlist 2021". mirror. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
  14. ↑ Mower, Sarah. "Designer Duro Olowu Unveils His Spellbinding New Summer Exhibit in London". Vogue. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  15. ↑ Buck, Louisa (24 June 2016). "The making of Duro Olowu: designer's Camden Arts Centre show confounds curatorial convention". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  16. ↑ Fallon, James; Larson, Kristin (28 February 2020). "Designer Duro Olowu Sees Chicago Through Art". WWD. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.