Ib Kamara

Last updated

Ib Kamara, also known as I.B., IB, or Ibrahim Kamara (born 1990) is a Sierra Leone-born, London-based fashion journalist, stylist and creative director who, in January 2021, was named editor of Dazed magazine.

Contents

Early life and education

Born Ibrahim Kamara in Sierra Leone in 1990, Kamara and his parents took refuge with relatives in Gambia after civil war broke out, before settling in London when Kamara was sixteen years old. [1]

Kamara attributes his turbulent early years and growing up watching world affairs develop via CNN and BBC news programmes with inspiring his focus on current affairs. [1] Before coming to London, he spent three years studying sciences with the intention of becoming a doctor and pleasing his parents, but was unhappy doing so, and decided to pursue fashion as a career option. [1] After enrolling on an art & design course at Westminster Kingsway College, Kamara studied fashion communication at Central Saint Martins. [1]

Kamara has dyslexia which he regularly acknowledges in interviews. [1] [2]

Career

Fashion

Kamara's approach is based upon gender identity, fluidity and exploration, queerness and also upon Blackness and African identity and beauty. [1] He attributes his early studies of science with helping him develop his focus and attention to detail. [1] While he originally thought he might become a designer, Kamara became an assistant to the stylist Barry Kamen which established his career as a stylist. [1] His inspirations include the composer Hans Zimmer, the film director Quentin Tarantino and the American fashion journalist Diana Vreeland, who Kamara admires for their ability to create instantly identifiable worlds. [1]

Kamara was first noticed in 2016 when he curated an exhibition in London titled "2026" which focused upon Black African masculinity. [1] [3] The models, recruited off the street of Soweto, dressed in outfits made using second-hand clothing, and photographed by Kristin-Lee Moolman, helped Kamara address and challenge conventional ideas of race, gender and sexuality in fashion while also aiming to suggest what menswear would look like a decade later. [1] [3] The exhibition was shown at Somerset House, which led to him being introduced by Jamie Morgan to Robbie Spencer of Dazed who gave Kamara his first fashion editorial. [2]

As a stylist, Kamara was popular with the late Virgil Abloh of Louis Vuitton menswear and Off-White, and also styled catwalks and advertising for Riccardo Tisci of Burberry and Erdem. [1] Other clients include Stella McCartney, Dior, [1] Kenneth Ize and Lorenzo Serafini. [3] Comme des Garçons invited him to design hats for their show, and H&M signed him up to direct their first circularly-designed (zero-waste) collection. [3] He worked with Rihanna, both for her label Fenty, and as her personal stylist when she was featured on the cover of Dazed. [1] Abloh described Kamara as a prime example of how "diversity can bring out the best of the fashion industry". [1] For his work as a stylist, Kamara was awarded the Isabella Blow Award by the British Fashion Council on 29 November 2021. [3] Following the passing of Virgil Abloh, Kamara was appointed Art & Image Director for Off-White on 30 April 2022. [4]

In 2021, Iain R. Webb was asked by the Fashion Museum, Bath to choose garments representing 2020 for their Dress of the Year collection. Among the outfits he chose to represent 2020 was a unique dress called "A Dress of Hope", designed by Dazed's art director, Gareth Wrighton and styled by Kamara out of vintage table-linens and doilies collected by Webb. [5]

Journalism

Kamara worked as a senior editor-at-large for i-D magazine from 2019 onwards, [2] and has also worked for British Vogue, Vogue Italia , System , and W . In January 2021 he became editor in chief for Dazed. [1]

His first issue of Dazed celebrated the National Health Service and people working together for change, and Kamara's aim is for the magazine to be globally relevant to readers from a wide range of backgrounds and cultures. [6] When he received the Isabella Blow award in 2021, he said he was proud to be a beneficiary of the WWD awards' new focus on individual change-makers rather than companies and brands. [6] As part of his approach to running Dazed, Kamara tries to secure contributors from all around the world, especially from underrepresented fashion centres such as those in Africa and the Middle East. [6]

In addition to having their collaborative design chosen as a look for 2020, [5] Kamara and Wrighton were the journalists chosen by the Fashion Museum, Bath to select the Dress of the Year for 2021. They chose the Armani wrap dress worn by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex for her and her husband's interview with Oprah Winfrey. [7] Kamara and Wrighton argued that because Oprah with Meghan and Harry became an "iconic" and "definitive anti-establishment moment" that would endure in the British collective memory, it made sense to consider the dress worn by the pregnant Duchess as part of this story. [7]

Related Research Articles

Philip Anthony Treacy is an Irish haute couture milliner, or hat designer, who has been mostly based in London for his career, and who was described by Vogue magazine as "perhaps the greatest living milliner". In 2000, Treacy became the first milliner in eighty years to be invited to exhibit at the Paris haute couture fashion shows. He has won British Accessory Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards five times, and has received public honours in both Britain and Ireland. His designs have been displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Givenchy is a French luxury fashion and perfume house. It hosts the brand of haute couture and ready-to-wear clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics of Parfums Givenchy. The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy and is a member of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Prêt-à-Porter. It is currently owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH.

Kim Niklas Jones is an English fashion designer. He is a graduate of Central St Martins College of Art and Design.

<i>Womens Wear Daily</i> Fashion-industry trade journal

Women's Wear Daily is a fashion-industry trade journal often referred to as the "Bible of fashion". It provides information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the men and women's fashion, beauty and retail industries. Its readership is made up largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers, marketers, financiers, media executives, advertising agencies, socialites and trend makers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carine Roitfeld</span>

Carine Roitfeld is a French fashion editor, former fashion model, and writer. She is the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris, a position she held from 2001 to 2011. In 2012, she became founder and editor-in-chief of CR Fashion Book, a bi-annual print magazine headquartered in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André Leon Talley</span> American fashion journalist (1948–2022)

André Leon Talley was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine. He was the magazine's fashion news director from 1983 to 1987, its first African-American male creative director from 1988 to 1995, and then its editor-at-large from 1998 to 2013. Often regarded as a fashion icon, he was known for supporting emerging designers and advocating for diversity in the fashion industry; while the capes, kaftans, and robes he wore became his trademark look. Talley also served on the judging panel for America's Next Top Model.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Owens</span> American fashion designer

Richard Saturnino Owens is an American fashion designer from Porterville, California. In addition to his main line, Owens has a furniture line and a number of diffusion lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashion journalism</span> Overview of fashion journalism

Fashion journalism is a component of fashion media, with a focus on writing and photojournalism. Fashion journalists write about fashion events and trends as well as cultivate and maintain relationships with stylists and designers. Fashion journalists are either employed full-time by a publication, or they submit articles on a freelance basis. Fashion photography, which supplanted fashion illustration in the 1900s, is a type of photojournalism used in fashion journalism.

Polly Mellen is an American stylist and retired fashion editor. For more than sixty years, she served as the fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar and Vogue. From 1991 to 1999 she was the creative director of Allure. Mellen formally retired from Conde Nast Publications in 1994 and remains a consultant on various projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inez and Vinoodh</span> Dutch fashion photographer duo

Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin are a Dutch-American fashion photographer duo, whose work has been featured in fashion magazines and advertising campaigns. They also produce independent art work.

Davit Komakhidze known as David Koma is a Georgian fashion designer based in London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicola Formichetti</span>

Nicola Formichetti is a fashion director and fashion editor. Born in Japan, he is most widely known as the artistic director of the Italian fashion label Diesel and for being a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter Lady Gaga. He worked two years with the French fashion house Mugler as artistic director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Enninful</span> Ghanaian-born English editor and stylist (born 1972)

Edward Kobina Enninful is a Ghanaian-born British editor and stylist who serves as editor-in-chief of British Vogue and the European editorial director of Condé Nast. He was appointed fashion director of the British fashion magazine i-D at the age of 18, a position he held for more than two decades. He subsequently held the positions of Contributing Fashion Editor at Vogue Italia and American Vogue, as well as Creative Fashion Director at W magazine. Enninful was appointed editor-in-chief of British Vogue in 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Raeburn (designer)</span> British fashion designer (born 1982)

Christopher Raeburn (born 13 August 1982) is a British fashion designer, known for reworking surplus fabrics and garments to create menswear, womenswear and accessories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgil Abloh</span> American fashion designer and entrepreneur (1980–2021)

Virgil Abloh was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur. One of the most influential and respected fashion designers of his generation, he began his own line of luxury streetwear clothing, Pyrex Vision, in 2012, and became the chief executive officer of the Milan-based label Off-White, a fashion house he founded in 2013. Abloh was also the artistic director of Louis Vuitton's menswear collection beginning in 2018, and was given increased creative responsibilities across the LVMH brand in early 2021.

Hood By Air is a high fashion brand based in New York City first launched in 2006 and active to the present day, with the exception of a hiatus between early 2017 – 2019. The brand was co-founded by designers, Shayne Oliver and Raul Lopez. The designer is Shayne Oliver, a former student at Fashion Institute of Technology and New York University who described his design aesthetic as "ghetto gothic" and banjee. Oliver was named among The 25 Greatest Black Fashion Designers by Complex. Oliver brought in the conceptual artist and filmmaker Leilah Weinraub as CEO and cofounder in 2012. Weinraub was openly skeptical of the brand's celebrity endorsements. The company was notable for refusing outside investment. In the past, Hood By Air, also known by the acronym HBA, has identified as a "luxury streetwear brand," a term coined by Oliver and now “synonymous with HBA's subversive use of logos, high-end production values and an ingenious online presence”.

Clare Waight Keller is a British stylist and fashion designer, who has served as the Artistic Director for a number of luxury fashion houses and brands, including Pringle of Scotland, Chloé, and Givenchy.

Off-White is an Italian luxury fashion label founded by American designer Virgil Abloh. The company was incorporated in Milan in 2012.

Samuel Ross is a British product and fashion designer, creative director and artist. He is known for founding the fashion label A-COLD-WALL* and working with brands such as Hublot, Off-White, Oakley, Nike and Barney's.

Mel Ottenberg is an American wardrobe stylist and editor-in-chief of Interview Magazine. Since 2011, he has worked as Rihanna's stylist, amongst several other musicians, actresses, and celebrities. He lives and works in New York, New York.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Paton, Elizabeth (15 September 2021). "How Ibrahim Kamara Found His Place in Fashion". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Soar, Sophie (11 May 2020). "How I Became… Senior Fashion Editor-at-Large of i-D Magazine". The Business of Fashion. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Yotka, Steff (23 November 2021). ""People Underestimate The Power Of Fashion" – Ib Kamara On His BFC Honour And Making Memorable Fashion Imagery". British Vogue. Condé Nast.
  4. ↑ "Off-White on Instagram". 30 April 2022.
  5. 1 2 Różyc, Marcin (10 May 2021). "Dress of the Year: Jakie ubrania zapamiętamy z 2020?". Vogue Polska (in Polish). Condé Nast. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 Theodosi, Natalie (19 November 2021). "Dazed Editor Ib Kamara on Receiving the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator". WWD. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  7. 1 2 Prisco, Jacopo. "Meghan's Oprah interview dress is named fashion museum's Dress of the Year". CNN. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
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.