Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja
A Kaduna based fashion designer and CEO, Badasky Fashion House, Grace Barnabas Pati, known as “Badasky,” has called for the need for African brides to be more African in their wedding gowns.
She made the call in a chart with Thisday in an interview on the fashion industry in Kaduna and Nigeria as a whole.
Grace pati said, she has been an advocate of African brides wearing African fabrics during wedding ceremonies because it will help to promote our culture and tradition.
“I’m an advocate of let African brides or let people embrace their root in terms of my wedding collection I have this collection I call the root collection these collections are made with African prints African fabrics fused with a touch of Western designs.
“When we talk about wedding dresses the first thing that comes to our mind is just the white dress but for me I find it boring so I feel we have so much rich fabrics rich cultural heritage that we can showcase, and let it reflect in our dresses so, I’ve been pushing for Africans to start wearing African wedding dresses so I can’t wait to see the day that most brides will walk down the aisle in their African wedding dresses instead of just the regular white dresses so I believe maybe if I keep on going in the next five to ten years one day this will come to reality.”
Speaking on her brand she, said “Our brand is focused on wedding dresses and mostly female dresses for special occasions or people that just want something different and unique from the common designs you see out there.
“My personal styling aesthetic at Badaski is a blend of African cultural heritage and modern Western designs. I love using African fabrics like Ankara, Adire, Ashoke anything traditional but that doesn’t mean I don’t use other fabrics so I tend to fuse them to give them that contemporary touch.”
“When working with clients, I listen to their preferences and understand their personalities then create styles that suit their individual taste while adding my own creative touch. I like when a client looks unique. When I have a bride, I don’t want her to, I want when you see this bride you should be able to tell that this is a Badasky bride but there are instances where the bride will be like I want this particular design from another designer.
“Yes, we can go with her design but I will try to structure the design in a way that it will still look unique that you can be able to tell the difference between my design and the other designer so it always have that Badasky touch.” she emphasised
On the Nigerian designer she admires, she said, “I love Tubor “Sandrah Tubobereni” and the reason why I love Tubor is each piece of hers tells a story especially her bridal collections like you can see there is a connection between the bride and the dress.
There are stories behind the dress just like my own designs, so I can relate with Tubor and I love how she does her presentations and the detailing of her dresses. I try my best to do my own detailings in my own way and I also try as much as to pay attention to details and my bride’s personality.”
Speaking on trending designs she said, “Personally I’m someone that don’t like to focus much on trends because trends come and go. I believe as a designer you shouldn’t be someone that just moves with the trend. You should try to always make things that are timeless.
“There are timeless designs that whether after some years people will still wear this design and they will love it. It will not look outdated so honestly I’m not a designer that works with trend though once in a while you might pick something and just spice up your work but I don’t depend heavily on trends. I try to work with designs that I think they are going to be timeless and will be appreciated.”
“In my work I envision each of my piece my bridal piece or my collections as a work of art and with art there is no time there is no trend. Art is timeless. There are some artwork that have been even before our parents were born and now they are like in museums and people see them and still appreciate them.
“That is how I want my work to be seen and sometimes trends can make you lose your own personal touch. I believe every business has the way they are structured or their own personal touch.”
She also spoke on challenges faced by designers in the industry saying, “one of the major challenges we face if you ask most fashion designers is electricity. We face serious problem with electricity because our work is heavily dependent on it; you need electricity for your machines, ironing, and lots of things in the fashion space.
“Another challenge we face sometimes could be logistic problems, sometimes you might finish your own parts, do your own good job but I think the logistic system here is still growing so sometimes it can be challenging.
“You could send a dress to a client and then the logistic company says it will get to your client between this period and then the clothes doesn’t get delivered between that period. The client gets upset and starts asking for refunds. Sometimes because of the exchange rate for our international clients and then maybe you want to send via the international courier services the prices might be so high.
“Sometimes the price of shipping a heavy wedding dress might be too high and discourages the bride from wanting to place an another order.
“Another challenge in the fashion industry is that a lot of times some fashion designers tend to copy when you come up with some unique styles and then someone out of the blue just copies it meaning we don’t have respect for someone’s intellectual property here.
“Though I know there are some designers that have made it clear when you copy their designs they’re going to sue you but I’m just saying it’s not a common thing.
“it’s a challenge especially when you really work hard to bring that design to life. There should be stricter measures to protect intellectual property in the industry.”
She urged government to guarantee constant power to grow the economy and ensure strict regulations on logistics companies. “Almost every businesses in Nigeria including the fashion industry needs constant power supply; the first thing the government should do for us is to make sure we have constant power supply. I believe if the issue of electricity is solved a lot of our lives problems are solved over 80% because with electricity you can meet up with timing, and work will go smooth without stress.”
“There should be a strict regulation around logistics to make sure that all these people are effective and when people disappoint or people do not do what they say they do they should be held accountable for their actions.”
Speaking on the fashion industry in Kaduna she said, “Fashion in Kaduna is still growing trying to pick up we all know when you speak of fashion everybody turns to Lagos, Port Harcourt, and Abuja Abuja but here in Kaduna we still have fashion shows that do take place once in a while and then apart from that there are designers too that are really really doing a great job so the fashion industry in Kaduna is not yet there but it’s on its way.”
“And sometimes your environment shapes your designs because if I’m here in Kaduna there are some kind of designs that will be appreciated more here than Lagos and there are some designs that Lagos people will love so much and then Kaduna people will not like.”
Speaking on what she hopes to achieve in the next five to ten years she said, “in the next five to ten years I really want to make impact in the fashion industry, and also in the next five to ten years I would like Badasky not only be known as a dress brand but also a brand for bags and shoes.”
“Apart from that I also want to make impact in the fashion academy sector you know I run a fashion house; I have a fashion academy where I train people and because it’s in a confined space so the number of student you get is limited so I created a platform it’s called soweeafrica, an online fashion academy platform that makes learning easy and accessible.
“Because there are a lot of people that want to learn how to sew but they cannot travel and come over because of the high cost of transportation and accommodation, with soweeafrica you can just sit down at the comfort of your home and then you go through your classes.
“Since it’s an online program it has been discounted so people don’t have to break the bank to be able to learn how to sew.”