The Sun News On-line

After spending over a decade in the U.K building and developing the Ade Bakare Couture brand into an international label synonymous with classic yet modern fashion, the man behind the name has now set his sights on a journey back home, with the markings of his trip being the birth of his new shop in Lagos, a younger, hip new line for the fashion forward and a new outlook on what it is to be Nigerian.

Designing African luxury
“I think at this stage in my life,” Bakare says, in a recent interview with Saturday Sun, “I want to promote more African prints and African-inspired designs and sell them to not only our own people, but people in the west also. There has been recent interest in things coming out of Africa and I think that is great and we should be part of that movement.

There’s a lot of inward looking here, there’s a shift in culture. People believe more in things Nigerian, in ourselves, not looking so much to the west anymore. The only problem we had is that a lot of African fabrics don’t lend themselves to daytime wear because most are very heavy. It is just Ankara, which is cotton, which is not really considered a luxurious fabric. In couture, for the most part, you have to use luxurious fabric to raise the quality of the design. So we are trying to work with more luxurious fabrics like Organza, Chiffon and then transferring African prints on them. We developed a mixture of Batik and Adire called Badire.”

His efforts seem to have caught the eye of fashionable women in Nigeria, with some of them recently spotting his Badire creations at events. Mrs. Fashola wore one to Asiwaju Tinubu’s recent birthday and Mrs. Teju Phillips wore one to the City People Awards.

The new shop
He says the idea to open an Ade Bakare shop in Nigeria was borne as much for convenience as it was to say thank you to Nigerians.
“Even when I was abroad, I always had a strong connection with Nigerians. No matter how far I go, they would always find a way to find me. In fact, the first person I got an order from in my Mayfair shop was FRA Williams’ wife, who came in one day with her daughter. They were referred to us, not by Nigerians, but by a fabric shop nearby. So you could say this is a polite way of acknowledging their patronage over the years even when I was far away, by designing for them.

The people who come to us could go anywhere in the world, yet they come to us. Also, in coming to Nigeria, what I found was that after I had been coming regularly as I was invited to do a number of fashion shows, I was approached to do wedding dresses for some people. After that I was always being asked to come back. You could say there was a high demand. So we thought it would be better to have a base here, because all that time, we were going to clients’ houses for fittings, which wasn’t always comfortable, though we developed a lot of friendships through it. But now clients can come here, though some still prefer us to come to their homes.”

The new line
The creation of a new line for younger clients, however, seems to have been a purely business decision to allow him cater for both his young and old clientele.
“The older clients don’t want overly fitted things yet they are the ones who have easily disposable income. Previously, the designs we made for our line were very body-conscious, very fitted and tailored, so we have had to change our designs to suit them more in the Ade Bakare Couture line. But we now have another line that caters for the younger women in that it contains clothes that are hipper and fitted. In this line, we have things people can order off the peg. The girls just come here and buy what they want. It’s called Bakare Breeze and we have intentionally made it more trend-conscious. Though we don’t believe in following trends because you don’t want to spend a lot of money on something that might soon go out of trend but with this line, I think you could say we are more trend-aware.”

Differences
In designing clothes more suited to the African client, Bakare has begun to see many differences between the two markets that he didn’t know existed before.
“One of the major differences between designing for an African and a western market is that when designing for Africans, I tend to go for lighter tones in terms of colour, things Europeans would consider summer colours. Here you are not so restricted by summer or winter colours. Also, those who buy our clothes, most of them don’t like things too fitted. When you look at our traditional clothes, they are always looser.”
Apart from colours, though, Bakare feels Africans have a more emotional response to clothes, something he considers unique.

“In the west, they are very proper and focused, there’s almost a lack of emotion when they are dealing with you. If they are going to Ascot, they let you know they want two dresses and that is that. But in Nigeria, people are more spontaneous. They are more emotional about clothes, they can come into the shop and if they are excited by what they see, they can buy half of what you have in stock. With the westerners though, they are more loyal, you can be sure that if they like your designs, every year, every season, they will come to you.

You can even plan your income for the year based on your knowledge of your customers and what they will need from you for the year. But here, because people are more spontaneous, you might see them today and tomorrow they have moved on. Myself, I like structured things but here you can’t be too structured or you will become inflexible and clients don’t like it when you are inflexible. You have to adapt to whatever environment you find yourself. Each culture has its ups and downs. Both places have their advantages and disadvantages. But one thing they have in common is that in every culture, ladies like clothes and if you make what appeals to them, they will love it no matter where they are in the world.”

The young designer
“I knew from the age of five that I wanted to be a designer and I think it came from my parents, especially my mum,” he says, on how he got into designing in the first place. “They were very sophisticated. My mum was always well dressed and from an early age, she used to ask me what I thought of her outfit or which outfit I thought would better suit her. She used to involve me in picking things she wanted to wear. It gives you a lot of confidence. So I started developing a sense of style from a very early age. I didn’t encounter any resistance from my parents when I told them I wanted to be a designer. It was nothing out of place. But they insisted that I had to go to university to study and get a degree. I guess they saw at that time, what Nigeria was becoming, a place where if you didn’t have certain things, you were not considered a success or you wouldn’t be taken seriously. I’m very happy for their support because this was at a time when fashion designing was not very fashionable. So from a very early age I was already working.”

He says not everyone was so keen, however, on having someone so young design for them.
“When I had my first shop in Mayfair in the U.K, people would come in and see me, and because I was so young, they would still ask to see the designer. You would see the look of shock on their faces when I told them I was the one. Then they would start asking questions, to see if I knew what I was doing. Maybe the fact that I was black added to it. I had an assistant then who was a former fashion editor for the Mayfair Times and who was very well known at the time. People thought he owned the shop and they would come in and direct the conversation to him even when I was there. He would firmly direct it back to me.”

Of setting up and home work
For anyone who lives abroad who, like him, may want to bring their business home, Bakare has some advice; do your homework.
“ The key is to come regularly to study things, spend time, interact and create awareness and find out what there’s a demand for. So far, there have been a lot of challenges. It has taken a huge commitment and understanding on our part. Initially, you think you can bring your business practices from abroad, then you realize that people do things differently here. Things tend to take longer here and you have to get used to that. People want to see you a lot and we need to get them to the place where they can trust your staff to be as good as you or you would not be able to expand, since you can’t be every where at once. You have to adjust to people’s business culture and customs.”

“The Young Designer’s Creative Competition, which I started, is yearly now and is going to be holding in June. We’ve been quite busy with both the new line and the new shop. With the shop, we want to make it a one stop destination for weddings, where brides can find everything they need for their wedding, from shoes, tiara, dresses for themselves and their bridal train, all in the privacy of our shop. We also have an accessories line that you can also get in the shop. We have a fragrance, scented candles and soap. We have been selling out a lot of those.”
It is obvious that Ade Bakare has a lot on his plate now and he seems to have no problems adding more. If the success he has recorded in the past is any indication, he has more than enough energy to keep going.