Wale Oyejide’s Ikire Jones menswear line is pushing the envelope of the African fashion design aesthetic. His Spring/Summer 2014 collection, “The Untold Renaissance,” features hand-cut, hand-sewn jackets in vibrant colors and patterns paired with luxurious scarves and pocket squares, which Face2Face Africa recently featured. His latest creative venture, “Village 2081 A.D.,” takes the exploration of African fashion to another level. Now with a collaboration with Cornell University-trained architect-turned-artist Lekan Jeyifo, the project’s centerpiece is an illustrated scene of a futuristic African village printed on a luxury 70 percent wool, 30 percent silk blend scarf. The alliance is the epitome of iconic fashion turned on its head and continues Oyejide’s “West Africa-meets-Brooklyn” style.
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The vision for Village 2081 A.D. began with Jeyifo’s series “Lagos 2081 A.D.” Face2Face Africa met Lekan last summer on the rooftop of N.Y.C.’s Hudson Grill and learned that the Nigerian-born, Brooklyn-based artist had a passion for Afro-futurism with the way he infuses his architectural training in to his work.
And it is amazing to see how far this interest has progressed. To date, Jeyifo has left his imprint on everything from designer sunglasses to luxe T-shirts to iPhone cases and formal exhibitions. When asked about the partnership with Ikire Jones, Jeyifo said, “It provided a perfect opportunity to further extend the boundaries of architectural representation and my interest in exploring new aesthetic vocabularies.”
This melding of the minds from these Nigerian-born creatives is a refreshing take on African design that we look forward to seeing more of. You can learn more about Jeyifo and his work at vigilism.com and purchase your own Village 2081 A.D. scarf at www.ikirejones.com.
In the meantime, view their fashions here:
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- Lekan Jeyifo
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- Ikire Jones fashions
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- Wale Oyeji, pictured far right, with Ikire Jones fashions
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- Village 2081 A.D. scarf
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- Village 2081 A.D. scarf
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- Village 2081 A.D. scarf
