The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a popular Ibadan-based fashion house, Fashion Minds, Mr Olufemi Olagunju has submitted that there is a whole lot of difference between a tailor and a fashion designer.
He also declared that his outfit that has been maintaining unusually low profile is not re-strategizing to re-launch comprehensively.
He made these declarations when he featured on Parrot Xtra Hour On Radio, a magazine radio show that was aired on King 103.9 FM located within the esoteric Premier Hotel, Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State.
According to him “Yorubas say the ram that walks backwards will forge forward powerfully. There are times when one does not need to shout, that’s where we are at present. We’re currently re-strategizing so we don’t need to make noise. Expect us, we’ll be back big time soon”.
Femi, who had been in the women fashion world for 30 years talked about his passion for fashion.
“I’m very passionate about fashion. I can also confirm the fact that my mother was doing it, personally, that interest was there because I grew up seeing my mother do it and then I developed it. I went to school for it, I went international to also learn some more to meet up with international standards”, he said.
He also attributed his source of inspiration to a highly serene and peaceful environment. “Most of the time, when I’m ironing, I get ideas a lot because I usually meditate when doing that. So anywhere that is quiet, anywhere I can get peace is where I get inspiration from”.
The CEO, Fashion Minds, however, appealed to the government to support fashion designing business by providing stable power supply in the country.
In his words “With my own little experience, in this business, I realize that we do things ourselves. The only way I think the government can help us is to provide the things that will make it easy for us. When electricity is stable, you’ll be happy to work. We use a lot of industrial machines and a lot of machines that use electricity. There’s always productivity when we have stable power supply”.
The Ijesha-born fashion designer advised young aspiring fashion designers to be honest and loyal in pursuit of their dreams.
“A lot of people are interested in this business. It is actually a lucrative business if you do it well and my advice for people is that they should be focused, aspire to be big, honest, be truthful, loyal and straight forward”, he said.
Watch out for more excerpts from this interview. Soon.
Packaged by Olaitan Ige
