My name is Onyeka Okolo, a plus size fashion designer. I
loved to sketch beautiful designs for myself and some friends while I was in
school. It was just a hobby until I travelled with my older sister who happens
to be on the big side, and every time we went shopping I noticed it was quite
challenging to get her perfect size. She never used to feel the need to dress
up and I felt it was time to do something about it.
My dream was to get to a point where the plus size would
look so nice that slim people would wish to dress like them; this was the
inspiration behind my clothing line – CURVE. It is happening now, as slim
people now call me to shop designs they’ve seen on plus size ladies; this makes
me really happy and fulfilled.
I think creativity is what makes a great fashion designer; I
once had a collection with crop tops and some of my customers were like “oh I’m
plus size, I can’t wear crop tops”, I had to explain to them that they can
actually wear crop tops with a kind of cut suitable for curvy women. You also
need to be unique and have great customer relations.
One of my greatest challenges as a fashion designer is
convincing plus size ladies to be confident; you see that they have good legs
or arms to flaunt but they are not just confident enough to do so. For example,
I have a client who ensures that all the clothes I make for her come in black.
It is really hard to convince most plus size ladies to step out of their
comfort zone.
I think being big or thick has always been an African thing
so I don’t know why it became a problem to the point where
people got
stigmatized for being big. We Nigerians just love to copy the western world. I
love that the plus size fashion industry is growing really fast. We now see a
lot of plus size women feeling really happy with their looks. I hear some
people say we are promoting obesity, but this isn’t true. In the past, there
were stories of people committing suicide because they were being bullied due
to their body size. These days, plus size people have become more confident and
stylish.
As a designer, my watchwords are simplicity and comfort; I
always want my clients to be comfortable in my pieces. I take our weather in
Nigeria into consideration when creating my designs.
I grew up in Onitsha where I had my nursery, primary, and
secondary education, I had my tertiary education at the University of Lagos
where I studied Technology Education. I actually have no formal background in
fashion; I’d say fashion chose me. The truth is, I can’t remember the exact
time I started designing. My mum was a Fine Arts teacher and this influenced my
sketches a lot.
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