Duro Olowu told t5m that he finds it essential to use models from ‘all over the world’. His multicultural catwalk is unusual considering so many designers neglect to use black or Asian models. ‘You have got to have great girls, from all over the world, which a lot of designers don’t have. It just shows what you want from the world’.
His gorgeously bright collection is modeled by a diverse group of girls, a retort to the criticisms of a ‘white-out’ in the fashion industry. Since winning the coveted “New Designer of the Year” award in 2005 at the British Fashion Awards, Duro Olowu has gone on to scale new heights with his vibrant luxurious designs.
The collection he showed at Fashion Week 07 was headily colourful in keeping with his vibrant signature style, featuring fantastic draping and pleating of rare opulent fabrics and vintage silks. Inspired by jewelled colours, this collection featured lush emerald hues, in silks and khaki and lots of baby pink, ‘which I call Maharani pink’. Duro’s inspiration for the show is romance, specifically ‘great international romances!’
‘It’s about romance, being in love, sort of devil-may-care. Not caring what people think, just going for it’.
These themes of passion and abandonment are echoed in Duro’s own design practice. ‘I stick to what I do, I never thought I would follow a trend, or whatever. I do what I love, I’m lucky enough to do what I love and I don’t really compromise unless I have to’. Duro was also inspired by the jewelled colours of the Maharani, traditionally worn by the wives and widows of Maharaja kings.
‘You have to have a great team; and you have to, when you’re creating the collection, you have to want to show it to people’. Duro’s collection for London Fashion Week this year is most certainly something to show off about.
