Twenty-five-year-old graduate of Linguistics from Ekiti State University, Tijesunimi Popoola, is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and the Creative Director of Movedi Creations, an Ibadan-based ready-to-wear fashion outfit. In this interview, she shares her flair for fashion and her opinion on Ibadan fashion sense. Excerpts:
There are so many ready-to-wear clothing outfits in Ibadan, what stands yours out?
Sometimes a lot of ready-to-wear outfits in Ibadan are really not all ready to wear, most of them hesitate on finishing and only finish when a customer makes a request. Like they do in Lagos, my own ready-to-wear clothing is such that when you need an outfit to attend a function or a meeting and just pick up an ankara or senator style outfits, without going through the stress of buying the material and waiting for weeks before it gets sewn. In Movedi, we create ready-to-wear trendy traditional attires in different sizes such as medium, large and extra large. We also sew English wears and English wears mixed with ankara fabrics. So, we specialise in corporate and casual wears.
How are your materials and where do you source them from?
For now, I source for my materials here in Nigeria. Most locally made fabrics are pretty strong. Some shrink and others bleed. Whenever I shop for fabrics, I take a sachet of water and a bar of soap along to test the quality. There are some other tricks that I learnt from the Igbo people on how to test the quality of a fabric to know whether it will fade, wash or smell or if the material is cotton or mixed. Those things I have learnt have helped me in picking good materials for the clothes I make.
What is the style in vogue in Ibadan?
The cold shoulder trend that comes in various designs and styles is the latest trend in ankara styles.
What would you say about Ibadan people’s sense of style?
I lived in Ibadan before I moved to Lagos and then back to Ibadan. The sense of style of the people of Ibadan has changed over the years. I think the University students in the City and the influx of fashionistas and ballisters from Lagos who spend their weekends in Ibadan did the trick. Ibadan people are now stepping up their style game. We need to step up higher and keep changing, we can’t say that we are beating Lagos but we are definitely more fashionable than some states in Nigeria.
What would you describe as a fashion mistake that people make that puts you off?
I would say wearing a pattern on pattern. Most people don’t actually think it is wrong but it doesn’t go down well with me. Also, when outfits are too tight, they put me off.
You are young and already carving a niche for yourself. What advice do you have for young graduates still roaming the streets looking for non-existing white-collar jobs?
A lot of people find it hard to decide on what they want to do with their lives while still in school. I would advise that they follow their passion right from school, because that is the mistake we made. We always have the dream of scouting for white-collar jobs after graduation that might not be forthcoming. Yes, it is good to work for people but while in school, nurse some creative ambitions because things may not go as planned, especially in this current economic hardship. Back in school, I made money from hall decorations and catering services for my friends when they celebrated their birthdays.
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