Buki Akib, Nigeria
“Growing up in a city was an introduction to fashion itself.”
The Nigerian designer Buki Agbakiaka studied for her Bachelor of Arts at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design in London from 2006 to 2010. Her undergraduate pathway was Fashion Design with Knitwear and this has become the hallmark of her fashion label, Buki Akib. Buki Akib’s designs are distinctive for their deep, strong colours, colliding patterns and textures – sometimes three-dimensional – which generate an energetic vitality in a fashion range that is unique, daring and extravagant.
Her most recent collection of menswear – FELA – is influenced by the pulsating rhythms of Afrobeat, which dominated musical life in Lagos in the 1970s. Buki Akib was particularly inspired by the ground-breaking musician Fela Kuti, whose legendary, unmistakable style marked the beginning of a new extroversion in the West and Pan African music scenes. She takes a moment in her country’s past and transposes it into the fashion future, playing creatively with her own Nigerian heritage and developing a highly innovative collection.
By combining traditional knitting methods with African fabrics Buki Akib creats a new range of dynamic, luxury fabrics. All the pieces in her collections are produced both in London and Lagos.
