Filter
About
Kanyinsola Onalaja was born in Nigeria but educated in London, where she studied BA Fashion Design at Istituto Marangoni. Upon graduation, she received an award for the best student of the year 2014 and best fashion collection of the academic year 2013 – 2014, and as a result, given the scholarship to study a masters degree in womenswear design which she completed in July 2017) The BA collection was shown at Graduate Fashion Week and Africa Fashion week in London.
Afterward, she briefly attended Academia di Costume E Moda in Rome to 3D Pattern Cutting. During her BA and master’s studies, she worked with brands such as; Christopher Kane and Giles Deacon Couture.
Growing up in Nigeria, she discovered traditional art and became fascinated with the different media used to express it. Onalaja presents an imaginative concept of culture, heritage, luxury, and a contemporary appreciation of beauty through its highly crafted pieces that explore texture clashes, proportions, color, and textile manipulation. The focus is on perfect execution, artisanal craft, with hints of androgyny versus whimsical elements.
Her love for color and textiles grew, leading her to experiment with different mediums and ways to create works of art that used fashion as a means to showcase it.
Onalaja presents an imaginative concept of culture, heritage, luxury, and a contemporary appreciation of beauty through its highly crafted pieces that explore texture clashes, proportions, color, and textile manipulation. The focus is on perfect execution, artisanal craft, with hints of androgyny versus whimsical elements. Onalaja aims to create a form of communication and interaction that fuses designer Kanyinsola Onalaja’s Nigerian heritage and flair for artisanal craftsmanship with Italian design and the formality of British fashion.
Brand Launched: 2014
Category: Womenswear, Occassionwear Last Collection: Into The Wild
