Anjolaoluwa Abiosun
When pictures of celebrities attending the Queen Charlotte movie premiere in South Africa started flooding the internet on May 4, 2023, one dress that dominated online conversations and made it to every best-dressed list of many media platforms was Mercy Eke’s regency-era themed dress. The same thing happened when Chika Ike graced the 2023 Cannes Festival red carpet in an emerald green dress – from Vogue to the New York Times, many fashion and lifestyle media platforms highlighted Chika Ike’s dress. The common factor these dresses had was that they were designed by Kud Collections and styled by Swanky Jerry.
“I designed all the five dresses she wore at the festival. Getting a call from Swanky Jerry, one of the baddest in the industry, I was so happy and excited, and I couldn’t say no, because I saw that as an opportunity. I mean, I just came to Lagos, Swanky gave me a call to design Chika’s dress, and you know she’s very elegant,” she told me on a Zoom call on Sunday, May 28, 2023, when we were having a quick chat on her designs and its intricacies.
Koloh Uyoyou Deborah (KUD) was based in Delta State before moving to Lagos in 2022 . She got her big break in the spotlight with her design for South African actress and TV host Pearl Thusi, with her crystal-embellished sheer mermaid for the 2023 Soundcity MVP Awards. The dress, one of the five looks Pearl wore that night was the belle of the ball and the beginning of a glamorous collaboration between the designer and renowned stylist Swanky Jerry.
Swanky’s usual go-to Hollywood glamour and Kud’s affinity for quality and glamourous design birthed a series of high fashion red carpet pieces, but it does not come without a cost and artistry most people only dream of, which was perfectly shown in the creation of Mercy Eke’s dress for the Queen Charlotte premiere.
“It was the most hectic job I have ever done. Mercy’s dress took my sweat, blood, and tears. It was nothing short of a masterpiece. I put my all in that dress. We all felt it, and afterward, I felt sick. I think that was the first internationally publicised job that really put my name out there and all that.
“I put my all into that dress, it took a lot. I just wanted a perfect dress, and you know Mercy is the queen of fashion. She has to break the internet, and that dress was the toughest of all.”
Within six weeks, she designed Mercy’s dress, and in that time, she was also making Chika Ike’s headline-making dresses. Choosing the right colours, and fabrics, especially with Swanky Jerry knowing the level of extra he wanted for the dream – it was the dream team.
“As a stylist, he knows what his client wants. So he just told me, ‘I want an exaggerated cape that is going to flow.’ So I had to play with green, if you look at the dress, it has different colours of green for the cape. I just wanted a perfect shape that would just lay through, showcasing how beautiful and elegant green is.”
Despite designing some of the most iconic looks on the red carpet back to back, she also designed Toke Makinwa’s ball dress for the 2023 AMVCAs, and one thing you cannot help but notice is the timeless and elegant nature of her pieces. Right from the structures down to the materials used, everything screams class, and it’s only right that Swanky entrusts her with his designs, considering how his style is usually associated with such themes.
However, the main question is, after spending months, blood, sweat, and tears making these timeless dresses what happens to them?
“Nothing!” Kud told me.
Although she could not empathically say what happens to these dresses, she disclosed that they are usually kept in the stars’ clothing archives. Considering the fact that they cannot wear any of these designs again after they have worn them once, it is the only plausible explanation.
“I think I must have said premium a lot of times now, My clients are all premium, and they pay a premium for the pieces, so once the dresses leave my quality control, whatever they choose to do with it is up to them.”
It’s a whole different ball game for Hollywood designers and stylists, as sometimes designers pay A-list celebrities to wear their dresses. Sometimes the celebrities themselves borrow the outfits from the designers that night, and later they can choose to purchase them or return them.
Celebrity fashion designer and stylist Charlie Le Mindu told The Mirror, “When a celebrity is interested in collaborating with me for a red carpet dress, I create the gown bespoke for the client. At the beginning, we set a budget for the creation of the dress. I would make a few dresses for the celebrity so that they would have a choice of which one they prefer. I would then send them to the client, they would only pay for the shipping of the dresses. After that, they try them on and see which one they want to wear. Then after they wear it, they can either buy it from my atelier or return it”
Considering that Nigerian celebrities usually pay their designers before they get their dresses most times, as in the case of Chika Ike and Mercy Eke, it only leaves one option available, the dresses are put up for show in their wardrobes.
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