Nigerian Fashion is steadily making its way to the forefront of fashion’s mind, and Dammie Amolegbe, Editor of Nigerian fashion mag HauTe intends to give it the extra push that it deserves….
Where do you live and why?
I live in New York {The best city in the WORLD}, because I love what the city offers, its energy and fast space is very inspiring.
What was the inspiration behind HauTe?
It all started one boring night looking for something to buy……and I had a thirst to buy something from a Nigerian designer……so I start googling and looking for Nigerian designers and I didn’t come across any sites for Nigerian designers or directories that may lead to where I could find some and buy something from……So, that really got to me, me thinking as crazy as Nigerians are about fashion there are no directories or even magazines for just fashion!!!! And that’s how I got the initiative to start a magazine , It’s always been in me, but then this just felt like I was put on this earth to do this for my country, and HauTe was born!
If you could nominate 3 Nigerian designers to show at NY Fashion week, which would you choose?
Motara Thomas {www.motarathomas.com}, Odi and Vintique of Chichi and ChichiE {www.chichiandchichie.com}, Kemkemstudio {www.kemkemstudio.com} for Womens wear and Menswear Dudumoko {www.dudumoko.com}, Emmy Collins {www.emmycollins.com} and Gureje {www.gureje.com}
What do you think the future holds for Nigerian fashion?
WoW, I see Nigerian fashion and Nigerian materials being displayed frequently on the runways world wide. As we have noticed a lot of “Ankara lately. I see a great future for Nigeria in fashion, I already see a good number of Nigerian designers featuring in NY fashion week and with HauTe in the industry now….It’s only going to get better!
Is fashion art?
Fashion is definitely art to me; I hope I’m not being biased as I am an art sucker. Fashion can relate to art in many ways as it evokes emotions for a lot of people, you are able to create pieces people can display in exhibitions and even make paintings of, the time and creativity it takes to put different patterns together…even some hairstyles can be referred to as art. Fashion is like live art to me!
Top trend for this Autumn/Winter’06?
Cape Jackets
Which is your favourite clothing store in NY?
Bloomingdales
Your life philosophy?
Everything you do should be done with a good purpose behind it.
Order a copy of Haute Mag here (every $1 from each order goes to fundraising charity group GFC, for less priviledged children in Nigeria. HauTe also supports a Nigerian orphanage and school with commodities and cash donations)
