It was an evening to remember as Ade Bakare couture London/Nigeria, marked 30 years in the world of fashion.
To felicitate with him on July 31, select guests from all walks of life, gathered at Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi to celebrate with the iconic designer.
The fashion label, Ade Bakare Couture, was Established in 1991 with a loan from the Prince of Wales Business Trust (PYBT ) in London.
PYBT is an organisation founded by Prince Charles of Wales to support young entrepreneurs with good business ideas.
Ade Bakare, upon graduating from fashion college in Manchester, Salford University College, and after a year working for couture designers, such as Victor Edelestein and Christina Stambolian, set up his label, The Ade Bakare Couture.
Then he started selling a line of high end day and evening wear dresses to boutiques and stores across england, and later set up a couture salon in Mayfair which made dresses for private clients. He also launched his first perfume, called: “Breeze.”
Ade Bakare was usually invited to Nigeria to stage fashion shows during which he came in contact with one of the former first ladies of Nigeria, the late Mrs Stella Obasanjo, and became her official designer.
This contact, with the late Mrs Obasanjo, led to his constant travels to Nigeria and subsequently, led to the opening of a shop in Victoria Island, Lagos in 2006, which he still maintains till date.
Ade Bakare has increased his presence in Nigeria by working on various successful projects, including setting up of (YDCC) young designers creative competition to promote up coming fashion talents, designing uniforms for the Wheatbaker Hotel in Lagos, restaurants, providing clothes for MTN Project Fame, Big Brother Nigeria, airline uniforms and costume designing for films, such as the current film in the cinemas, Ayinla Omowura, directed by Tunde Kelani, which involved a lot of research being a period film.
Ade said his history degree from the University of Lagos proved very useful.
To mark three decades in the fashion industry across two continents, Ade Bakare marked it with a fashion design seminar for young and up coming designers on June 26 in Lagos and a couture show on July 31 at the Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, where he paraded his collections for 2021 and the highlights of the show saw his private clients paraded his couture designs.
Among the ladies on the runway that evening was: Bimbo Haffner, Jumoke Owoyeye, Gogo Yusuff, Aduke Gomez, Shaffy Bello, Omowunmi Dada, Towun Candid Johnson, Funmilayo Marinho, Tundun Tejuosho, ,Eriye Onagoruwa, Adekemi Adewunmi and Helen Prest Ajayi.
The ladies on the runway received large applauses. MC Ezinne Njoku Obi was also in the house.
The exquisite decor was done by Bankole Faleye of Faaji, with a flower theme, hair and make up by Bayo Haastrup, who made all the ladies look exceptionally beautiful while Wale Shakpara and Samprince powers provided live music for the guests.
Ade Bakare said he wanted to mark the 30 years celebrations so the younger generation can appreciate it takes time to build any business and the notion of over night success, especially in this age of celebrity culture and instant success is a smoke screen.
Other events planned for this year include another couture show in London in September and a gala dinner in December in Lagos where he would unveil his fashion book, entitled: “30 years of style.”
