For those of you who know about the Lady Biba brand, you know that it is a rising revolution of corporate fashion in Nigeria. Gone are the days when our fashion designers could only pull off styles that had to do with traditional African wear. Now, not only do we have Nigerians pulling off corporate work styles, they are so good at it that they might even be better than the ones who brought the entire idea of corporate clothing to fruition. Lady Biba happens to be one of the best in the nation.
Lady Biba is a brand that creates structured pieces for the Nigerian Corporate Lady who also wants to appear stylish. Their styles transcend the everyday stereotypical shirt and skirt look, into items that are classy and fabulous all while remaining completely decent. However, before the brand became the force that it is now, Lady Biba was just a woman with a sewing machine and a dream.
Her very first attempt at sewing was with the Butterfly sewing machine that was given to her by her Aunty. Her aunty had first introduced her to the art of making clothes and Bisola Adeniyi, the lady we now call Lady Biba, would go to the penthouse of her childhood home to watch her practise what she had learnt in fashion school. She then proceeded to become a fashion writer for Magazines like Thisday Style, Fab Magazine and Arise Fashion Week Magazine.
Having gotten the skills to sew, and a foot in the fashion business, she dropped her Economics degree to create Lady Biba in 2013. First with just one tailor, then two; she grew her brand organically to become the force that it is today. Today, Lady Biba offers clothes are produced in Nigeria. Their fabrics are sourced for in the open market and 80% of their staff is female. They have released new collections including the just recently launched colourful summer style, Lady Cosmopolitan. The brand continues to grow and we are excited about their growth in the contemporary fashion industry.
BY: LAWRETTA EGBA
