Bunmi Olaye, Ladybrille Woman of the Month July 2011, steps down as Fashion Designer and Creative Director for popular Bunmi Koko. The news comes as a surprise to both the UK and Africa’s Fashion industries. Read the press release below and stay tuned.
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Bunmi Olaye, London-based Nigerian designer and Creative Director behind the fashion brand Bunmi Koko has decided to step down from her position with the company she created with Francis Udom in 2009.
In two years, the brand has been catapulted in the limelight and won many international accolades including ‘Emerging Designer of the Year in 2010’ at the African Fashion Awards, ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ 2010 and has been featured in magazines and newspapers such as Drapers, Evening Standard, Grazia, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Arise & Vogue. Bunmi Koko caught the eyes of many celebrities such as Nelson Mandela, Hilary Alexander of The Telegraph & former Spice Girls Melanie Brown to name a few.
Bunmi Koko has also been invited by HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall to attend a reception at St James’s Palace, celebrating West African culture in July this year and then went on to be commissioned by ITN to give ‘expert commentary’ on the wedding gown worn by HRH Catherine Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge, on the ITV Royal Wedding Coverage during the day of HRH Prince William and Duchess Catherine Middleton’s Royal Wedding.
Bunmi Olaye is not quitting fashion but moving onto new horizons and is currently working new projects: ‘I have not giving up on my dream, however the time has come for me to pursue a vision that is entirely my own‘. Bunmi Olaye
No further information will be released of yet as for the reasons behind Bunmi’s resignation, but all can rest assured to find out more about it in the near future.
Founded in 2007, Ladybrille® Magazine is a California based pioneer digital publication demystifying the image of Africans in the west through contemporary African fashion and celebrating the brilliant woman in business and leadership, with an emphasis on the African woman in the diaspora. Our coverage includes stories on capital, access to markets, expertise, hiring and retention, sales, marketing, and promotions.
Greetings;
I hope all is well with the sistah! Sometimes people are tired, or is just moving in a different creative direction because of life changes! Right now as Afrikan people everything is in our favor, all we have to do is to get in alignment and move forward with the energy!…
I wish the sistah all the best and I hope the other person who takes over can climb with much needed vision and aspirations!
Best