Pride and passion stitched right in The Creators
By: AV Kitching Posted: 3:00 AM CDT Saturday, Mar. 23, 2024

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/03/2024 (533 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Surrounded by vibrant textiles, Oluwayemisi Josephine Ogunwale, or Yemz, as she likes to be referred to, sits at her sewing machine, brow furrowed in concentration as she stitches the hem of a dress.

The tools of her trade within easy reach — fabric scissors, measuring tapes, cottons of various shades — Ogunwale is in her happy place: creating beautiful and wearable works of art for her loyal clientele.

The dressmaker has always been interested in fashion. As a child she would sew doll clothing from scraps of material her mother discarded. This progressed to altering her own clothes: modifying hems, adjusting frills, loosening or tightening waistlines.

“Sometimes I would destroy the clothes because of how many changes I made to it,” she laughs.

At 27, Ogunwale decided to pursue tailoring and enrolled in a fashion academy where she honed her skills.

“When I told my family that I was finally learning how to sew properly, every one of them was like ‘oh, it is long overdue, I think that is where your career path is,’” she says.

Making clothes isn’t just a job for Ogunwale, it’s a passion. She loves everything about fashion and is always on the lookout for inspiration, poring over the latest season’s looks, noticing how the people around her are dressing.

“Fashion is not static, it keeps changing. If you want to remain relevant you have to see what’s new, what’s trending. I am constantly thinking about how to put things together, how to make things look beautiful. I love to experiment. I love to come out wearing something I made and everybody is like ‘wow,’” she says.

“Fashion is not static, it keeps changing. If you want to remain relevant you have to see what’s new, what’s trending”–Oluwayemisi Josephine Ogunwale

Born in Bida, Niger States, Nigeria, the 42-year old moved to Winnipeg in 2018. Winnipeggers from the African community, as well as her church members, were some of her first clients. Using herself as a walking advertisement, news of the seamstress’s expertise soon spread.

“Whenever I meet someone and they would say ‘I like what you are wearing’ I was always quick to say ‘I made it.’ Before I knew it people were giving me their fabrics,” she says.

Her most high-profile client, Manitoba Health Minister and Deputy Premier Uzoma Asagwara, commissioned Ogunwale to create an agbada — traditional Nigerian attire — in 2019 and then again last October for the NDP government’s swearing-in ceremony.

“When Uzoma (who uses they pronouns) became the member of legislative assembly I made their agbada”–Oluwayemisi Josephine Ogunwale

“When Uzoma (who uses they pronouns) became the member of legislative assembly I made their agbada. Then when they became the minister they came to me and said they wanted something traditional and they wanted to stand out. I told them where to find the fabric and how much they needed to buy in metres. I did a consultation because it had been a while since I made something for them and in two weeks their agbada was ready,” she says.

Clients often request traditional Nigerian clothes such as the formal four-piece for women of iro and buba (skirt and blouse), impele (shawl), and gele (headwear), as well as dresses like the ankara, boubous and adire.

“Once in a while I get other kinds of fabrics but I specialize in African fabrics, not just Nigerian,” she says. “I also make clothes for men and for children.”

She often has to be dragged away from the sewing machine — that’s how much she loves creating for clients.

“I can be here all day. Sewing is something I can just keep doing. I don’t get tired. The joy it gives people when they come and they wear their outfit and it suits them … that is the best feeling.”

She says she does more than just make clothes.

“It’s beyond clothes. There’s this confidence you feel, pride you have when you put on a good outfit. You feel good in yourself because you know you look good. You don’t need anyone to tell you.”

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca