Dubai. Nigeria. Canada. Paris. Marrakech. Those are just a few of the locales that U.K.-born, Nigerian-raised, Paris-educated and Toronto-based designer Chinedu Ukabam draws from for inspiration for his clothing line Chinedesign. The label, which started out as a few T-shirts to promote his music (one of the many hats Chinedu wears is the Kangol hat of an emcee and producer), has grown into a full menswear and womenswear line that embraces world cultures to the fullest.
Ukabam has recently expanded the Chinedesign empire to include the SUPAFRIK concept pop-up shop (Hotshot, 181 Augusta Avenue, Toronto) which celebrates and explores contemporary urban Africa through fashion, art and music. While the last day to visit the shop and pick up your Chinedesign gear is this Sunday, July 31 the closing night party offers customers a chance to create their own one-of-a-kind Chinedesigns. Ukabam will be opening up the archive vault and allowing customers to bring in an item to personalize or choose from a Chinedesign T-shirt or tote.
In between manning his Kensignton Market pop-up shop and working on his next Marrakech-inspired collection Ukabam chatted with me about life in Paris, his timeless view of fashion and the power of colour. Read the interview after the jump.
You were born in the UK and you were raised in Nigeria, Dubai and Canada. How has your diverse background influenced your design aesthetic?
I think that it’s given me a keen eye for what is unique but what is also universal as far as what people gravitate to
What exactly about that do you find inspiring about those different cultures and countries?
[I’m inspired] in different ways. For example, I lived in the Middle East for a certain amount of time and it’s a bit more conservative as far as dressing goes but even within that they still manage to be very stylish. It’s not necessarily about revealing body parts. Some things are culturally specific and you see how people work within the constraints that they have within their own culture which creates beautiful things.
What part does music lay in fashion design for your?
Music plays a huge part in the design process. I am very inspired by album covers from the Blue Note jazz label. I picked up a lot of style cues from looking at album artwork and I also listen to music to get in the mood to design or to trigger color schemes. I was producing hip-hop music before I got into fashion design and I use a lot of the same techniques like sampling, looping and texturing old things to create something fresh.
You launched your T-shirt collection in 2003. How have you grown as a designer since then?
One of the ways I have grown is that I have begun to think a bit more about shapes. When I initially started I was thinking a lot more about colour, fabrics, and putting statements on t-shirts. So in that sense I definitely think I have matured but at the same time there’s still a lot that excites me that I’m learning all the time from looking at other collections or looking at stuff from 30, 40, 50 years ago.
How else has the brand grown?
I had a two-year hiatus and this is my first collection in two years but before I went away for school the brand had grown from me just taking orders by email or over the phone to having about 12 to 13 accounts across Canada and the states which was pretty much me doing all the ground work. I didn’t work through a distributor. But also in the time that I’ve been back because of the type of clothing that I’m doing has changed somewhat not all of the accounts are relevant. So in a sense I’m a new designer trying to find a home all over again. Because I feel really strongly about what I’m doing right now and it’s just beyond selling it to anybody that will carry it but to selling it to someone that has respect for what I’m trying to show or at least an affinity for the culture behind the design as opposed to just the clothing on a rack.
You said you took a two-year hiatus to go to school. Where did you go to school and what did you study?
I went to HEC Paris (a premier international business school), which is in Paris, France, and I went there to study marketing and luxury. So I pretty much did my MBA in that field. Also, while there I was also informally immersing myself in the fashion scene. In addition to learning about the business side, I was going to school from 8am to 5pm in the evening, at night I was going to fashion shows and on the weekend I would go to museums and just learning as much as I could about fashion because Paris is the capital of fashion.
One of the ways I have grown is that I have begun to think a bit more about shapes. When I initially started I was thinking a lot more about colour, fabrics, and putting statements on t-shirts. So in that sense I definitely think I have matured but at the same time there’s still a lot that excites me that I’m learning all the time from looking at other collections or looking at stuff from 30, 40, 50 years ago.
How else has the brand grown?
I had a two-year hiatus and this is my first collection in two years but before I went away for school the brand had grown from me just taking orders by email or over the phone to having about 12 to 13 accounts across Canada and the states which was pretty much me doing all the ground work. I didn’t work through a distributor. But also in the time that I’ve been back because of the type of clothing that I’m doing has changed somewhat not all of the accounts are relevant. So in a sense I’m a new designer trying to find a home all over again. Because I feel really strongly about what I’m doing right now and it’s just beyond selling it to anybody that will carry it but to selling it to someone that has respect for what I’m trying to show or at least an affinity for the culture behind the design as opposed to just the clothing on a rack.
You said you took a two-year hiatus to go to school. Where did you go to school and what did you study?
I went to HEC Paris (a premier international business school), which is in Paris, France, and I went there to study marketing and luxury. So I pretty much did my MBA in that field. Also, while there I was also informally immersing myself in the fashion scene. In addition to learning about the business side, I was going to school from 8am to 5pm in the evening, at night I was going to fashion shows and on the weekend I would go to museums and just learning as much as I could about fashion because Paris is the capital of fashion.
How do you think your time in Paris will influence what you’re doing now?
When I was there I was quite surprised at how multicultural a city it was. My current collection came from living in Paris where there are a lot of West Africans and a lot of North Africans and their culture is well-represented but also fused with Parisian style. That was a part of Paris that I never knew existed and that a lot of people don’t know exists. There is a Paris beyond the Louvre and the Champs Elysees. A good amount of people in Paris are from all over the place and that was very inspirational.
Also, one other thing that came out of me living in Paris was the appreciation for art. Art openings are promoted like they are rock concerts. You’re on a subway right next to a movie poster advertising the French version of the next Hangover and there’s a poster for the YSL retrospective opening up in a museum. People live art and the government has also done things to make it possible. There really is a conscious effort to engage the public in art. Art is not something that is elite or a super niche thing for only artists or people who can afford to buy art, art is public and hence that has also inspired me to think of it more artistically when it comes to my presentation and using my fashion as a sort of accessible art in a sense.
What were the challenges that you experienced designing your first full line with minimal academic design experience?
I think some of the challenges actually to do with the fact that I mostly design for women and I’m a man and my intuition took a while to line up with what works and what doesn’t. With T-shirts it’s easy because a t-shirt is a t-shirt is a t-shirt. It’s made of jersey knit so it’s forgiving with shapes not being perfectly designed but when you’re working with certain fabrics you have to be perfect with your designing otherwise things look sloppy. I think my biggest challenge with my first collection was learning how different fabrics behave on a woman’s body.
Another challenge for me was when I was designing my collection and buying fabrics. Sometimes I imagined fabrics that did not exist and I had a hard time getting it. So for my last collection I began designing my own fabrics which is more expensive but which allows my collection to be very cohesive. Pretty much anything that I imagine from the shape of a garment to the colour of the fabric to the patterns on the fabric and the fixings. I try to do everything as opposed to getting a bunch of stuff and then working backwards to make it all fit.
Can you describe the Chinedesign aesthetic? Who are you designing for and what inspires that design?
I actually don’t have a particular person in mind but I will say that the aesthetic, at least for me looking back, seems like I’m trying to cure the fear of colours. I play around with the idea of that in so many ways and it’s consistent throughout my past few collections, my use of colour, but also my use of restraint even in the use of colour. I think my collections tend to have something in it for everybody even though it’s not intentional but I envision and I hope that the kind of person that is interested in Chinedesign is somebody who is curious about the world even if they don’t know everything there is to know in the world outside of them. I design my collections because I delve into a different culture or different period of history. I hope that beyond the aesthetic of it looking good people are interested in the stories behind these designs.
Why does colour play a big part in your design aesthetic? Is it from you African heritage? Why is colour so important? Why do you think you continue to gravitate toward it?
I think it may have something to do with my time spent in Nigeria and how colour is not seen at all as a bad thing. If you were to Google Nigerian wedding images you will see that they are always very, very colourful. I’ve been spending time trying to figure out how the colours mix because it is a different idea of colour theory outside of what we would be educated in in the Western world and yet it somehow works. I’m really intrigued how to bring outfits together outside of more costume-y outfits and how to bring colours together in ways that are not common and yet somehow have harmony. Even when there is a bit of discordance between the colours they still resonate in some manner with things that I’ve seen before either with Nigerian weddings or from even just the way the houses are painted. I also think that colour is great. The world isn’t only black and white.
I actually don’t have a particular person in mind but I will say that the aesthetic, at least for me looking back, seems like I’m trying to cure the fear of colours. I play around with the idea of that in so many ways and it’s consistent throughout my past few collections, my use of colour, but also my use of restraint even in the use of colour. I think my collections tend to have something in it for everybody even though it’s not intentional but I envision and I hope that the kind of person that is interested in Chinedesign is somebody who is curious about the world even if they don’t know everything there is to know in the world outside of them. I design my collections because I delve into a different culture or different period of history. I hope that beyond the aesthetic of it looking good people are interested in the stories behind these designs.
Why does colour play a big part in your design aesthetic? Is it from you African heritage? Why is colour so important? Why do you think you continue to gravitate toward it?
I think it may have something to do with my time spent in Nigeria and how colour is not seen at all as a bad thing. If you were to Google Nigerian wedding images you will see that they are always very, very colourful. I’ve been spending time trying to figure out how the colours mix because it is a different idea of colour theory outside of what we would be educated in in the Western world and yet it somehow works. I’m really intrigued how to bring outfits together outside of more costume-y outfits and how to bring colours together in ways that are not common and yet somehow have harmony. Even when there is a bit of discordance between the colours they still resonate in some manner with things that I’ve seen before either with Nigerian weddings or from even just the way the houses are painted. I also think that colour is great. The world isn’t only black and white.
Who would you love to see wearing your designs? Everybody. I especially like when people wear it in ways that I did not foresee it. I once made a soccer jersey inspired outfit and I saw somebody wearing it with the sleeves cutoff and wearing it as a dress and when I told them that I had designed it they thought I would be offended with how they chopped it up but I actually really liked it. I love people remixing because then they’ve taken some ownership of it and sometimes it actually gives me ideas on future collections
You’ve shown ties and belts. Are there any plans to expand into scarves, bags and shoes?
I have an accessories line with two other partners Megan Richardson and Sophia Ha called Deez Knots. We do ties and scarves and pretty much anything that has to do with a knot. In my last collection I showed a clutch and a dream of mine is to one day make an ‘It’ bag. So maybe a future collaboration could be with Longchamp or something. That would be a dream collaboration.
My next colletion is called Marrakech. I was there for a little over ten days last year. I really fell in love with the place and I was especially overwhelmed by how rich the history of the place is. From that moment I knew that I was going to do a collection called Marrakech. Without revealing too much of what it’s about it’s not literal. It’s not going to be taking traditional Moroccan style and putting my label on it. When I say inspiration I’m talking holistically so it can be something from architecture, art, pottery, food even but that is the source of my fall collection.
You’ve given all of your collections names. What is the reasoning behind that?
It’s actually something that I started doing over the last four or five collections. The reason behind that is because I didn’t want to focus so much on the individual collections. For a small designer there is quite a bit of overhead and quite a bit of work to produce four distinct collections a year. And what happens when something is doing really, really well? Do you say, “Oh, that’s last year so I can’t sell it.” Rather than name things after years, like Fall 2011 or Spring 2010 which is dating something which could be timeless or should be timeless or at least have a life span of longer than four to six months, I decided to just not put dates on my stuff and just give them names. That way some things that could have already made the rounds in America but haven’t yet explored penetrating the Asian market, I don’t want it to be seen as something old. I want it to be Afrotropolis by Chinedesign or Marrakech by Chinedesign. This also allows me to revisit Afrotropolis and add more things to it. I can keep expanding it because there are no dates of expiration on my collections anymore.
It’s actually something that I started doing over the last four or five collections. The reason behind that is because I didn’t want to focus so much on the individual collections. For a small designer there is quite a bit of overhead and quite a bit of work to produce four distinct collections a year. And what happens when something is doing really, really well? Do you say, “Oh, that’s last year so I can’t sell it.” Rather than name things after years, like Fall 2011 or Spring 2010 which is dating something which could be timeless or should be timeless or at least have a life span of longer than four to six months, I decided to just not put dates on my stuff and just give them names. That way some things that could have already made the rounds in America but haven’t yet explored penetrating the Asian market, I don’t want it to be seen as something old. I want it to be Afrotropolis by Chinedesign or Marrakech by Chinedesign. This also allows me to revisit Afrotropolis and add more things to it. I can keep expanding it because there are no dates of expiration on my collections anymore.
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