Fashion / Designer Profile/Online Edition: Bag Lady

Designer Profile/Online Edition: Bag Lady

Fashion Jun 10, 2013

by Anokhi Admin

This Brit-based, Nigerian designer, Ngozi Uchea embodies purse-onality

Think London fashion. Think cool, quirky, and sensible. Think Ngozi Uchea's Ozakii handbag line. Hailing from the other side of the pond, the "It bag" designer hones her craft with both the finest attention to detail and a pulse on the UK fashion scene. A graduate from both the prestigious Royal College of Art in London and the London College of Fashion Design, Uchea obtained a double MA, a first degree in Fashion Design and Technology, and discovered a love of textile design.

Fresh out of school, Uchea's skills as a textile designer had fashion and interior design heavyweights like Emmanuel Ungaro, Kenzo and Versace making offers to purchase the designer's fabrics. But, it wasn't until Frank Usher commissioned Uchea to develop a special range of embroidery samples for his millennium collection that she began to scratch the surface of her underlying potential. Uchea's years that followed school varied from working as a visual expert with an array of retail chains, a stint dabbling in interior design, and eventually designing wedding dresses for private clients. But her former passion for textiles still resonated loud enough to heed the call of handbag design and it was not long before the Ozakii label emerged.

Nigerian-born, though London-fused for 22 years, Uchea's new label embodies the essence of both worlds. Greatly influenced by textile patterns, her heritage emerges through the bold use of skins, color, design and embellishment. It is this mix of city bags with a touch of African panache that has made Ozakii stand apart. Like most African and South Asian women, Uchea believes that "accessories are the foundation of all fashion ensembles".

The Ozakii bag line, at first glance, seems to hold its own in a sea of competing designer must-haves, however there is more to their story. Uchea, insisting that "handbags are no longer strictly for aesthetic appeal", has created a functional line of clutches, totes and layered purses, all crafted to go the extra mile. Ozakii bags can be built up or down; or, as an Ozakii customer claims, "pimped or un-pimped". And it is here where Uchea's brilliance in understanding that her contemporary female client has more than one use for her purse these days shines through. Referring to her bags' features as personalities, an Ozakii creation has the ability to morph, with its detachable front pockets, to create multiple looks. On the Mrs. Monika purse, Swarovski-jeweled crystal cuffs double as a bracelet.

Bells and whistles aside, Uchea believes what separates her handbag line from others is "the attention customers receive each time they carry an Ozakii bag", proudly adding that customers claim to have had their bags "permanently borrowed by relatives".
According to the designer, "Ozakii women aren't afraid to play with fashion", they veer towards a more rebellious sense of style with a practical undertone. And with the changing face of the industry -economically speaking- women are thinking beyond an "It item", opting instead for an accessory purchase with a promise of longevity and functionality. As far as a celebrity wish list goes, the designer considers pop-phenomenon Lady Gaga an ideal muse to sport an Ozakii purse-onality.

With her eBoutique already in the works and set to launch in early fall 2010, Ozakii's bags stock the shelves of select boutiques in UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as the notable shopping Mecca of the Middle East – Dubai.

A self proclaimed "Bag Lady" Uchea's Mrs. Monika bag speaks to her own personal preference for purses, keeping at arm's reach with her own clientele who "carry their entire lives on their shoulders"; precisely why she's also taken comfort into consideration with soft, supple leather moulds making the bags easy to lug around for the girl on the go.

BY: MAHIRA KARIM

_{Source: twitter, ungaro.com, and ozakii.com}

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Designer Profile/Online Edition: Bag Lady

by Anokhi Admin

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