Image: A lookbook image from Ogunlesi's 2017 collection "Psychedelic", shot by Ruth Ossai and styled by Ib Kamara.

The daughter of two Nigerian designers, Ogunlesi enrolled in Central Saint Martins’ prestigious MA program after completing her BA. Central Saint Martins was, in her eyes “a bit too dated […] everyone’s white […] there’s not really any people of color teaching,” and, as such, the institution didn’t really foster the vision Ogunlesi had—so she left.

That’s not to say that her time at Central Saint Martins was totally for naught: It was while she was a student that she first started working as an intern with Grace Wales Bonner, whom she credits with showing her how to build a collection. After dropping out of Central Saint Martins, Ogunlesi applied to Fashion East, a London-based non-profit designer support organization founded by Lulu Kennedy, which, since 2000, has been tasked with “nurturing and launching” emerging designers. If Central Saint Martins is the theoretical path to the fashion industry, then Fashion East is the practical one and provided Ogunlesi with the mentorship and structure she needed to launch Mowalola in January of 2019.

Even before Mowalola’s first collection debuted, the brand was popular. Maybe not with the masses, but with a cast of characters whose sense of style is celebrated around the world—from Skepta to Solange to Dev Hynes. In fact, so highly-regarded was Ogunlesi that even before that first collection was shown—before critics and potential customers had a chance to weigh in—retailing behemoth Ssense was already in line to launch it.

And with good reason: Mowalola has a unique aesthetic.

Printed and painted leathers, slime green graphics, lots of skin and even more leather—this time not painted, but rendered in colors like cherry red, or school bus yellow, or turquoise. Those are the things that have defined Mowalola in its earliest form. Aesthetically, the result is confrontational—violent, even, in Ogunlesi’s own words. The pieces can be jarring and, so too, the manner in which they’re presented—a breast left exposed as a model walks the runway. But, in a way they’re also delicate and overwhelmingly nodding to sexuality—painting of a woman’s body on a portion of a leather jacket that makes it appear as if it were translucent in parts.

There have been designers who have presented their clothes unabashedly before. There have even been some who have opted to shock and awe. There have also been brands intent on tearing down gender constructs—on dressing men in lace (including the aforementioned Grace Wales Bonner), as Ogunlesi says. There have been brands that have specialized in leather, too.

But it’s hard to find a brand quite like Mowalola—a brand that marries technical mastery and daring artistry. It’s what endeared Mowalola to industry insiders before the brand had shown a collection. “Mowalola is different, it’s unexpected, there’s no brand you can compare it to,” I was told after speaking with a buyer at a notable fashion retailer.

Not every brand that’s loved by buyers and stylists and other front-row “capital-F” Fashion folks ends up a success story, though. Just look at Sies Marjan, which shone so bright just 18 months ago and is now defunct—a victim of the contracting pandemic-era economy, yes, but also, on a certain level, of an inability to resonate with customers at a broad level.

The support that Mowalola has in London, from Fashion East, celebrities like Skepta and others, has been important, and it will continue to be. It’s also true, that the Yeezy connection will surely translate to interest in Mowalola—something we’ve seen time and again with Kanye West’s diverse cast of consiglieri.

Most important of all for Mowalola’s ascent, though, is the grassroots support. In London, that takes the form of the music, art, club and fashion scenes. Abroad, it’s consumers who are increasingly enthusiastic about encouraging independent designers and supporting small businesses. Customers and new-age publications, like Dazed, want to celebrate the brilliance of a young Black woman, rather than have her recognition whispered, as such things so often have been by the fashion establishment.

That Mowalola’s emergence is coming at a time when leather is on the cusp of a revival is no coincidence—it’s one of the drivers of said revival. Mowalola’s ascendancy marks “a new chapter of the leather revolution,” wrote GQ’s Rachel Tashjian in early September.

Mowalola is very much the brand of the moment, yes. A moment when the world as we know it is teetering. Where the establishment and the ways that things should be done is being challenged. Fashion at the end of the world probably looks a lot like Mowalola—filled with combinations of colors and materials that aren’t immediately familiar but are still beautiful in a violent, jarring way.

Mowalola isn’t just the brand of the moment, though. It’ll be around for longer than it, too.