Think Global, Act Child-Like
It would be easy to pigeon-hole AGEIST friend Lola Faturoti as an African fashion designer. But she’d have a problem with that — with any labels, really.
Though she grew up south of Lagos, Nigeria, she moved back to London at 17. A couple of years later, she ran away from home and found her way from the London College of Fashion to New York. She fell in love with the city’s internationalism.
The striking beauty began working at Charivari, the fashion-forward boutique on the Upper West Side, and making her own designs on the side. Her boss, Barbara Weiser, caught wind and allowed her to begin selling her clothes in the store once she saw them.
“I’m a dreamer,” she says. “And this is why I ran away from home too. I was being put too much into a box; I knew it wasn’t for me, and so I needed to leave to be free. It’s very important for me to be free.”
She caught the attention of fashion journalists with her collections in 1999 and 2000. For the latter, she organized a stunt, showing her collection on the street across from where guests from Ralph Lauren’s show were leaving the designer’s show. “I’m not a good conformist,” she says.
Nowadays, she’s got a ready-to-wear line that mixes all of her influences, and emphasizes her love of craftsmanship and traditional costumes from Panama and Vietnam. “My DNA is African, but I’m a woman of the world,” she says.
And it was her opinions on women’s fashion, especially as they get older, that fascinated me. To wit, emphasize what you’ve got, at any age. “Women don’t look at themselves in the mirror anymore, so they don’t dress properly,” she says. “They look at the magazines to dictate what they wear, instead of looking in the mirror.”
As for herself? Lola considers herself ageless, and that seems to be the key. “I am 50 by birth, but I do not think I have an age,” she says. “My life is just starting. If I think that I’m getting towards my grave, then I wouldn’t be able to do anything. But because I know this is the beginning of my life, it doesn’t stop me from anything.”
The ideas expressed here are solely the opinions of the author and are not researched or verified by AGEIST LLC, or anyone associated with AGEIST LLC. This material should not be construed as medical advice or recommendation, it is for informational use only. We encourage all readers to discuss with your qualified practitioners the relevance of the application of any of these ideas to your life. The recommendations contained herein are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. You should always consult your physician or other qualified health provider before starting any new treatment or stopping any treatment that has been prescribed for you by your physician or other qualified health provider. Please call your doctor or 911 immediately if you think you may have a medical or psychiatric emergency.
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