By Patricia Uyeh,

The Lagos Fashion Week, formerly known as Lagos Fashion and Design Week, held at The Wings, Victoria Island from March 23rd to the 25th March 2018.

Vanguard Allure caught up with Maxivive, one of the  fashion designers, whose collections had models gender-switch roles, to have a chat.

Read excerpts below:

Can we meet you?
My name is Papa Oyeyemi, the creative director of Maxivive brand.  I studied Child and Family psychology as my first degree. So yes, I’m a fashion designer basically. I have been in the industry for 11 years now.

Are you applying what you read in school in fashion designing?
Child and family psychology is basically… Well, everybody is a child as far as you are under your parents and they are still alive. What I read is the totality of what humans are.

How do you stay up to date with fashion trends?
I don’t stay up with trends. I create my own game. I don’t even have a television. I think going online and using social media as a chore. I don’t follow trends, I create my own thing.

Why did you use gender switch concept for your collections?
There is this thing going on…. ‘you know how it hurts if you are in my shoes’. I decided to make men women and do what women do so that the women would judge them. By that when men see what women go through, they will respect them better. My wears are avante garde. My collection shows that it is 21st century, face your business.

What motivates your designs?
Our conversation can build a collection. So don’t be surprised if I release a collection tomorrow. It’s basically human interaction, stress, very day life.

What can you say about the organisers of the how?
They gave me my first platform and even to go abroad.

What challenges do you face as a fashion designer?
My challenges is more of hate. Hate speeches. People don’t get it. Then normal Nigerian problem of electricity, transportation and other.

See some of his Autumn/Winter 18 collection:

Photo credit : Instagram@maxivive