This Nigerian Designer Has Naomi Campbell and Imaan Hammam Rocking His Mesmerizing Handwoven Suiting

If you’ve ever been to a Nigerian wedding, then chances are you’ve seen the mesmerizing handwoven fabric known as aso oke. Roughly translated from Yoruba, the term means “top cloth,” and it was traditionally a status symbol reserved for the most special occasions. “I have vivid childhood memories of my mother wearing her aso oke as a head wrap, or what we call a gele, to one of her best friend’s parties about 18 years [ago]. It was a beautiful black, gray, and orange silk,” said Kenneth Ize. “I have that image in my mind to this day.”

With his eponymous fashion line, the 28-year-old designer is picking up the thread of this long-standing fashion obsession. What started as a textile project in college five years ago has blossomed into a full-fledged menswear business, stocked in cool specialty boutiques, including Alara, the David Adjaye–designed concept store in Lagos, Nigeria. “I remember showing a sample of the fabric to Hussein Chalayan, my professor at the time, and he freaked out,” said Ize, who studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, where he grew up. “I never imagined I would end up here.”

Still, the road to fashion success has no shortcuts, especially when you’re working with fabric that’s been produced on wooden looms in the same time-honored way for centuries. Tracking down the artisans who are keeping the flame of this dying art alive was half the battle. Ize, who moved to Nigeria four years ago, would eventually find the craftswoman he calls “the Queen bee” who now oversees the small studio in Lagos where many of his textiles are developed. It takes about eight or nine hours for a two-yard strip to be created; to put things into perspective, the average coat requires three of those pieces. And that makes Ize’s softly tailored designs practically heirlooms.

Created with the help of his former classmate, Axel Berner-Eyde, Ize’s latest collection is particularly collectible. He brings together a rich tapestry of disparate influences, with everything from Wong Kar-wai movies to satellite imagery of Dutch tulip fields among the scenes pinned to his colorful mood board. As precious as his fabrics may seem, there’s nothing fussy about these clothes, which take their boxy shape and utilitarian attitude from the world of workwear. Spun with a kaleidoscopic Japanese silk, the exquisite frayed carpenter pants and breezy apron-style vest are a thoroughly vibrant and modern answer to the idea of warm-weather suiting. The batik-style polka-dot blazers in bright orange and apple green have an irregular elegance that’s just as appealing, the kind of thing to get you noticed at a summer wedding.

“In Nigerian culture there are daily rituals around getting dressed and feeling good beyond special occasions. And that’s true regardless of your gender,” says Ize, pointing out that 70 percent of his menswear is bought by women, among them fashion stars like Naomi Campbell and Imaan Hammam. Luckily for them (and us!), Ize plans to unveil a full womenswear collection at Arise Fashion Week in Lagos this April. “If you’re not dressed a certain way before you leave the house here,” he says, “then you’re simply not leaving the house.”