From the colourful Àdìrẹ indigo tie-dye to the pure strategies used to provide dazzling hues, Akinwale (Wale) Akinbiyi has been captivated by Yoruba tradition from a younger age. As a toddler, he would journey to his mom’s outlets in Nigeria, the place she bought girls’s put on.
These fond recollections and his experiences rising up in Prince George’s County, Maryland, have continued to encourage him all through his life, resulting in co-founding the idea vogue model Riveriswild.
The model always explores esoteric Blackness, searching for the seen and unseen threads of the African Diaspora. Every assortment begins with a sense or reminiscence.
“We come from fully totally different plains, and we join these experiences,” Wale shared of the group’s collaboration in creating and designing new collections for Riveriswild.
Collaborating with Cheick Gueye from Côte d’Ivoire and co-founder Thomas Davis from Philadelphia, the creatives alternate moments from their previous and current. When creating new collections, they use storytelling to uplift shared recollections from how they had been raised as Black folks whereas acknowledging the range of their roots.
Wale remembers a deep household storytelling custom: “Again in Nigeria, I keep in mind my grandmother telling previous folktales with candles and lanterns to maintain the kids entertained.”
Their latest assortment, “Rally, Rebirth,” celebrates friendship and household. It’s a metaphoric idea illuminating the back-and-forth of a desk tennis ball in play with the dialogue of life. The fixed motion pays off as soon as somebody wins or makes a mistake. The gathering consists of hats, sun shades, and a set of button-up shirts with checkered block prints, stenciled patterns, and Riveriswild graphic designs.
Learn extra on wibridgedc.com.