How would you describe the essence of Ifeoma?

As an ever-transforming entity. Ifeoma is definitely my most intimate side. Reva is who I show on my Instagram or who you meet during a first impression, but Ifeoma is me at home thinking, ruminating, ideating. I use Ifeoma as an engine to dig deeper into who I am. An outlet, I suppose.

SS17 was an insane collection, what was your design process like?

One of my fashion history courses was in discussion around Medieval garments, warfare, life, and nobility. I started looking into medieval wears, quiltings, and Opus Anglicanum. At the time my university was on a quarter system, which meant I would rarely get the chance to fully expand on an idea during the school year. When summer break came around I was still thinking about a lot of that content. All of the research that I accumulated became Ifeoma - this bigger than life undergoing.

What drew you to experimenting with upholstery fabrics?

I love texture. You get more rigidness from those fabrics because they're not meant for clothing - they're meant to be worn in, for decades. When you're reupholstering a couch, you're not upholstering it to use it today and throw it out tomorrow or next year. You're upholstering it for years and years to come. There's durability in those fabrics. It's thoughtful sustainability.

What is something you look for when casting models?

I love a really ambiguous face. The girl in my first lookbook, Iris, is 6 foot 3. She's extremely tall. She has these pointy shoulders so when you put a t-shirt on her, her shoulders stick out. She has this body type that's so amazing to look at, and she has a striking face that's masculine but also extremely regal and beautiful. I love when you can't quite put your finger on what makes that person’s look special. That's what I look for.

From when we first interviewed you to now, you mentioned having a complete mind shift - can you speak a bit about that?

At the end of 2017, I went to Nigeria for a month because my mom passed. It was a traumatically intense experience. This all happened shortly after my first collection so, it kind of put a weird taint on what should have been a successful time in my life.

I now have an entirely different perspective on why I create and what the purpose of it is. When someone leaves you without explanation and you're trying to put pieces together, you add that to your own life and you think, "What is it that I'm even after?" Many frivolous pursuits become futile.

How did that relate to your brand Ifeoma?

It's cool to make clothes, but even in the past six months, I’ve felt that the fashion system is moving in a way where it's kind of becoming a monster. I keep asking myself, “What is Ifeoma even about?”

Going through that process ultimately forced me to think about the bigger picture of it all. What do I want to leave behind? How do I want to be remembered? How much time do I have and how far can I go? What became most prevalent was the idea of doing something bigger than myself. That sparked the thought of stepping away from design for a bit. I want to solve a problem; to fulfill a need. Not to say choosing to be a designer is contributing to anything terribly detrimental, but I've got a plethora of skills, talents, and ideas that would be much better used to help others. I’ll always love design and will make things here and there, but for now, I feel that my true calling is much broader.

Who is the Ifeoma woman?

I've been building this self-fulfilling prophecy; the Ifeoma woman is the woman that I'm working to become every single day, she is the woman I design Ifeoma around because that's really all I can do. I don't know any women in my position who look like me or do what I'm doing so it's imperative that I make it inwardly focused. I'm working through it every single day. I think that makes my work more genuine and will attract the people it’s meant to attract.

How so?

If you're a strong woman who's more opinionated and more straightforward, you should feel okay being that person, and there should be a wardrobe that allows you to explore that. I've been wearing suits a lot, and one day I thought ‘Why can a man go to Men’s Wearhouse or nearly any other place to buy a suit, but I have to scour the internet, or eBay for hours to find something that should be so simple to acquire.’ I also love to wear Dickies in the full, super structured mechanical look, but who's really designing that for women, as a woman?

How do you plan on carrying the brand aesthetic throughout new endeavors?

I think it'll materialize as time goes on. I've gone through so many phases. I have so many different types of friends and so many different types of people in my life. Ifeoma is really just a living organism growing and evolving like you and me. It would be hard for me to say, ‘I'm into insert vibe forever.’ I'm too sentimental and emotional to commit to that. I can only say that it'll transform as I do. I think this is the most relatable way to foresee any creative process.

What’s next for Ifeoma?

I plan to remove myself from the fashion system. I still want Ifeoma to be a brand and operate on a system somewhat parallel to the fashion schedule, but I want it to be something bigger than design. Committing yourself to the fashion system as a whole is not a way to ignite any real change. For example, Miuccia Prada, a woman I really look up to, studied political science. She's made huge waves in fashion because she's not coming from a didactic point of, "I'm making clothes and clothing is all I do." She has a well-rounded set of interests motivating her to create an extension of the world she is apart of. Even with Virgil Abloh, he studied architecture and engineering so he understands the idea of building something from the ground up - blueprint to structure.

You’re a long time collaborator with Solange, and you’ve mentioned that your work with her has pushed you to grow into a bit of a milliner and a sculptor. Can you elaborate on that?

She’s very forward thinking. Her ideas push me to push myself as an artist, and to think outside of the box. For instance, thinking of doing head treatments as opposed to doing hair; which is a whole other world because sometimes it involves hair and sometimes it doesn't. She's also opened my eyes in the sense of making sure that you're standing for something, and not just doing everything to do it.

For last year’s Met Gala, we went back and forth with images and references of saints. At one point, the halo was going to be a hat, but she said, “No, let’s do it with hair.” I was like, “Ok... how are we going to do that?” So I went back to my early days of thinking “Anything is possible with hair, all you need are the right products and the right tools.” I took that mindset, we went back and forth, we grew an idea together that she loved, and we achieved it.

It was more than just a hairstyle, it was a statement. Everything she does means something, I don’t know if I'm the best person to explain it, because she was trying to state many things. But for me, it just showed pride.

What was the last project that you found exciting and challenging?

I've recently launched a project that I collaborated with Samaritans on. It was an all-male beauty story that I cast, to raise awareness for men’s mental health. Mentally and physically, it was the hardest job I've ever done. Since it was such a personal subject, I was determined for it to be well received. Most importantly though, I wanted to make sure that anyone who did see it, could get the right help if they needed it. Definitely the project that I'm the most proud of.

I know you're launching a beauty book soon. Can you talk a little bit about the process of putting that together? What should we be looking forward to?

It's a very personal project. Only a few people have seen snippets of it because it's my baby. It follows my journey of creativity and connection. I cast those whom I have an unconditional love with; I paint onto their bodies and take the pictures on my film camera. It's about that one-on-one connection. Paired with excerpts from old diaries, love letters, and notes from those whom I love. Basically, it's a whole body of work that's just a good vibe.

I view your work as art. The painting is displayed on a model, which is then captured by a photographer, but at the end of each look, you have to wipe away your designs. Has that process influenced your view of art?

That's actually something that I love. The fact that you do wipe it off, it's disposable. There's something so beautiful about celebrating the creative flow that comes through you in the moment. I don't ever intend to recreate something. I get asked to do the same thing over and over again, and I have to explain, "You know what... I did that for a shoot a year ago, so I’m just going to leave that there. Why don't we try this instead?"

People do get stuck in that field, where it’s difficult for them to accept change. But I think change is something that I've definitely learned from makeup. I love being in that moment, leaving it there, and then going straight to the next thing.

Has there been a favorite project that you’ve worked on?

There’s a few! One of them was this photo book we published in collaboration with Joost Vandebrug “Cinci-lei,” that focused on the children that lived in the tunnels underneath the streets of Bucharest, Romania. All of the proceeds of the book were donated to help the children.

Another one I really liked was in collaboration with McQueen, they launched a bag and asked me to design the logo for the bag and a small agenda that they gave during their presentation. I really enjoy creating logos and building brand identities as it’s something challenging but also very fulfilling.

What’s one of your favorite interviews?

Lil Yachty, it was right before he became this internet sensation. He fell from the sky, and we thought we should do something with him. It was a hard interview because he didn't give me anything, he was just a tired and hungry teenager. I had to pull something out of it and it ended up being really fun, and I love him.

How did you manage that?

You end up figuring out, why is this person acting the way that they’re acting. It becomes about their behavior a little bit more than what they're telling you word for word. When you have an interview like that, you sometimes walk away, and you think, “Oh my God, this person didn't tell me anything.” At one point though he said, "I want to be mainstream." I was like, nobody says that. That was like one of the 10 things that he told me, but it was a story in itself. I love W because it’s all about taking risks and pushing the envelope. On the site, we are translating W's visual and fashion identity into about 20 articles a day. It's definitely a challenge, but we have a lot of freedom for interpretation.

Do you have a favorite time on set?

It was a shoot with Russell James and Elaine Irwin. I did it by myself, Elizabeth was in Paris at the time.

It was a really awesome feeling to take the reigns by yourself. I pulled all of the samples, went to the shoot, set up and put all of the looks together, and it all went really well! Elaine has the best personality and was so beautiful, and Russell is such an amazing photographer.

It was really cool seeing something and being able to say “That’s my work!!”. It was definitely super nerve wracking at first, but it was so worth it because it turned out so great. I would say that was one of my favorite moments because I saw my own work be produced.

What's been one of your favorite projects that you've worked on?

I really liked doing the Missoni animated Christmas card because they gave me free reign. I’m always really lucky with my projects; I’m given a lot of free reign. I also designed a chocolate bar for The Soho House Shop in Berlin, which was really cool.

You’ve done work for Net-a-Porter and Teen Vogue’s Amy Astley, how did those go?

Porter was one of the first jobs I did, which was doing illustrations for them throughout New York Fashion Week in September 2015 and then doing them on a weekly basis. That lasted for a bit and was really fun.

With Amy Astley, I did a drawing of her and she made it her profile picture on Instagram. There was a little speech bubble that I did on the corner of the drawing and I sent her a direct message being like , “Hey, thank you much for making it your profile picture. Here’s a version without the speech bubble so you don’t have a weird black thing in the corner of your picture.” She was like, “Thank you so much, I’d love to buy the original.” Obviously I went to One World Trade and gave it to her for free.

Do you have a favorite show or project that you’ve worked on?

It's so hard to pick because there is this special energy around every single one. We build a relationship with every designer and their team and so much work and focus goes into every one that it's hard to pick. Every event is just as exciting as the last. Some are more complicated, so they take more time, but they’re all fun and unique.

Do you have a favorite project that you’ve worked on?

I have multiple favorite projects and every time I shoot new ones they become my favorites. I love the beauty story I shot for BON with Agnes Lloyd Platt and also my recent Forget Them story with Mate Moro but honestly the list could go on and on…

How would you describe your styling aesthetic?

I don't ever like anything to look like it's just a full look off the runway; I think that's boring. I like things to be a little eccentric even if it's not the most over the top styling technique. I like things to be a little bit off in terms of how did they do that or how did they think of that or why does that make sense? I always want there to be kind of an outlier or some kind of black sheep. Maybe it's a men's story but all the men are wearing earrings and have this kind of feminine sexualization with their outfits. I like juxtaposing things and clashing ideas together.

What are some of your recent projects?

I worked with a band called Austra; they have a new album coming out. We went to Mexico City and did their album cover at one of Luis Barragan’s amazing houses. I also just collaborated with the Game of Thrones costume designer, we shot her costumes as a fashion editorial. Lately, I’ve also been doing some advertising work. It is different from editorial, as you need to satisfy a brief and brand identity and let go of your own voice and aesthetic, which is an important part of editorial work. Now I’m trying to take on less work and just focus on the things that are exciting to me. It’s not necessarily the biggest name or the most paid things that I go for; it’s the things that I find most interesting and brands and bands that I feel speak the same language.