Saying yes to a dream wedding gown is every bride’s dream come true. However, since this is such an important milestone, choosing a beautiful princess or elegant dress has long not been a decision of the bride alone. Depending on different cultures or family traditions, the opinions of the bride and groom’s families and friends may need to be considered before she could wear that dress on her important day.
Mai Atafo’s “Follow Mai Heart” collection, which was unveiled at the Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week 2017, was borne out of his experience with brides and their inability to pick the style, color, and cut of their choice due to societal or family opinions. He believes that everyone should be able to follow their hearts and not their heads when it comes to their big day.
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Source: Mai Atafo
Atafo was born in Ile-Ife, Osun State, and spent some of his early years in Lagos. Initially, he was a university student who had always been viewed by his friend as a fashionista. He would help them go to major markets like Onitsha to get clothes. As he started to understand the quality of clothes even better, he would spot some nice designs which he could not afford to buy, and this became the motivation to create them himself.
Later on, Mai spent a certain period of time working for Guinness Nigeria, immersing himself in the dynamically creative nature of marketing. Not long after, he spotted an opportunity to set his foot in the fashion industry—fashion designing.
“I started by making asooke waistcoats for weddings for a couple of friends. Usually, the brides had their colours sorted out, but the guys could not afford to get a new purple or lilac suit, so I thought we could still do something with the colour of the day. I specially ordered lilac and purple asooke with which I designed the waistcoats. Everybody looked good on the day, and people really liked the outcome. I did it for about six other weddings, and that was the beginning of Mai Atafo Inspired,” he recalled.
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Source: Mai Atafo
By the time of launching the “Follow Mai Heart” campaign in partnership with Moet and Chandon as a celebration of his 40th birthday, Mai Afato had gained numerous fashion rewards and recognition, making him “the best suit tailor in Africa”.
His collection features uncommon colors and styles for wedding outfits and would be great on any bride, depending on her sense of style and fashion. With the hope of conveying the idea that each bride’s opinion should be considered paramount, Mai Atafo ensures to include a variety of different styles for our main character to choose from. He employed the use of celebrities such as Beverly Osu, Ihuoma Linda Ejiofor, Idia Aisen, and comedienne, Wofai. It is indeed a beautiful collection!
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Source: Mai Atafo
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