My fashion journey by Adewale Odunayo Christianah

My fashion journey by Adewale Odunayo Christianah

I still remember the first day I entered my boss’s workshop. I was excited to learn fashion designing, not knowing it would shape me in ways I never expected. Learning fashion under my boss was a blessing, but also a limitation.

She taught me the basics and everything she knew about fashion designing. However, her styles were far from modern, though I didn’t realize that while I was still learning under her. Since I didn’t have customers of my own yet, I didn’t see the limitations in her training.

My boss had been into fashion since the 1990s, and she continued to sew and design dresses in that old-fashioned style. Naturally, that was exactly how she trained her apprentices, including me.

I would make clothes for her customers in the shop, and she would be happy with my work. Her customers also appreciated the dresses. But whenever I sewed for my teenage friends, my sisters, or more modern and civilized people around me, the styles didn’t come out right. There would always be one complaint or another about the clothes.

I would take those clothes back to the shop to show my boss and my senior apprentices, but none of us could identify or point out the mistakes. Since we all learned from the same person, we automatically shared the same knowledge and limitations.

At that time, I didn’t own a smartphone, so I couldn’t learn or watch tutorials online. I felt trapped between what I knew and what the world around me wanted. Still, my mom and sisters never stopped bringing their clothes to me. They believed in me and wanted me to do better.

Years later, I finally graduated from my boss’s workshop. Even though I knew everything my boss taught me and it was perfect in her eyes, I lost confidence in myself. The confidence I had only existed inside her workshop, and that was where it ended.

Eventually, I got a smartphone and started learning little by little online, especially by watching videos on YouTube. My skills improved slightly. A few months later, I received an opportunity to work as a stylist in a more advanced and modern fashion space.

When I started working there, my new boss showed me how things were done differently and taught me in a more modern way. I was earning money while also learning new techniques. Through that, I gained back my confidence. I could now sew for anyone, in any style, and I continued learning online to keep improving.

Today, I have improved a lot and I am very happy with my profession. The journey was not easy, but it shaped me into the confident and skilled fashion designer I am becoming.