5 minutes with EVANS AKERE
Stepping out of the legal profession to a seemingly more colourful and expressive terrain in fashion, little did Evans Akere, the creative director behind the Vanskere brand know that he would be taking these bold steps a decade later.
Why did you choose to become a Designer after training to become a Lawyer?
I decided to become a designer because of the passion I have for fashion, which I think supersedes that of Law. The legal profession, with all due respect, is a very conservative profession and I happen to be a very colourful person. I like to express myself with my dressing, that is something the legal profession couldn’t offer me because it has it’s strict dress code that should be adhered to always. Right from my school days, I’ve always had it difficult tting into the legal profession. I can still remember clearly the day I was walked out of court by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) , during my compulsory court attachment programme while in law school, simply because of my dressing, although I was corporately dressed, he felt it was too colorful for an aspiring lawyer.
Who is the Vanskere man?
The Vanskere man is a confident and a stylish man, a man that wants to stand out and look different.
What is the inspiration behind your latest collection Signore Fussion ll?
I got the inspiration for the collection from the current trend in male fashion. I discovered lately that most men are shifting from conservative colours to brighter colours, so the need for us to make brighter pieces became necessary. As a designer you cannot be ignorant to fashion trends, so we try to interpret the trends in our own way, without loosing the core value of thr brand.
What do you call your style of designs?
Our style is the African Contemporary design.
With the sudden rise of a number of formal corporate designers, what makes your works stand out?
What stands our works out is our unique style, our ability to mix the African and western style. As Africans, we can’t neglect the western in uence in our lives, and as such, we have strived to create very rare designs that depict the masculinity of the African man in a mild western light, this is what the VansKere brand has been identi ed with for a long time. Also we are known for our distinct and rich embroideries, which is second to none in the industry, this is something we have mastered and developed over the years.
Have you ever been faced with the challenges of battling poor copies of your works, if so how were you able to rise above it?
My designs are like art pieces, it takes a lot of creative imput to achieve, some designs take as long as a year to create, others might be six months, one month or even a day depending on the inspiration. I’ve had sleepless nights and gotten home from work early hours of the morning, all in an e ort to create new designs, so you can understand when I say that I’m emotionally attached to my designs. Other designers might be attered when their designs are poorly duplicated. I’m not, it hurts me instead. Pictures of our designs are continously being downloaded from our website by pirates and sold as mini-brochures on the streets of Lagos, so almost every tailioring store have these pictures which they try to duplicate for their customers. I have battled several of these pirates, some I have threatened with law suit, we have even codified our website, the pictures still manage to leak out. I’m hoping and praying that someday the Government will look into it and help us ght these people that have made a career out of our hard work.
How affordable are your pieces?
I think our attires are affordable, compared to the quality that we offer.
What future plans do you have for your brand?
I have lots of future plans for the brand, but we all know the future belongs to God. So I’ll like to keep my future plans to myself and pray for God’s grace to achieve them.