ABISOLA KOLA-DAISI
Abisola Kola-Daisi is a Nigerian Luxury Retail Entrepreneur. She is the founder of Florence H Luxury, a multibranded women and menswear boutique in Lagos, Nigeria; AKD Lifestyle. She is a walking example of the services she provide with her well trained eye for exquisite pieces of luxury personified.
The Judges were carefully chosen because of the significant roles they play in the Fashion and Art industries. As titans in their chosen fields, they have eye and experience to take on such a task. Kehinde Wiley is a world renowned artist famous for his painting of former President, Barrack Obama. Ruth Osime is the Executive Editor of THISDAY Style Magazine, Nigeria’s most widely read Sunday pullout, Bolaji Dawodu is the Style Editor of the exquisite GQ Magazine, Niyi Okuboyejo is a well respected Professor at Parsons University, Michelle Elie is an exotic jewelry designer, Reni Folawiyo owns Africa’s most spectacular and luxurious fashion store, Alara, Ojy Okpe is a host on ARISE TV, The Morning Show, KK Obi is a well known Stylist as is Jenke Ahmed Tailly who also styles Naomi Campbell, Lola Ogunnaike is captivating for her interviews on American TV, Folake Coker is one of Nigeria’s biggest and most popular designers as is Mai Atafo and Abi Kola-Daisi is a luxury buyer and retailer. With a roll call as robust as this, certainly the credibility of the collective choice by the judges, of the final three winners cannot be doubted.
On both Day one and two, each judge was given a tablet which had a brief profile of all 30 designers. Underneath their profile was a place created to mark their scores in different categories; Design, Execution, Cohesiveness, Presentation and Craftsmanship.
Each of these categories carried four stars and they were graded individually by the 12 judges’ scores on each category. The results of the judges’ grades were then added up collectively to give each designer their final scores in total. It is through this process the winner emerged. The list was initially narrowed down to the top eight, then the final three.
The designer with the most stars was Kenneth Ize who cinched the $100,000 top price followed closely by Re Lagos in second place who won $75,000 and then the duo of Mmuso Maxwell who placed third with $50,000.