Abiola Onabulé
Weaving Memory, Care & Diaspora into Fashion Futures
Abiola Onabulé is a British–Nigerian womenswear designer whose practice reimagines traditional Yoruba textiles and storytelling as radical acts of creation—and care. A Central Saint Martins MA graduate, she was selected as a Designer in Residence at the Design Museum, London (2020 – 2021) to develop a fashion project under the theme of “Care” that explored craft, conversation, and heritage through textile.
Craft & Narrative: Cloth as Identity
Onabulé’s work locates cloth as a carrier of memory, sentiment, and lineage—not mere material. Her designs draw heavily on Aso-Oke and Adire indigo textiles, using them as portals into ancestral stories, particularly those of African diaspora women whose histories and resilience are often overshadowed.
Her noted collection “Heirloom” interwove themes of witchcraft, priesthood, and healing across Africa and the African diaspora. Through layered, upcycled velvets, hand-dyed denim, and beaded trims, she invoked the endurance of marginalized women, transforming worn materials into couture narratives.
Care, Community & Craft
For her Designers in Residence project titled Iyá Àlàro (“mother of indigo”), Onabulé positioned textile-making as an inherently caring practice—emphasizing preservation, conversation, and intergenerational exchange. She facilitated dialogues, produced film, and crafted a new collection that centered diasporic craft as communal care.
She also led public workshops on adire dyeing—including at the V&A and on behalf of the Design Museum—teaching cultural history, indigo resist techniques, and how cloth can articulate identity and belonging.
Legacy & Vision
Abiola Onabulé exemplifies a generation of African creatives redefining how legacy, identity, and fashion intersect. She demonstrates that design need not follow prescriptive seasons, but can emerge through intuitive, culturally grounded narratives. Her ethos—where design is an act of care—creates a pathway for African fashion that is intellectually anchored, ethically centered, and creatively limitless.
Her ongoing mission: to continue crafting clothes and experiences that weave heritage, storytelling, and diasporic care into the future of fashion.