Ruffles for Empowerment

A month before the COVID-19 pandemic, Tia Adeola made her designing debut at the New York Fashion Week with her ruffled designs. She shared how thankful she was to be able to present for her line’s release before the global pandemic started, but also the difficulty of going from remarkable success to a complete halt in production of her products.

“It was bittersweet,” said Adeola. “I was very grateful and thankful to be quarantined with my family, but going from having my studio space to sharing a room with my sister… it was just a lot.”

While becoming restless in quarantine, she decided to start designing again. She shared with CNN that she represents a generation that will change the world; this belief and a strong attitude fueled her to keep going. She wanted to continue inspiring young women to wear what will empower them.

At her home in Nigeria, she designed face masks with ruffles inspired by her love of art history. Through her studies of 16th-century fashion, she always admired the ruffles. Adeola became mesmerized by how the dresses were painted and their meaning in society.

“And ruffles – they were called ‘the ruff’ at the time… the bigger your ruffle, the higher you were in society,” Adeola said.

Adeola decided to adopt this philosophy and use ruffles in her designs. She wanted her work to focus on strong, independent women and used young celebrities like Gigi Hadid, Dua Lipa, and Lizzo to accomplish this. 

“There would be no Tia without the women in my community who support me and make things possible,” Adeola shared with CNN. “People go on the brand’s Instagram page and see these amazing pictures that they love, but they don’t realize there was a female makeup artist, there was a female hairstylist, there was a female photographer, there was a female set assistant. So all these women in my community come to mind when I’m making these clothes.”

Being a strong, trendsetting woman has prepared Adeola to take on this global movement of women’s empowerment one ruffle at a time.

Photos from CNN