Orange Culture Release Gender-Bending SS21 Fashion Collection, “The Faces In The Clouds”

Nigerian androgynous fashion label, Orange Culture whose aesthetic includes vivid prints and motifs is out with its Spring/Summer 2021 collection tagged, ‘The Faces in the Cloud’.

The collection which recently showed presented at the 2020 Milan Digital Fashion Week draws inspiration from the fringes of history through the gender-bending icon, Area Scatter in 70’s Igboland, memorializing their existence as a notable pioneer in destabilizing gender conventions and what it means to be different.

“Orange Culture’s ‘The Faces in the Cloud’ examines the value of being different and the communities for which difference occurs that can either serve as a spectacle or an embrace.

“It is a political decision to wedge fabrics that complicate yet offer a solidified stance – a peaceful coexisting,” a statement from the brand read.”

According to the creative director Adebayo Oke-Lawal, this new collection is an “ode to those who have used their style and visual representation to fight oppression and how many stories are told in the clothes we wear”.

Standout pieces include ribbed jersey top with lateral cutouts is paired with denim, while a flouncy top is patterned with summery pastels. Models, male and female, are rendered in flaming orange pixie cut wigs and adorned with Anu Oyedele’s jewelry debut, Orange Culture’s new head of accessories design.

Releasing a collection inspired by a historical figure such as Area Scatter would require a more tactile and panoramic approach but Oke-Lawal settles for smaller conceptual executions with the celestial backdrop painted by artist Dricky Stickman and styling that was inspired by one of his favorite artists, Desire.

See more looks below: