Fashion career profile
Mowalola Ogunlesi
Mowalola Ogunlesi is a Nigerian-British fashion designer whose work combines menswear, music, art and Lagos-rooted cultural references. Her 2017 Central Saint Martins graduate collection, Psychedelic, drew attention for its body-conscious silhouettes and references to Nigerian 1970s psychedelia. She presented with Fashion East at London Fashion Week in 2019, using the talent incubator as a platform for her independent label. In 2020 she was appointed design director of Yeezy Gap; that role was a finite chapter and not a transfer of ownership or creative control of her own label. After leaving the project, she focused on building Mowalola and presented her first Paris runway show in 2022. Her practice crosses fashion with exhibitions and music, but this profile centers the verified design career and makes the Yeezy Gap and namesake-brand relationship explicit. No current external appointment is claimed without a recent primary source.
- Role
- Founder & Creative Director, Mowalola
- Nationality
- Nigerian-British
- Age
- 31
- YEEZY and Mowalola Release "KITTY" Range in New ColorwaysHypebeast Fashion · 2026-10-28
- Mowalola SS27 ‘The Hunger’ Reveals Three Patent Leather Air Jordan 14sHypebeast Fashion · 2026-09-21
- 'Something's Off' — And That's the Point: Mowalola Brings Her Unapologetic Vision to Jordan BrandHypebeast Fashion · 2026-09-15
- Graduate collection: Psychedelic, Central Saint Martins, 2017The collection drew on Nigerian cultural and musical references. · Business of Fashion
- Talent platform: Fashion East, London Fashion Week, 2019The incubator platform brought her independent label to a wider audience. · Business of Fashion
- External role: Design Director, Yeezy Gap, 2020–2021Reporting describes a finite role that ended before her Paris runway return. · Business of Fashion
- Collaboration: Nike work for Nigeria’s national football teamThis is recorded as a collaboration, not an appointment to Nike or the team. · Business of Fashion
- 2017 — Presents Psychedelic graduate collectionCentral Saint Martins collection brings Lagos-rooted references into view.
- 2019 — Presents with Fashion EastShows at London Fashion Week through the talent incubator.
- 2020 — Appointed Design Director of Yeezy GapA time-limited design role distinct from her namesake business.
- 2022 — Presents first Paris runway showReturns to the runway focused on her independent label.