Although her label Remay is relatively young, Ose Amusa-Eke is determined to take it to the next level which seems the place to be this season. A trained economist, Ose equipped herself for designing at the London College of fashion before birthing Remay about a year ago. She likes to combine African fabrics with lots of creative materials for her designs aimed at all ages and all gender. In this brief chat, Ose talks about her style, how to dress this Christmas and her fondest memory of Christmas. Enjoy.

“I think as a child, creativity just came easily and naturally to me . It wasn’t something I had to struggle to do. I could see a leaf or a chair or whatever and get inspired to create something. I could see a fabric and create a bag out of it. And that’s how it’s been.

As a designer, the way I see clothes maybe different from the way you do. Clothes tell a lot about your personality. There are people who are conservative and they dress according to their personality. So for me, I see clothes as a tool for expressing yourself. Whatever you wear speaks for itself.

As a designer, what I see most of the time is that a lot of people don’t know what suits them. You have to take a look at your body and know what suits you. If I had wide shoulders and narrow hips, the best thing to wear is sleeveless tops as that reduces your shoulders and full skirt that now gives you a little bit of hips. So you have to take a look at your body and try and work with that to get your individual style.

As a person, my style has always been chic, feminine and glamorous. My favourite outfit is the one I call my exotic dress. I designed it with aso-oke and it has different colours. Because of the colours, the outfit speaks for itself so I don’t use much accessory with it. And when I’m all glamed up, I use Glo for J-Lo perfume. The fragrance is really nice and sensual. It’s good when you are going out in the evening.

And for Christmas, I see Christmas as a joyous and festive period and it is a time when people get really expressive in their fashion. I have fond memories of Christmas as a child because I used to make my friends’ and their clothes. My fondest memory of Christmas as an adult was one year I was in England and it snowed. It was fun and I got to see another culture, the people and how they spend their own Christmas. It was kind of different from what one sees regularly in Nigeria.  

I think that at Christmas, people should generally celebrate because being alive alone is worth celebrating and you only live once. Nigerians are generally happy people. The situation of the country does not  hinder them no matter the social status. So you might as well enjoy yourself.

For Christmas, I would prescribe for people to wear anything that suit them and anything that make them comfortable. For church wear, definitely it has to be elegant but you don’t want your pastor to say you are exposing stuff. Therefore, I like long, flowing dresses and sometimes, skirt and blouse just so long as you keep it conservative, the neckline not so low and your arms covered up. After church, you can expose a little flesh for the after party. I like long tube dresses.
I plan to go out and have fun, to clothe a lot of people and to let people know more about my label, Remay.