Finding our place can be daunting and then being able to remain in that place and do things from a place of ease is another. Navigating various industries and being able to navigate these spaces without loosing ourselves can be difficult. This week I'm joined by my guest Lu Adesola, who has set a great example of what it means to navigate the fashion industry whilst staying rooted in her identity.
Aderoluwa Adesola also known as Lulla, is the CEO and Creative Director of Lullastudio. It's an androgynous luxury power house that amplifies African culture.She is a firm believer and a free spirit. She studied Art History at university and is an avid lover of all things art/artistic, fashion and video games. She believes the art of clothing peoples nakedness is sacred and it’s extremely important to her to amplify the voice of traditional art techniques in Africa.She's currently doing that through clothing for now.
I loved our conversation and it serves as a reminder there is grace for the place you've been called to.
Rhieme: Hi Lu, thank you so much for joining us today. Can you please tell us about yourself?
Lu: Hi, I’m the CEO and Creative Director, the Artistic Director of Lullastudio, which is an ingenious luxury powerhouse. It’s a clothing brand for now, but you guys get the exclusive scoop. We really celebrate and amplify artistic culture, arts and crafts, local craftsmanship. I’m an Art History graduate, I love art. I love fashion obviously. I love music and playing video games. I love playing video games, I love God and I’m a believer.
Rhieme: Thank you very much. So the conversations have been changing and now we're heading more towards businesses. What was the birthing process of Lulla Studio?
Lu: Okay, Lulla Studio started for narcissistic reasons, actually. I didn't like the idea of shopping and then when everyone comes back to Lagos in December, or during summer, the whole of Lagos is sharing the same wardrobe practically. I also just didn't like how I buy clothes, and I'd have to amend them because I'm really tiny but I'm also quite curvy so clothes didn’t fit me properly and I’d have to amend them. I just decided I was going to start making my clothes, then over a period of time, people really loved it. I would always get questions of ‘where did you get this from?’ And I'm like “I made it”. So I was like okay, I can make a business out of this. So my final year in uni, when COVID started, I really connected with God and began to know Him in a new way, on a personal level. If I'm being honest, up until now, I didn't even understand what my brand is, every single day, it means something different, there's a different dimension to my brand. I’m a go with the flow type of person, but now my brand isn’t. I'm more of a go with the flow kind of person but the narcissistic reasons I started off with are not my driving factors anymore. My brand right now is to make people feel loved, confident, wanted and giving people an avenue to express themselves through clothing. Because I for one, the way I dress is a form of expression for me. Also just supporting and promoting collaboration within the African community, in terms of the craftsmanship, and all of that, and also looking at sewing and fabric making techniques that have been here for centuries and looking at ways we can manipulate them to create new techniques. It’s also a way of informing people, luxury does exist in Africa.
Rhieme: Thank you so much for sharing. Personally, in my life as well, as well as looking at other people I've noticed that sometimes when we start stuff, we don't know it’s God actually starting it within us. What happens is, the seemingly little things we do, once God breathes over it, it turns into something else. I love what you said about how your brand is always changing, because I feel like the vision will constantly evolve honestly. Sometimes it's a bit scary because you're like, where's this going? But I think knowing all of us have been made to express ourselves in different ways and so whenever you end up making something that doesn't look like what anyone else is doing, that's the whole point.
Rhieme: How were you able to decide that pursuing a career in fashion was what you wanted?
Lu: Growing up, not to sound cliché I’ve always had a passion for fashion. My mum, she would sketch and sell her designs. My grandma did the same thing for my mum and her siblings when they were younger. I just remembered I’ve watched fashion shows, the fashion channel. In my first year in uni, I started a fashion and lifestyle blog for petite people with Funke. It's funny because at the time someone asked me “where’s this going? Do I see myself being a designer?” I was like, God- forbid so it's so funny I’m here now, I just always felt that was my bag. I knew I was going to do something in fashion and obviously, with my degree, it really l honed on my passion more and my interests, I feel like there isn’t so much disparity between art and fashion. So yeah, I found myself here.
Rhieme: Yeah, I like it. As I said, there are just times where sometimes we downplay our interests.
Lu: Especially, growing up in a Nigerian home growing up as a kid, you’re told lawyer doctor etc.Only people who see me know this, but my first day at uni I actually started studying Business Management. After my first day, I was just like, I can't spend three years studying this so I had to change to something more of me.
Rhieme: I really like that. With traditional career paths, I was telling Funke when we had our interview that sometimes, I feel the older generation may see certain career paths as superior or more worthy of pursuing. But really, when you go down a route that was never meant for you just because you want to say ‘I study x’ there’s only so far you would go. It’s more of, how long do you want to spend your life doing something you don’t actually like? But you've been able to make that switch which is good.
Lu: I was scared because my dad was like, “what are you saying?” but I had to put my foot down. I was scared. Business for me came naturally because I grew up in a home of entrepreneurs, so I’ve seen it first-hand. The course just wasn’t challenging enough for me and a bit boring. The argument was ‘if you want to run your business, how do you know what to do? I said it’s practical, business is practical. As you go day by day you learn new things. So I was really scared, there was so much pressure because I was like I need to do exceedingly and amazingly well to prove a point. I’m thankful because with God I'm like, wow. In the moment it didn’t make sense, I was like when I’m done what am I supposed to do? At some point, I wanted to be a curator. But now everything makes so much sense. It's interesting because as you said parents are like ‘oh this fashion and design’. I’ve even had aunties and uncles saying, ‘so you’re a tailor?’ and I’m like, no I’m not a tailor. It’s interesting because I’ve finally gotten to a place in my business, thankful to God, where my parents and adults around know I'm actually doing something with my business, I have a shop.
Rhieme: Yeah and believing in your vision. Sometimes people wouldn’t understand even the people you really want to support you, no one will ever understand your vision more than you do. So remembering what you want to do and why you want to do it and just going for it. Even what you said about how you didn't necessarily get a degree in Business but you’re still running your business. Whilst qualifications are good, you can definitely gain knowledge, you can do courses and all but your degree is not the stamp of approval that you would actually do well in that particular area. Gaining approval from the right sources and I believe the right source is God. As long as He’s on your side, everything will actually be fine.
Rhieme: Can you please share with us your day-to-day life when running Lulla Studio?
Lu: Every day is different. I wake up at 6am, I spend an hour in prayer, and then a walk. Then I come back home and get ready to go to my office. So one constant thing in my day to day, I always go to my office. I have to make sure things are running well. I have a manager overseeing and checking everything most days and running around errands or I'm just in my office working on my laptop. Every day is different I would narrow it down to the past three weeks. I come up with designs and I didn't do anything else until I hit my targets for the day. So sorting out fabrics, micromanaging tailors because working with Nigerians and working in Nigeria is a different ballgame. It's micromanaging, I don't have a social media manager I handle social media. We're doing accounting, we're doing PR, every day is everything, I try to touch on everything. I don't have a structure to my day in general. With Lulla, anything can come up. I can go to an office and I have a shoot, so something came up, and I may have to go to our workshop where our tailors are. Or I may have to go to the market for fabric. Recently I went to Ibadan to meet with our weavers for our ashoke material so I’m always on the go.
Rhieme: That's interesting. I don't know if I can do that, I love structure but I know there are other people who get stressed out by structure.
Lu: It's so funny because I feel like coming from uni where there is structure, you have a timetable. When I started Lulla, I had a structure, I had a timetable but that really wasn't working for me. I found out that I was being not as productive as they should be because I had timing for everything. Even though this doesn't really work for everyone I don't have a work-life boundary. But for me, I'm happy because me working is me doing something nice for myself. If I have an email, I'm yet to reply, I'm going to be anxious that it was on my mind, and I cannot be present in the moment. I always have my Google Calendar and know my priorities for the day.
Rhieme: Yeah, sometimes it doesn't even feel like work, if you enjoy what you're actually doing.
Rhieme: Where does your source of inspiration come from when designing? And how have you been able to maintain your brand identity?
Lu: My source of inspiration comes from my spiritual life. For the longest time, I've been trying to separate myself from my brand, but I’ve gotten to the point where I'm deceiving myself, because Lulla is an extension of my spiritual life. Most people think I'm crazy but most things that I see, I see them in my dreams, or they just randomly pop up in my head. I have random visions of things. My thought process in general, when I'm in a creative space is, I really want to clothe people how God wants us to be clothed. Also really changing the narrative because growing up in a Nigerian home, you dress a certain way, which is decent, and you hear “is that how a good Christian girl should dress?” I'm always asking myself, what does that even mean? In society people have created these ideals. When I look at the world, it’s so beautiful, you look at animals, they have different prints, different skin animals, we have different textures. We're also unique and to be lazy and decide to take away God’s creativity and say, “this is the standard way” “this is what being moral means”. I look at nature, different things inspire me, colours, I love colour, nature and I guess just being in my secret place that's where I'm able to think and see things.
Rhieme: Yeah, thank you for sharing. What you said about dressing and how one should, I feel like there's no set standard, it’s more of something between you and God. God can choose to express himself through someone in a different way than He would to another. I love what you said about not limiting Him because there are so many different aspects to God. As long as you're connected with the source, that's the most important thing and you know in your heart you are. I love how with your designs, and how are you seeing ideas in your dreams and everything, it shows God cares about these things.
Lu: That is true!
Rhieme: There are times where He’ll tell me what to wear or tell me other times not to wear certain outfits. I remember when I started shopping with God. I will literally ask “should I wear this?” or “should I not wear this?” and it changed the game.
Lu: I love that.
Rhieme: I love how the outfits look on me and God cares about the seemingly little things. Even with business, sometimes we feel as though we can’t bring God into our work or maybe God will restrict us because they don't know God as a friend. When you have a proper friend, your friend will give you space to be. Your friend will give you ideas or your friend can suggest you tweak certain areas. It makes me so sad when people decide to embark on something and leave God because they think it’s going to be boring.
Lu: It's interesting you say that because this particular season in my life and everything that has happened in the past couple of weeks..wow. Before everything happened, I got dreams that I was meant to enter a new season, new depth, God was birthing something. God was about to do something crazy. Well, I don't know why I was just like, maybe not now, maybe next year, I didn’t think it will be this soon. But He used to tell me that I'm not dreaming big enough with my brand. I used to be like, ‘what do you mean?’ I used to get really frustrated because I was like, what do you like, do that my dreams? It hasn't even been up to one year since I've launched my brand and the things that He's allowed to happen, the opportunities that He’s given me. I realised that yes, my brand is to glorify God, but I didn’t fully surrender my brand to God. In recent times, it really forced me to fully surrender because the DFA show- the fashion show, I could not hack that. It was not possible. That’s when I knew that I'm nothing in comparison to God, I have nothing. It's just showing me that we always strive as humans in our minds and our ability. But when you truly rest and surrender you even in times where you’re under pressure you will be, so you are peaceful. Everything will be going through seamlessly, you have a solution immediately.
We strive so much but there’s a point where you rest in God and you’re free. Currently, I feel like my creativity levels have expanded and I didn’t think it was humanly possible. I don't have the capacity. So now when things happen, I do get overwhelmed because I'm human but the creative freedom you have? God created the world, He created the universe, there is freedom when you come to Christ. You don't have to limit yourself. He makes everything so seamless. Even if there’s something you want and He doesn't want it for you, He brings something a million times better that will blow your mind.
Rhieme: Yeah, everything you said honestly. That show? When I read the caption, I was shocked because you said you had less than 10 days to come up your designs.
Lu: I did.
Rhieme: Wow.
Lu: It was insane, coming up with the ideas, I was really anxious. I remember on my walk the day I got the email I saw it in the morning, and I was hysterical. I couldn't even contain my anxiety. I was like “Can I do this?” “I might have to turn this down”. I called my friend and she was like, ‘I don’t think God will give you this opportunity to embarrass you, that is not God.’ That calmed me down a bit but I was like in practicality, what can I do? I didn’t even have sketches, I had nothing, I was still trying to figure myself out. I had even decided I wasn't going to do anything else for the rest of the year and I was working towards next year. I got a word of Him saying anything I choose if it doesn't go and falls through, it's not from Him and I should move on to the next thing. He also said I should design this collection as if He would be the only one in the room. So, the collection was for Him. With my creativity I need to be at ease, I need to be calm, I need things to be balanced but I just said to myself, I’ve never done this before. I don't have that many days, I don't even know what fabric I'm using. Nigerian tailors on top of that, am I going to meet this deadline? For the first four days I will be at my desk for over 5 hours and come up with sketches. I will start, then stop, I call this an organised chaos. Even with fabric I was trying so much. The textile and infrastructure in Nigeria is non-existent basically. To import it was impossible in such a short period of time. I say it’s crazy because two weeks before my trip to Ibadan to see the weavers was spontaneous. My tailor sewed five things in one night, he’s never done that before. With my store manager/ assistant, the people that embroidered for me, the people that did the beading, everything came together. If I ever want to doubt in the future that God is not real, it’s not possible because this whole experience was just crazy.
Rhieme: If there’s one thing I've learnt about God, when something is of Him there are certain things that are just obvious it’s humanly impossible and He wants you to test Him.
Lu: Yeah and I've been learning a lot about Daniel and when he put the king’s guards to the test and said "we’re only going to eat vegetables and water test us" in comparison to the other men. Even when David was bold enough to say all the things he said, I started to realise they didn’t know what would come out of it. But it was that crazy faith of, look at the God I serve. Those moments in the Bible, I started to humanise the characters and see them put God to the test. They came out, they were bold enough to say that and they had the faith to see and believe. That is what I’m really trying to imbibe in my business and my day-to-day life. Even after being anxious, I started to speak life. Every day I got to the office I will say “God you’re not going to embarrass me, we’re going to do this”. I pay attention to detail, if I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it well. If I'm going to do something I need to do well, so I said “I’m going to do this, I'm going to do this perfectly well, to your taste because you said this show is for you.
Rhieme: Honestly, He's too much. I know the way God wants to move now, He wants us to actually trust Him. So many of us have crazy ideas and they sound crazy, because you’ve probably not seen anyone doing that before but that's the point.
Lu: We have access to so much through God, He’ll tell you do this, do that and it’s simple.
Rhieme: That's another thing about God, He’s very specific and detailed.If you’re unsure on whether something is of God or not, He’ll keep on speaking over what is His. He’ll give you more and more reasons why you should continue. Just thinking about everything you shared on your business, it’s not been a year, but you’ve already been on a show! Just wait and see.
Lu: Literally my friends and I said, if this is happening now, what’s next? But I had to beg God please I just need a break because everything is just coming left, right and centre and I’m grateful, but I need a break. It’s funny because on my birthday I said I want to be a fashion at Fashion Week next year, and look at now, just a month later.
Rhieme: So crazy. I love what you said earlier about how people strive too much. We need to normalise doing things from a place of ease. Whilst there’s time for you to sow seeds and be patient, there’s a difference between that and struggling.
Lu: Yea, like suffer and feel like you must do the hardest thing and I’m like no, I don’t believe God wants me to suffer.
Rhieme: Honestly, thank you for sharing.
Rhieme: How have you been able to maintain your brand identity?
Lu: That's a very interesting question because I don't know. It’s something I’m still trying to work on, I don't think I'm quite there yet. I think in terms of our fabric, we’re maintaining that indigenous African culture, but modern silhouettes. I'm not going to lie, we’re able to maintain our identity in our pieces themselves. I'm still trying to hack marketing and social media.
Rhieme: Yeah, I think it’s really about learning on the job. As time goes on, it would make more sense.
Rhieme: How has the journey been in trusting the process of building Lulla Studio?
Lu: I will say it’s been beautiful. Beautiful in all the frustrations. I’m not going to lie and say everything has been rosy, no. There’ve been lessons learnt, based on mistakes that I have made. We’ve had silent seasons where maybe we're not making as much sales as usual. My tailors, God knows how many times I’ve had to change them. All in all, I’ll say it’s beautiful and God is faithful. Like we said, I've come to realise when you're operating from a place of total surrender to God, there is freedom. There is peace and there is clarity. God delights in small humble beginnings, and what may look like success to the world, may not look like success to God. It's always important for me to go back to my source. It's also understanding with God, things are really different. Someone asked me, ‘how am I able to stand out amongst my competitors? ‘I said, I don't believe I have any competition because I feel like everyone has a different mandate. Everyone has a different calling and purpose in the same industry. It’s not always easy, sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes it's hard. Sometimes things are difficult, but just knowing you’ll be okay, things will make sense eventually and there's always something to learn from every season.
Rhieme: What you said about how you may have silence seasons and knowing even in those spaces is true, that’s still success. Sometimes we make it seem like when we’ve made an announcement then things are good. But success can look being quiet for a month yet you're sketching or planning. Just living for God, an audience of One.
Rhieme: What advice will you give someone who's keen on entering the fashion industry but isn't sure where to begin?
Lu: I think firstly, it depends what area, but really just start. There is no perfect way, everyone is different, every brand is different. Know your niche, find your niche. Ask yourself “what value am I adding to the industry?” There are so many brands so also ask yourself if you're passionate about it. It’s hard 's with anything, any business, it's really hard if you're not passionate about it on the tough days, and I feel like it’s only your passion that really keeps you going.
Rhieme: Definitely, finding your space is important. To add to what you mentioned and how you don't see anyone as a competitor, I really like that. I guess ties into what you just shared because when you focus more on your craft and your area, you know what you're doing will always be so distinct from anyone else.I think whilst there's room for exploring and everything , you also need to ask yourself, “ how can I be the best at this thing?”
Rhieme: Do you have any last words, advice, anything that has been on your mind?
Lu: God is love, and there’s freedom in Jesus. I think anyone who wants to enter into the fashion industry, don’t feel you have to look like other people. I've come to realise that what makes you beautiful and what makes people unique is being themselves and being real. Being somebody else or something else is only sustainable for a little while. Don’t be afraid to rebrand.
How did you find this conversation? Any key takeaways? Share below, make sure you check out Lulla Studio and stay tuned next tuned for next week!