How This Young Designer Ended Up Dressing Tracee Ellis Ross, Naomi Osaka And Victoria Monet

Forbes

You never know when inspiration might hit. For Michelle Adepoju, lightning struck during a post-college trip in Western Africa. As a teen Adepoju, who was raised in the UK. in a Nigerian immigrant family, liked to craft new clothes from thrift store finds. During her African trek, Adepoju realized she could turn her hobby into a business. She merged contemporary designs with traditional African techniques like weaving to create her brand Kílẹ̀ńtàr in 2019. Kílẹ̀ńtàr sells luxury statement pieces from gowns to swimwear to jewelry. “When we think of luxury, it's usually Chanel or Hermès,” says Adepoju. We are putting African craftsmanship on the map for luxury fashion.” The brand has dressed celebrities including Tracee Ellis Ross, Naomi Osaka, and Victoria Monét. Adepoju debuted her designs at New York Fashion Week in 2024.

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00:00You also have dressed some celebrities for red carpets and other events.

00:03Tracee Ellis Ross, Victoria Monet, Naomi Osaka. How did these partnerships come to be?

00:09Most times the stylists reach out to us. So I think that we're doing the right thing

00:15and we've been able to make enough noise for them to reach us. And most times the stylists

00:21would reach out to us and we would give them the clothes and the clients love it and wear it.

00:27So that has been, it's really showing me how much we're taking this to this level.

00:33Has there been, you know, in maybe one of those examples or a different example

00:37that you feel like is an I made it moment for you and Kelanta?

00:41I think that I made it moment for me. I don't know if it's I made it, but because it's,

00:49there's so many key things that have happened in the brand that I've just felt really proud of.

00:54Right. And that is growing the team and training the weavers that we work with,

00:58as well as doing our New York Fashion Week debut for MasterCard.

01:02This really, it was more of just the impact that we had made and how moved people were.

01:09And I think that has always been the core of Kelanta, really collaboration and celebrating our

01:16crafts, you know, and I think it's so important for me because when we think of luxury, for example,

01:24we are thinking of the Chanel's or the mares. And I think we're really changing that narrative

01:31and we're putting African craftsmanship on the map for luxury fashion.

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