Bodil Ouedraogo
/FASHION/
Bodil is a fashion designer whose core focus area is the art surrounding fashion. She investigates various aspects of 'the art of dressing up', the culture around the wearing of clothes and its expressions. Her work is informed by the connections she finds after thoroughly examining different cultural aspects that at first glance seem to be far apart. How can a connection between diverse styles enrich and uplift one another? Over the years Ouedraogo’s interests became more personal; her father is from Burkina-Faso and her mother from The Netherlands. The main connection she was looking for was one that united her bi-cultural identity. This amounts in her research on the different cultural ideas of what constitutes being “well dressed” in West-Africa in comparison to West-European ideas.
PRESENTING
TO BLEND, TOGETHER
This work connects themes such as Afro Modernism, West African couture and African diaspora streetwear from Ouedraogo’s own context. In collaboration with streetwear brand, Patta Ouedraogo made a capsule collection in which the print of the tracksuits is based on bundling the wealth around the Bazin Rich fabric by manipulating and enlarging the fabric. A representation of the culture surrounding wearing the amount of luxury of the grandboubou, a luxury outfit from West-Africa.
PORT LA RICHESSE
The work is about how to wear the grandboubou, a luxury outfit from West-Africa, and all the etiquettes around it - you could see it almost as a tutorial video. It is about being well dressed, carrying the actual weight of the grandboubou and how it can force you to take up space because of its size. How can an outfit literally force you to be present and take up space in your surroundings.