It has definitely been his year – Araoluwa Popoola – the gangling young man behind the sensational Fashion brand – Aramanda.
The new fashion house will count as part of those with the most impressive market penetration this year. From his base in Ibadan, Aramanda is being noticed and is virtually capturing the imagination and pockets of clients, the young and the upwardly mobile, in Lagos, Abuja and across the West African region.
In a bid to get a foothold into the international fashion scene, Aramanda got more than a copious display a couple of months ago at the annual Runway Dubai, the popular international fashion show which held at the Marriott Hotel, Al Jadaff, Dubai. And Popoola, the brain behind the brand, still considers that exposure one of his best outings of 2019.
Aramanda has dressed up those in the corporate world, societal bigwigs and royalty from various parts of Nigeria while making conscious efforts to make its presence felt in other countries. He recently extended its clientele to Ghana and Rwanda and chose the Runway Dubai as his grand entry into Dubai.
“We showcased our global African collection and we chose two diverse individuals: Gbenga Adeyinka and Maher Alkahja in Dubai to assist in showcasing our brand to the global audience.
Adeyinka is the versatile Nigerian compere and stand-up comedian whose last quarterly edition of Laffmatazz was a sold-out edition in Ekiti State on Sunday. His zanku dance-themed strut on the Dubai runway in October virtually set the internet on fire.
At the Dubai show, the ace comedian represented “the diversity of the Afro-Arabian Kandora that we are introducing into the UAE market while Maher, who is an award-winning film producer also represented the diversity of the pop culture and appeals to the UAE market,” Popoola told TCN.
Popoola, who got a high-five clothing Twitter C.E.O., Jack Dorsey and his executive team during their visit to Nigeria earlier this year, describes himself as a normadic designer who runs his clothing line on the move.
He said: “The dream has never been to be a local brand; it has always been to take it to the world. We started off in Ibadan, then we took the brand to Lagos, now we are ready to take it to the world so that the world can appreciate what we have in Africa as we carefully infuse the African designs with concepts from the rest of the world.”
Aramanda’s garments have been worn on various red carpet events by celebrities from Africa and its focus for the new year is reaching out to countries like Ethiopia, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Italy, United States and other countries in the Middle East.
