FUNKE OSAE-BROWN
Located at 2, Osho/ Irewole street, along Oregun Link Bridge, Opebi, Lagos, House of Plush Exclusive Fashion (H.O.P.E Fashion) is a luxury store in every sense of the word. Walking into the store means you are treated to some of the finest bespoke fabrics, bejewelled purses, bags, shoes. They are all tailor-made to suit the client’s taste.
Seated behind the desk in an inner office when I visited was Kikiopefoluwa Okewale, CEO, H.O.P.E Fashion. She warmly welcomes me as the sound of her voice echoes against the background of the heavy downpour outside.
She was excited to talk to me about her store, a sign she has something new to offer an already saturated market. Her vision about her clientele is clear. She knows what to offer the upscale Nigerian market.
“I travel to different places to get the best and exclusive fabrics,” she tells me. “I go from Australia, Korea Italy, to Turkey. I pick the best from all the fashion exclusive houses and I stock them here. I have a lot of beaded fabric, Swiss laces, fabric for male and female. We do Aso Ebi, head ties, Aso-oke.”
Kikiopefoluwa Okewale, CEO, H.O.P.E Fashion
H.O.P.E Fashion store is a one-stop store where a woman walks in and returns home totally made over.
“We are like one-stop shop for every traditional fashionista,” she explains. “If you are getting married, for your reception dresses, we have exclusive laces for that. We have many people who are celebrating mile stone birthday parties, we have fabrics for them. We have fabrics that can be used for wedding dresses. We stock all sort of exclusive fabric. We do bridal shoes that are bling. They always call us the bling store. I love bling a lot too.”
The store also stocks bling shoes, purses and customised shoes for that special occasion like wedding, birthday, funeral and others. “We go a top higher, if you tell us your colour you can pick a design of shoe which we will make for you. This is a bespoke piece that you will not find anywhere. We do that. We do jewelleries. American diamonds which are very long lasting. I have some for six years and they don’t tarnish. I also teach people about how to take care of their fabrics, jewelleries, shoes and purses. We also have a salon spa where we take care of people’s beauty needs. You can actually come to our building and get all your beauty needs done, from head to toe. We actually want to make it a one-stop store.”
Talking about the fabric like Ankara, H.O.P.E fashion offers bespoke pieces that will make you stand out of the crowd. They have different quality African prints accessorised with Swarovski crystals, sequins, embroidery amongst others. “We do Ankara and Adire. Many of our customers love the unique pieces we offer. We do many customised fabrics, head ties among others for them. Our motto is just dream or think what you want and we make it happen.”
In addition to the store, there is a unisex salon and Spa at the top floor of the building and a tailoring outfit where pieces bought at the store are sewn and properly managed by skilled designers.
“The idea of the tailoring store came up when clients complained about how their expensive fabrics were badly handled by their tailors. We decided to step in to fill in the gap. Our tailors are professional. They are well trained on how to handle expensive fabrics like these. We make dresses for top Nollywood actresses. We made the famous green dress that Mercy Aigbe wore to the last AMVCA. We clothe top socialites.”
A look at the store, shows that Kikiopefoluwa means business to change the game in the luxury industry. Her approach to the concept of a total lifestyle shop is unique and it brings a new twist to the taste of the Nigerian woman.
“We have one of the most equipped salon in Lagos because we discovered that most women don’t get value for their money. We want to bring quality service to women who have taste for quality. We want to clothe the total woman from head to toe. There was nowhere in mainland with such big place that caters to the need of women from head to toe. We therefore, stepped in to make this happen with our multi-purpose fashion centre that will attract top celebrities.”
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