Mowalola SS24 was a ‘crash’

Following the meteoric rise of Mowalola Ogunlesi’s eponymous label, for this fashion week Mowalola came shooting back down to London in a spectacle of provocation, grunge and classic Mowalola branding twists.

The SS24 ‘Crash’ collection was a cine-inspired show informed by her first time watching David Cronenberg’s 1995 erotic thriller ‘Crash’. A sense of survival and ‘the will to carry on’ was imbued within every element of the show.

Battered and bruised, each model walked down the runway as if they had returned from a 12-round beating from the Heavyweight champ. Isamaya Ffrench, make-up artist, translated the designers' curiosity with ‘the fetishization of pain through crashing’ vividly by applying scars, bloody noses and gauze to each of the models. In a conversation with Vogue, Mowa stated that flirting with this idea led her to imagine ‘a whole universe that resides on the streets’.

The perversion of the streets intensified with each look starting with Irina Shayk, wearing a shimmering silver halter dress embellished with the logo, “MOWALOLA L.D.N”. A playful nod to the bargain sportswear brand Everlast. A voyeuristic approach to print was carried throughout with NSFW graphic polos and vest tops stamped with the word ‘Pussy’ followed.

Sexualised sportswear permeated from start to finish with cropped hoodies, low-rise sweats, mini gym tops and pants. Stacked leather skirts, airbrushed trench coats and wrap around strap trousers intensify bondage themes that were slightly touched upon in her last season’s efforts. Intercontinental iconography featured on oversized bags and outerwear made the new collection feel grounded, balancing the lifted brows set off by hyper-sexual denim booty shorts and co-ords.

It wouldn’t be an authentic fashion week without an accoutrement of controversy. Provided by one of Mowalola’s leather mini-skirts that featured Saudi Arabia’s flag that has the Islamic Shahada written across it. Outcry across social media sparked an apologetic response from the designer who has sworn to remove the design from her collection. Some theories circling online channels seem to suggest that this was the plan all along with the designer's collection trending from publication to pub garden.