Tosin Ogundadegbe is the Stylist Behind the Looks on the GTCO Fashion Weekend Runway
After starting out as a fashion writer, Tosin Ogundadegbe has grown to become a trailblazing stylist in Nigeria, collaborating with over 20 designers for GTCO Fashion Weekend every year.
On the second floor of the Lagos Oriental Hotel, a large door at the far end of the room to the right leads into a grand hall. And on a sunny day in November, less than a week before the highly anticipated GTCO Fashion Weekend, the hall is filled with the residue of a whirlwind round of model fittings. Chairs are disarranged, clothes are lying around and an unmistakable excitement sits in the air. “It feels like home but just with a lot of chaos,” says Tosin Ogundadegbe, the stylist who curates all the looks that make it to the runway each year.
Dressed in an all-black ensemble — flared, high-top pants finished off with a black shirt — Ogundadegbe, who goes by thestyleinfidel for his subversive personal style (lots of asymmetry and volume), is a quietly charming presence. Even when he is in the middle of styling one of Africa’s biggest fashion events, he has an easy, unperturbed energy to his person. It’s an ease that he says comes from years of building a machine that now runs smoothly.Each year since 2016, around 20 designers showcase their pieces on GTCO’s runway or installations. The designers hail from within and outside Nigeria, with some showcasing as many as 60 looks in a season. Each designer has a vision, and it is up to Ogundadegbe to bring it to life. “I mean, you're fitting designers back to back,” he says of the intensity of the styling period. “I still have my business I'm running. It's just a whole lot and you always have to make sure that the clients are happy at the end of the day.”
The lead-up
A typical GTCO season for Ogundadegbe starts three months in advance. The designers share their mood board, as well as a beauty board which includes hair, make-up, skin etc. “For every designer that is showing on this platform, at their fitting, there's a hairstylist [and] a makeup artist who [are] willing to bring their vision to life. [The designers] look at it, they approve; if they don't like it and want a little tweak, they tweak the things they need to tweak,” Ogundadegbe says.
This process, according to Ogundadegbe, is seamless because of the meticulousness that goes into the planning. Ogundadegbe recollects a Romeo Hunte fitting that began at 8 a.m. and didn’t end till 3 a.m. the following day. And this is “because the designers are very particular about who bodies their garments,” he says. “It's storytelling; sometimes you find out that they put a garment on a model but the model is not bodying it very well, then they have to switch. So when a designer is not satisfied, your job is not done.”
This year designers came from Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, the United Kingdom and several other countries. Some notable names include Laquan Smith, Tolu Coker, Gert-Johan Coetzee, Hue by Idera, Ituen Basi, Orire, Selly Raby Kane, Romeo Hunte, Onalaja and others. The multi-cultural slant that GTCO Fashion Weekend takes allows local and international designers to share a stage and enter an enriching dialogue. For Ogundadegbe, the variety and unpredictability of the lineup are what makes each styling year interesting.
The thrill of the job
Ogundadegbe started his career as a fashion writer before making a shift to personal and editorial styling, thanks to his boundary-pushing approach to personal style. His style is colorful, defiant towards coordination and partial to volume. After styling a friend for her wedding in 2021, Ogundadegbe’s work found a new direction: bridal styling.
Unlike editorial styling, styling brides is delicate, serious work. It takes as much as six months and involves a considerable level of emotional intelligence. “You're not just a stylist, you're the therapist, you're the best friend for that period. And you are the key person to them,” he admits. “Seeing them happy and then just being appreciated. The husband comes to thank you, or the mother of the bride will call you to say ‘Thank you so much for making my daughter happy.’ Just that alone is enough gratification.”
Ogundadegbe, who came up during a time when creative endeavors were looked down upon, says it is exciting to see the styling industry in Nigeria find its footing. “It gives me great joy to see that people are building careers from just being a stylist, and living a good life,” he says. “There's been growth, I won't lie to you. But I feel people still need to know more, understand more, research more, read more, and learn more.”
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