Fashion is like medicine — Helen Apreala

OCTOBER 27, 2013 BY KEMI ASHEFON 

Helen Apreala

Helen Apreala is a fashion designer and has participated in many international fashion shows. The Bayelsa-born, who is armed with a Master’s degree in Marketing, speaks on her passion for fashion

 Q: Don’t you think you are wasting away as a fashion designer with an MBA degree?

A: No, I don’t. I have a deep love for fashion. I have a passion for fashion and I have no regrets following the path my talent has taken me. Though I would readily advise that people who want a special touch in whatever field they chose should get an education.

 Q: Have you always wanted to be a fashion designer?

A: While I was growing up, I had a neighbour who used to make clothes. Most of the clients who came to her house wore a smile on their faces while leaving. After watching people leave her home transformed in their new clothes and with smiles, I wished to be involved in that profession that makes people happy.  But like most kids my age, I dreamt of taking up more conventional professions such as engineering or medicine. I went ahead to study Business Administration up to the masters degree level. But I soon found out that I was miserable. I could tell that my job didn’t give me the same level of joy I felt dressing up my friends. I could tell that the moments my smiles were genuine was when my friends looked beautiful after I dressed them up.  I then made up my mind to go for a career in fashion designing.

 Q: What happened after?

A: I started doing a lot of research on the fashion institutions where I could get a good education on the industry. I studied fashion design and haute couture at Institute Di Moda Burgo, Milan. My studies included jewellery and clothes-making for men and women. Fashion is like medicine where you have physicians who are into general practice and you have those who specialise in certain fields. I think since I love fashion, I am more like a physician.

 Q: Didn’t your family oppose your choice of vocation?

A: They did and none was happy with me. My family and my friends were really upset when they found out that I was leaving all that I had worked for, to start all over in a fashion school. My mum was so upset that I could leave certainty in Nigeria for uncertainty in a foreign land. I had to explain to her that I had been planning my move into the fashion industry for four years.  I told her that I had saved enough money to start a new life in Milan because I wasn’t getting fulfillment with a regular job. Then, I had already paid the fees and I just had to go there to fulfill my passion for a career I knew would make me happy. I have no regrets going to Milan to study. It exposed me to the international fashion industry in a way that only schooling in a renowned institution could have. As a student, I participated in international fashion shows with the biggest names in the industry on display.

 Q: As a student, which of the shows did you partake in? What was the experience like for you?

The experiences were often surreal. I participated in many shows but to mention a few designers, I participated in Giorgio Armani’s show. I have worked at shows by CNC International and Roco by Roco. I have worked in over 20 shows in Milan and Milan fashion weeks. Most of the times, I would be one of the very few blacks backstage at these shows. I often asked myself if I was really the one in the backstage at with super models and great designers people dream of just purchasing their products. Sometimes, I walk up to the few black super models I met at these shows to introduce myself as a Nigerian and African. But at the end of the day, people don’t remember that I am black because of how much they love my work. I worked hard backstage like I was the designer on display. Most times, the people I work with shake and hug me to encourage me to continue working hard on my designs. Despite my being in awe of the scenarios I found myself, I was proud of being a Baylesa born Nigerian representing my people on the global stage.

 Q: You must have been lucky in this job?

I would say you are right in the sense that I was invited by Giorgio Armani for a recognition dinner and it takes an average of 10-20 years in the fashion industry to be so recognised by an icon like Armani. But I got the same invite in less than four years. Like I said, I have worked with some of the really big names in the fashion capitals of the world. And I’ve come to recognise the fact I have been favored.

 Q: What inspires your designs?

 My designs are completely inspired by the Ijaw culture and African art. Despite my many travels, I am an Ijaw person through and through. The Ijaws have age long traditions and a unique culture. We have our fabrics and what you could safely call the Bayelsan way of dressing. I often incorporated our fashion to Western designs and when people take a look at it, they tell me they had never seen anything like it before. And now that I am being invited to fashion shows, I will certainly be projecting the Ijaw and Nigerian style through my collections.  I just have to incorporate the Nigerian fabric to my designs because nothing compares to the reactions of top designers when they see my designs which have a Nigerian-African twist to them. Part of my plans now that I am in Nigeria is to work with the Bayelsa State government in its drive to make our state a tourism and investment destination. In Nigeria we are yet to fully explore the tourism potentials of our growing fashion industry.

 Q: Fashion yielding revenue for tourism? How will this be done?

A: I’ve been in Bayelsa for months and I have seen how much effort the government has put in promoting the state as a tourism destination. Fashion sells like hot cake. If a destination is safe, people will attend a fashion show there and Bayelsa has shed its toga as a rough and unsafe place. Yes, not everyone will travel around for fashion shows, but lots of people who will bring in money to the state will come. I don’t see any reason why Bayelsa cannot host an annual fashion show. I am glad that I have finally gotten in contact with government and they are willing to work with me to host an annual show that will ultimately be a permanent feature in the Nigeria- African fashion calendar.   Already the government is sponsoring me to the first ever fashion show in the Grand Canyon where models will walk on a runway 4000 feet above Colorado river. The least I can do is give back to my state using what I know best and this is why I tagged my collection to the J. Autumn Fashion Show 2013, the Reformation Agenda.