Walé Oyéjidé’s Bravo, Burkina! feature film makes an impact

This output is not surprising, considering 42-year-old Walé Oyéjidé has been many things in his life. Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, Oyéjidé moved with his mother, first to Dubai and then to the US, where he studied law and started his corporate career as an attorney. Prior to law school, Oyéjidé had kicked off a career as a musician and record producer. His experiments fusing hip hop and afrobeat birthed four studio albums.

He is perhaps best known for his work with the cosmopolitan fashion and design brand Ikiré Jones which marries West African aesthetics with influences from around the world. Oyéjidé started Ikiré Jones alongside partner Samuel Hubler in 2014 at a point where he was disillusioned with the grind of corporate practice.

Ikiré Jones would go on to put on several campaigns, none more successful than in 2018 when the late actor Chadwick Boseman would sport one of the brand’s scarves in the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther. Three years later, Ikiré Jones’s designs would also appear in the Hollywood sequel Coming 2 America starring Eddie Murphy.

Film and fashion

“I am obviously a Nigerian man, but I am also an American. By virtue of age, I have been in the US longer than I have been in Africa. Personally, I don’t deny either aspect of my history, I am both,” Oyéjidé tells The Africa Report, discussing bringing his heritage to his designs.

“You are informed by your history wherever you are. The clothing you see is bold African prints but also paired with European silhouettes; same thing for the music.”

Oyéjidé’s Bravo, Burkina! was selected in Sundance’s NEXT section, a spotlight for forward-thinking independent cinema. The film places the immigrant’s journey front and centre while providing a…