Fashion Review- Too many ruffles, not enough reason
Dear Fashionistas,
It’s a beautiful day to feed your eyes and minds with what is new in town, and we have just the thing for you.
Here, we will be spotlighting an exceptional brand, SedCaz, and its founder, Ajayi Tolulope Sedomo. Tolulope is a revolutionary Couture Artist who, aside from making dresses, is passionate about using fabric to portray a message.
Her greatest inspiration is helping women and men alike feel confident through their clothing, and this is a thread that she has dedicated herself to using her brand to accomplish.
Over the years, since its launch in 2019, Tolulope has made significant achievements through her brand, including training over 50 apprentices across Africa, nurturing their raw talents and instilling the African craftsmanship into them through carefully drafted schemes and articulation.
The brand has also collaborated with several skilled designers like Aoliweiya and Rana fashion, leading to the awe-striking creation called Aolanes Bridal and Merna Style collection, alongside the sales of 25 luxury wedding gowns and evening dresses.
Most importantly, the label has worked on several fashion pieces for different clientele, including the Dominican Order of Preachers Community, Ibadan, the Catholic Bishop of Oyo Diocese, Most Rev. Emmanuel Badejo, the LAUTECH NFCS Drama group, etc. Bagged in its portfolio, SedCaz has also crafted a garment collection spanning from 2021 to date. However, here, we will only be dwelling on one of them —the 2022 SedCaz collection.
In this collection, we will be critiquing three flamboyant dresses from their 2022 collection. These garments are the sole representation of what unique fashion entaientails.
In this first set, Tolulope did commendably well with the designs she adopted. The outfit is a two-piece design that comprises a sleeveless top and Palazzo pants. This set was created with a quality white crepe fabric to create an elegant appearance.
The sleeveless blouse is distinguished by the absence of a neckline. In its place, a beautifully attached square burstline opens the design with two thick straps on the shoulder to create the illusion of a sleeve. Following them is the slightly bodycon bodies that stops at the mid-waist and with an attachment, flows into a peplum ripple to the waistline, where it comes to a halt.
The trousers in this set are kick-started at the waistline with a waistband before flowing down in wide-legged pants. However, unlike many simple palazzos out there, the design on this one is given a little tweak with the addition of face-to-face pleating that are usually found on Pleat-front trousers and the extravagant spreading of fabric on the two legs.
While the design is very catchy and trendy, we suggest reducing the volume of the trousers. This is because the width of the pants is designed to provide some level of comfort may bite back as discomfort while trying to make movement.
Secondly, one would be excessively conscious of the length of the pants, especially with the colour. In this case, we suggest shortening the length or having a darker-coloured subtitle of the set.
Talk about women’s prowess. This second piece is a stylish set designed to give you that powerful look. The set was created with two complementary fabrics — a black Crepe and a checkered white and black fabric.
The second of the collection is a collared t-shirt beginning with a high collar neckline that snuggles the neck. It is accompanied by two perfectly pressed short sleeves, a partition synonymous with t-shirts in the middle, and a flat button closure.
While the shirt remains the simple part of the ensemble, it gives a highlighting feature, which is the left side pocket, achieved by using the same fabric used at the bottom of the set.
The bottom part of this attire is a unique recreation of a tapered trouser. Tapered trousers are suit pants that are usually wider at the hip and narrow as they go down. Though this pair of pants doesn’t have such a feature because it most likely wants to fall in trend with loose pants that would ensure comfort to the wearer, it has other features of a tapered trouser, such as an in-seam pocket, a waistband, and a zipper. This pair of slightly loose floor-length pants consists of a waistband, belt loops, a coil zipper at the back, and two pockets in front.
Although the dress can fit into all settings, we would say this set leans more towards being formal attire than any other setting, and with it being a two-piece, it gives you all the options to experiment. In other words, don’t snooze on your stylings.
Generally, this piece is very simple and smart, but some adjustments can be made to the collar placement. It seems to cling to the neck, which may not allow for comfort. A reduction would easily rectify that issue. Aside from that, looking back, the designer might want to revisit the length and positioning of the back zipper. Adjustment can be done to stop the zipper at the waistline rather than below the hip.
The closing statement of the collection is quite intriguing because of the numerous designs it holds all at once. For starters, it has an unusual aura to it. Utilising an ash satin-back crepe fabric, the blouse starts with a crew neckline, the dress gives way for an elaborate bracelet puffed sleeve that ends at the elbow with an elastic hold.
Rather than a back zipper, the designer infused a front zipper into the outfit, giving it a distinctive appearance. It doesn’t end there. Like the first of the collection, this dress also has a peplum feature. However, here, the peplum is oddly shaped, double layered, and lacking the usual volume it should have.
The skirt is a midi-length wonder with multiple attributes, just like the blouse. As described, the skirt is designed to stop somewhere between the knees and the ankle. It is equally given a slightly elaborate A-line flare cut at the waist area, which allows the skirt to maintain a simple but classy appearance. With it being a high-waist skirt, it starts at the mid-waist area with a slim waistband.
The most notable thing about this skirt’s design is the mixture of fabrics used at the front. Aside from the main material — a black crepe fabric — two other textile was used to create the ripple design found at the front — a Lurex fabric and an ash satin-crepe fabric. To successfully achieve the look, the designer cut out curved waves on the Lurex material, then sewed the ash satin-back on it before attaching it to the body of the skirt, successfully adding the finishing touch to the set.
Due to the detachable feature of this set, you are at liberty to style it in whatever way you like. A few instances are: swapping the top for a short-sleeved white shirt and a leather belt or replacing the skirt with a jean trousers or lightweight, wide-legged pants.
This last dress is impressive because of the numerous designs we found on it that naturally wouldn’t be seen anywhere else, but here is our overall opinion on the set — the same multiple features make the set look overwhelming.
The designer would have to tone down on a lot of things, starting with the sleeve. For one, it is too elaborate and makes the dress look bigger than it is. This could be remedied with a reduction of the sleeve width. Secondly, the dress can do without the double-layered peplum in the garment.
While it would have been a lovely addition if the skirt were a pencil skirt, the peplum only made the set look baggier. Lastly, we believe that the length can be shortened to the knee length for a classier look and to give the upper bodice room to shine.
In its entirety, this collection is commendable. From the first piece down to the last, Tolulope showed artistic mastery and skilfulness.
The colour scheme, the set of designs and features, and even down to the stitch, deserves a thumbs up because we know a good job when we see one.
With just a little more effort and changes to the collection, the dresses would become more than sensational. SedCaz designs not only capture the real essence of confidence and distinction in fashion but also its depth. Kudos to you, Tolulope, and your team at SedCaz.
