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Igbony's Naked Truth
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So what have we achieved in 2020?
We keep you dressed. This is the Naked Truth of how we do it!
There is no correct answer to this. There is no right and there is no wrong, actually it can be quite difficult to even find anything to say in response.
In other years we may have stopped briefly while hung-over on January 1st in full “I’m never drinking again” mode, to write a checklist of achievements we wished to fulfill within the coming twelve months. Masticated the ears of our friends about all the changes we were going to make to our lives, including losing weight, getting a new job, stopping smoking and going on at least 4 holidays, this year presented a brand new storyline.
In January as I sat in the recently closed
AllBright
Fitzrovia townhouse, I listened to a slightly jetlagged
Francesca Oddie discuss how the stars were going to align in 2020 and when she told us to brace ourselves for a year of big changes and unprecedented disasters my brow furrowed, eyes widened and neck recoiled in shock. Like everyone else I was ready for 2020 to be “my year” because it made sense, of course it did #2020vision. In that moment I believed her, but also confidently shrugged it off “yeah but not for me”.
A few weeks later my plans were taking shape nicely; I quit my regular job and immediately booked flights to Peru and Colombia. I was going to visit South America and relax; stroll through the cornucopia of textile markets and fabric emporiums in Cusco, meet the local Quechuan artisans, walk the Inca Trail, visit
Casa En El Agua (a sustainable eco hostel built on water, 2 hours out to sea away from everything) and most importantly, not set any alarms. It was all going so well then Covid-19 reached Europe from Asia and the boarders throughout the rest of the world closed. Some have been known to call Covid-19 Aunty Rona, but honestly, she can’t sit with us!
Facemasks
What could we do?
Now special occasions have been suspended; proms postponed, weddings are out of the window and with them, the custom gowns cancelled. What could we do?
The only thing we could do, apply the Japanese principle of Ikigai; find something to do that you love, that you're good at, that the world needs and also makes you money. Facemasks! Igbony was officially repurposed.
The first batch was donated to a charity called Up Wrap, facilitated by Amber and Marina Testino and Igbony received a shout out in Italian Vogue (still blushing about this).
In addition I joined the Hampstead Gown factory, a wonderful group of people brought together by The Fashion School and The Royal Free Charity; we volunteered to make the Personal Protective Equipment worn by staff on the Covid wards at The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead Heath and together made over 50,000 from a safe distance.
First Official Igbony Collection
The first official Igbony collection was released on August 1st it was named The “Make It Happen” Collection because after all our hard work over the year and even through a global pandemic, we were going to.
Each item was designed with a matching facemask; to be finally allowed out after the first lockdown, we had to wear masks so we may as well do it in style.
We grew on Instagram and launched
igbony.com with the help of the fantastic Cindy Ahura of
Pavilion Plus (shout out to black women in tech).
Limited Collection of Party Outfits
For our second outing we had designed a limited collection of party outfits made exclusively using deadstock fabrics from Amothreads. The idea was to really lockdown (no pun intended) on our vision of sustainability, so we would create every outfit from beautiful materials that would have be destined for the scrap heap, as big designers no longer had need for them.
The amazing team at Phoenix Model Management collaborated with us and arranged a photo shoot of the new collection. This was due to take place on November 14th but as Boris said we’re grounded again, this has been postponed…but that just means something for you all to look forward to.
There is more designing going on, there is more dreaming happening, an infinitum of plans for the future and you can’t wait to see them!
Future things to look out for
When I began writing this piece, my thought was that Igbony was stagnant, we hadn’t achieved anything and that was kind of okay, because nobody really has, because PANDEMIC. However, as I kept writing I realised that even though it definitely felt as if the world stood still, we lived through a year and even from the (dis)comfort of one room, a lot can happen.
So maybe things didn’t go according to plan and the bucket list is not any closer to being finished. We mustn’t self-flagellate or worry that we are being left behind as everyone seems to soar on social media.
It is noted in Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
I’m not suggesting you live next door to Noah or Old McDonald, simply reminding you that on December 31st this is not going to all just magically disappear, but that you are still very much entitled to pop open the bubbles and make up all the parts that nobody knows as you sing along to Auld Lang Syne, for you have survived the apocalypse that was 2020.
