Into Midé's Mind
- bolaji akinwande
- Sep 1
- 5 min read
My advice to anyone starting up would be not to put pressure on yourself...
What makes a great Couture piece? To get an answer to that question, one has to first and foremost understand the meaning of Couture. The full word itself is “Haute Couture”, a French term for high sewing or high dressmaking, which refers to the creation of exclusive, custom-fitted, high-end fashion design. Couture pieces are luxurious, handmade creations of women’s fashion, and in Europe, specifically in France, they are legally protected. For a designer to use the term “Haute Couture” for their creation, it must meet a strictly defined set of criteria.
Within the Nigerian context, “couture” has grown trendy, with a growing market; here, the interpretation of what makes a great couture piece is infinite. Unlike in France, where a designer must meet a strictly defined set of criteria to be considered a couturier, in Nigeria, there is an absence of such structure. Within the growing market, names like Midé founded by Ayomidé Oludipe, usher in fresh takes on couture pieces in Nigeria.
Midé is a womenswear brand that offers couture and ready-to-wear pieces. The brand is heavily inspired by femininity, fantasy, and fairy tales, and recently, a greater self-awareness of the founder’s cultural heritage.
Ayomidé grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. You’d expect her to have experienced the stereotypical hyperactive Lagos energy, but her growing up was more paced while still woven with the city's culture. It’s what inspired her first ready-to-wear collection titled “Sisi Eko” which was released in October 2024. Before her brand came into the picture years ago, the designer’s foray into fashion began at the Istituto di moda Burgo, a franchised private fashion school in Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria. Here, she learnt how to create designs, patterns, and dresses. Which, in turn, contributed largely to the formation of Midé, while the Istituto di moda Burgo taught her about the basics of fashion, she had to weave in the little cultural experience she gained while growing up in Lagos to create the brand’s evolving African identity. In her designs, you will spot manipulated raffia in molded signatures and hand-woven fabrics like aṣọ òkè.
After graduating from fashion school, Ayomidé began designing for herself, and she would always get compliments about her designs. However, something was lacking; the designer didn’t know how to transition into the business side of fashion.
“I started taking online courses… watching tons of videos on the internet to understand the business side of fashion”, she tells Clearly Invincible.
Ayomidé would then meet someone along the way, a creative director who has helped her tremendously in helping to expand the brand.
Solo designers and founders are often left to manage every aspect of running a brand, especially in Africa, where certain fashion structures like highly functional fashion schools and institutional support are still missing. This can feel very lonely and creatively draining, but Ayomidé has been able to navigate and manage this aspect with the help of someone who can supplement her knowledge.
“Having someone else help you run a brand is a big game changer. You have someone you can talk to, because there are so many different parts of running a brand. You have the clients, the back-end, which consists of the workers, the administrative parts, and making sure things are running smoothly. Having another person help you is like the best part because you just don’t feel as alone as before”, Ayomidé explains.
Midé’s designs exude femininity; her couture pieces incorporate intricate beading, bridal-inspired looks, fabric manipulation, and a more intentional take on the corset, which feels lively, refined, and tasteful. Her latest ready-to-wear collection, titled “Miss Midé,” released back in May, is a tribute to modern femininity, with a larger theme centered around womanhood, flower-power, and the joy of reconnecting with an inner child.
“I used to draw bows, spirals, and flowers in my notes back in primary school repetitively.
And the collection was just me trying to reconnect and bring them back. It was also part of trying to find my brand identity, so I had to revisit the past to bring out this new collection,” she tells Clearly Invincible. The “Miss Midé” collection sees the designer using aṣọ òkè to re-work bows and raffia to make spirals onto dresses.
I have to come [out] organically, and it has to be meaningful to me and to the brand itself as a whole.
As a designer in today’s fast-paced and competitive fashion industry, there’s a lot of self-imposed pressure to follow the Western fashion calendar/seasons when it comes to releasing seasonal collections, but Ayomidé is learning to find her rhythm. Yes, she admits that the pressure is intense and there’s no way to avoid it, but “I have to come [out] organically, and it has to be meaningful to me and to the brand itself as a whole. My advice to anyone starting up would be not to put pressure on yourself; you can’t compete with multi-million-dollar brands, it’s impossible. So just do you and go with your pace”.
We like to ask our features what they think about the developing landscape of the African fashion industry. Midé says she’s “...very impressed with the shift happening now with the [African] fashion industry compared to 2017 when I was still studying at the Instituto di moda Burgo, people are doing really good work, and it’s now a competitive market. If you want to have your voice heard, you must show your identity, which is very good because then you have no space to relax, you have to always keep pushing, and be always ready to reinvent yourself to be better. It’s one of the practices that have helped me stay consistent as a designer.”
During the genesis of the brand, Ayomidé admitted to making several mistakes, and reflecting now, she wishes she had been able to correct them. The young designer wishes she had access to all the right information, but the biggest takeaway is being able to learn and immerse herself in the learning process. Midé itself has been all about her creative and feminine expression, learning her African culture, and infusing both into the brand's identity.
You can now shop this collection at RJ4, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria.
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