HOW MI'DE COUTURE became my passion and job.

My name is Chioma Olamide Udom and I am the brain and talent behind MIDE COUTURE. I started sketching when I was nine, my aunty would be watching NTA news and see Eugenia Abu wearing a lovely Ankara design and say to me “look at that style closely, I want u to draw it for me”. I would look closely and sketch the design afterwards. My aunty would then give the sketch to her tailor the next day and eventually she would have the style her favourite newscaster wore, thanks to me.

I continued sketching but I never had a flair for fashion. When it came to talents, i always felt writing was my thing. I got hooked to sketching designs in my 2^nd year in university. Anytime the lecturer was boring, I would start drawing designs in my notebook and friends would look at it and compliment “awww, it’s beautiful’’ or  “I want something like that”. I would just smile. I started sketching for people but I dashed them the designs. Sometime in 2010, I attended an AIESEC conference and got motivated by a member who saw me sketching during one of the learning sessions. To all those who do not know, AIESEC is an international organization that helps young people develop their leadership skills and potentials. The member looked at it and told me that “she liked my designs and believes that someday my clothing line would be a household name in the fashion industry”, i was really inspired by what she said, that day, I made up my mind to leave my comfort zone and to stop playing with the talent GOD gave me. There is a reason why he blessed my hands with this talent. I told my parents about the talent and my plans to turn it into an enterprise. My parents gave me their blessings to pursue my new found love. I started producing my designs in 2010 and charging a fee for it. It turned me into an entrepreneur and my interest in the fashion business started growing. It was now more than just the talent of creating styles.

My clothing line is called MIDE COUTURE and I create chic urban African designs as well as western styles. It depends on what the client wants. My fashion styles are casual, chic, vintage, urban and trendy. I specialize in female clothing, in the future; I plan to make my clothing line unisex because all my male friends tease me and say “she is a female chauvinist”. My source of inspiration is GOD. My favourite designers are Lisa folawiyo, LDS, SAG, BABE FOR LIFE PATCHED ANKARA,  Mary Ebubedike of WEST &COUTURE. Fashion allows individuals to express themselves and that is why I love it.