After Naomi Campbell opened her debut runway show, Torishéju became the talk of Paris Fashion Week. Now she's figuring out how to harness the power of buzz.
Two days before her show in Paris last October, the British-Nigerian-Brazilian designer Torishéju Dumi was sitting in a model casting studio when her mentor, the fashion editor and consultant Gabriella Karefa-Johnson, quietly pulled her out of the room. Karefa-Johnson had news: Naomi Campbell had confirmed that she would open the show for Dumi’s brand, Torishéju; Paloma Elsesser would close it.
Dumi was born in Harlesden, a diverse neighborhood in northwest London, and grew up outside of the capital in Hertfordshire and Milton Keynes with her mother, brother, and sister. Her father died when she was 14, and an artistic career felt risky. “Everybody else in my family are doctors and lawyers. So when you say fashion, it’s kind of like, what are you doing?” But Dumi loved working with her hands, crafting and creating garments. Her mother was the one who nudged her to go into the industry.
Many of the looks from “Fire on the Mountain” have apronlike silhouettes with deep pockets and ties at the back. Nigerianclothing influenced the loose, unfussy draping, and there are winks at classic British tailoring in undone wool blazers and overcoats. The phrase “fire on the mountain” is part of a folk song that Dumi’s mother used to sing when Dumi and her siblings were young, meaning that everybody should hurry up and get going.