YemiKosibah – Kosibah

Articles Tagged with: YemiKosibah

January 5, 2023

TRUST THE PROCESS – KOSIBAH MOTHER OF THE BRIDE CYNTHIA.

The creation of Mother-of-the-Bride Cynthia’s custom gown from sketch to dancing into her daughter’s wedding Reception Hall.

Cynthia wore a 3-piece ensemble to her daughter’s wedding. A pale gold organza chemise with 3/4 length sleeves, a strapless corset in pale gold duchesse satin overplayed with blue and gold guipure lace and a floor length trumpet silhuette skirt in blue duchesse satin with a modified A-line overskirt in pale gold organza. All pieces were embellished with hand-cut appliques harvested from a single piece of lace.

The look was completed with a Gele (head wrap) as a nod to her Yoruba heritage.

Wedding location – London, England.

Please play the video to view the process.

Sketch of Mother of the Bride Cynthia’s gown

What are your thoughts or questions about the process involved in the creation of this gown? Please leave your comments below.

October 6, 2022

YEMI OSUNKOYA INTERVIEW ON THE LUXURY BUSINESS PODCAST.

I was privileged to be one of the few businesses in the luxury space , Founder of Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium, maker of luxury wedding cakes, world renowned sugarcraft teacher, author and luxury expert Elizabeth Solaru chose to feature in her Luxury Business Podcast. Find below her introduction to the podcast episode and the episode itself.

INTERVIEW WITH YEMI OSUNKOYA OF KOSIBAH

I first met Yemi years ago at a luxury wedding show. I had heard of him prior to our meeting as he was the only black couturier in the UK wedding industry at the time. Although the show did not go as well as planned, I was struck by his professionalism, calm demeanour and his grace under fire.

After a few years, we became friends and did many projects together. A consummate professional, he is kind and a great listener. He has a passion for creating beautiful silhouettes and his many brides are very grateful for his ability to make them look and feel amazing.

This podcast revealed a few things about him that I did not know and I’m sure you will enjoy listening to it.

Please listen to the podcast by clicking on the link below.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/luxury-business-podcast/id1607790782?i=1000562684594

I would love to hear from you if you have any comments about this episode.

August 23, 2014

Kosibah Real Bride Asia- A couture Nikai bridal gown.

Today I am sharing with you the process of creating Kosibah Real Bride Asia’s couture gown for her Nikai ceremony held in Tanzania.

It involved hand cutting appliqués off the French Lace fabric and reassembling them on silk tulle, by hand, thereby creating a bespoke fabric for the center back panel of the fishtail skirt.

Asia teamed her gown with a head-wrap in the same silk satin as the gown underlay and wore an embellished veil for the ceremony.

This gown would also be perfect for a Reception dress after a white

Please let me know what you think.

June 11, 2014

Kosibah Real Bride Charlotte

It is always a great show of confidence in one’s work when as a designer you get to create bridal gowns for more than one member of the same family. It was such a case in today’s Kosibah Real Bride Charlotte as I also got to create her sister’s bridal gown a couple of years later.

Charlotte wanted a fitted fishtail gown with some texture in the fabric. I created a gown featuring an asymmetrical empire-line bodice hand-draped in silk duchesse satin with a Swarovski embellished knot leading to 2 detachable shoulder straps. The corseted lower bodice and fishtail skirt was in textured silk tulle with Swarovski diamante crystals added on in the Kosibah Studio.

I also made the dresses worn by the 2 Bridesmaids (one of whom I later made a wedding gown for), the Mother of the Bride and the Grandmother of the Bride. As I usually do when I can, I arrived in the morning to dress the whole bridal party.

Charlotte, the daughter of Lord Boateng, a peer of the realm, had the privilege of getting married in the beautiful St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey with her reception taking place across Parliament Square at One Great George Street , a magnificent Grade II listed, four-domed, Edwardian building .

Charlotte removed her silk tulle cathedral veil after the wedding service and just before cutting the cake with her new husband, removed the detachable shoulder straps which created a more informal look to her dress.

Enjoy the images, especially the interiors of both St Margaret’s Church and One Great George Street.

May 27, 2014

Kosibah gown features in OK! Magazine.

The red zibeline and organza couture gown created for our client Sunny Nersian for the party to celebrate her engagement to her fiancé Danny Andre was featured recently in OK! Magazine.

The gown that featured over 1440 hand affixed Swarovski diamanté crystal had a form fitting bodice and textured fishtail skirt.

Here are some images of the dress being created in the Kosibah studio and tear sheets from the magazine.

March 20, 2014

Kosibah catwalk show at the V&A Museum, London. 2006

I’ve been reviewing all the videos I’ve posted in the YemiKosibah YouTube channel and I was quite surprised by how many there were, and I’ve decided to begin posting them here on my blog.

This video was shot in October 2008 at a fashion show called Kulture2Couture, held at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Raphael Room, and organised by the Mayor’s Office as part of Black History month, K2C as it was fondly known went on for 3 years until it was discontinued when Boris Johnson became the new mayor of London.

I showed a combination of bridal, evening and formal day wear and though the footage is from 2008, the dresses don’t look too dated (I hope!!).

The video also has some testimonial messages at the end.

Please let me know what you think.

March 15, 2014

Kosibah Real Bride Anu.

I share with you today’s Kosibah real bride Anu’s wedding with very fond memories. Her wedding was one of those rare ones that allowed me to fully display exactly what Kosibah can do for a wedding party. I dressed Anu and her 6 bridesmaids not only for the wedding, but also for the evening party afterwards where they changed into Afro-Centric eveningwear.

The wedding was held at the magnificent St Marylebone Parish Church , Marylebone Road near Regent’s Park where the couple were able to take some wonderful photographs after the service, and the Reception took place at the London Hilton on Park Lane .

Anu wore a fitted empire-line fishtail gown, with an integral corset laced up underneath the zipper featuring decorative covered buttons. The bodice was ruched in ivory organza and the skirt was in ivory silk duchesse satin with a champagne tulle beaded Lace overlay. The removable cap-sleeved chemise top was in the Lace left sheer.A cathedral tulle veil edged in the same lace completed the ensemble.

As Anu wanted to celebrate her future husbands Ghanaian heritage, I suggested we used a fabric called Kente-Oke as well as duchesse satin for the bridesmaids dresses. Anu’s husband’s tuxedo jacket was made with Kente-Oke as well.

For the evening party, Anu changed into a fitted sheath gown in salmon Silk charmeuse and beaded lace and her bridesmaids in knee-length fitted dresses in Woodin fabric.

A short video clip of the wedding beautifully captured by Joseph Young can be viewed here

Please leave a comment after viewing the photos below. I’d love to know what you think.

March 5, 2014

Kosibah Real Bride Bukky.

Today’s Kosibah Real Bride is Bukky.

Bukky had searched quite extensively for her bridal gown but couldn’t find anything that met all her requirements of fit her perfectly without requiring adjustments. Having a bespoke bridal gown made was the obvious choice and fortunately, she chose Kosibah.

I came up with a design that suited her figure and her height. She wore a 2 piece ensemble comprising of a corseted amended A-Line gown in ivory silk zibeline. The bodice of the gown featured bespoke embroidery and asymmetrical ruching that accentuated the cinched in waist.

A cap sleeved chemise top in silk organza featuring a line of tiny Swarovski diamante crystals along the neckline and edges of the sleeves was worn beneath the gown to meet the requirements of Bukky’s church for her shoulders to be covered during the wedding ceremony, and removed before Bukky made her entrance into the Reception venue for a less formal look .

The cathedral tulle veil also featured matching bespoke embroidery along the edges and was designed to be worn both as a conventional veil that covered the face, and as a mantilla style veil.

The wedding took place in Lagos and the photographs are by international wedding photographer Atunbi.

January 24, 2014

Kosibah Inspiration Board IV

Today’s Inspiration Board features Kosibah gown ‘Alexandria’. The corseted fit and flare gown in antique white silk organza over duchesse satin, with Swarovski diamanté crystal embellished lace appliqués on the empire bodice, the asymmetrical shoulder straps and down the seams along with scallop lace edging around the skirt hem.

The lace theme can be carried on with the wedding cake and shoes, and the crystals with the jewelled heirloom bouquet.

Would you carry themes from your dress unto other elements of your wedding?

Dress Image by Damien Lovegrove

January 16, 2014

Throw Back Thursday – KOSIBAH on BET

Kosibah was honoured by BET (Black Entertainment Television) with a short but concise video clip of images of Kosibah gowns and a voice-over by myself. Sincere gratitude to Lilian Blankson.

The short video clip was

shown at intervals on BET sky channel 191 at intervals during various programs.

January 9, 2014

Kosibah Inspiration Board III

Today’s inspiration board features the Tea Length kosibah couture gown ‘Giselle’. With echoes of classical ballet costumes, the champagne tulle and silk zibeline strapless gown features a removable tulle chemise top. Dress image by Damien Lovegrove

January 4, 2014

Happy Anniversary to Fola and Akin Esho.

Here are images from the wedding of the CEO of Wed Magazine and Wed Expo Akin Esho and Kosibah client Fola which took place exactly one year ago today in Lagos, Nigeria.

As is the case with most of my bridal clients, I was there to dress Fola and attend the wedding.

Happy Anniversary Fola and Akin, I wish you many more years of marital bliss.

Hair and Make Up was by BMPRO MAKEUP and the cake was by Cakes By Tosan

January 3, 2014

Kosibah Inspiration Board II

This inspiration board features the kosibah couture gown ‘Odette’. With its ballet-inspired concept, volume of textured organza of the skirt and asymmetrical ruching of the corseted bodice, the cake, flowers and shoes featured here are a perfect match to carry the theme through.

The gown can either be worn with a sheer organza chemise top worn underneath or a sleeveless bolero jacket in the same textured organza fabric of the skirt ( not shown here).

What do you think?

January 1, 2014

Kosibah Inspiration Board I

Happy New Year to you. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog. When I initially set up this blog , my aim was for it to be a platform for me to share inspirational images, tips and ideas aimed brides-to -be in particular and people interested in fashion in general. I will also be posting images from Kosibah Real Bride weddings.

I didn’t have the knowledge and tools to totally achieve that until quite recently, so now I hope to be more regular with my posts and hope you come back for updates.

The first Kosibah Inspiration Board features kosibah couture gown ‘Naomi’.

January 30, 2013

Short video that sums up the Kosibah brand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghVavcHCDzo&feature=relmfu

Here is a 5 minute video made to commemorate my being awarded the Fashion Finests Special Recognition Award 2012. It sums up the last 21 years of the Kosibah brand.