In August I had the joyful opportunity to fulfil a promise I made to myself during a visit to my niece shortly after her birth….that God willing, I would create her bridal gown when she got married.
I also got to make dresses for my cousin, the mother of the bride and her older sister.
It was the first time a large group of my family would see one of my creations ‘in real life’ as opposed to photographs, videos or in magazines which made it even more special for me.
The dress, a corseted fishtail chapel train strapless gown with a cathedral length organza overlay,and veil featuring a beaded tulle lace with pearl accents, were further enhanced by 4,000+ Swarovski diamanté crystals added unto their hand cut appliqués in the Kosibah studio.
Swarovski diamanté crystals were also added to her bridal shoes in the Kosibah studio.
Her hair was styled by talented hairstylist (and as it happens, a past Kosibah Real Bride!) Bunmi Nsofor of Avos Hair.
Today I share with you images from Kosibah Real Bride Yve’s wedding. Creating Yves dress was a joy for many reasons. For one, she was getting married to my good friend Deb and I knew a lot of our mutual friends would be seeing my work ‘in real life’ for the first time. It was also an opportunity to create a fusion design that incorporated aspects of Deb’s Asian culture.
I decided to use Sari Fabric, deconstructed and put back together with silk duchesse satin. We chose a rich burgundy red and gold sari.
The wedding took place in the grounds of the magnificent Tudor mansion Leez Priory with the wedding breakfast in a hall within the mansion.
Here is a short video captured and edited on my iPhone that encapsulates the whole day.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
Her hair was styled by talented hairstylist (and as it happens, a past Kosibah Real Bride!) Bunmi Nsofor of Avos Hair. 
YemiKosibah 