OLOOH

Founded in 2018 by Ivorian photographer and musician Kader Diaby, Olooh is the sartorial and lifestyle menswear brand out of Côte d'Ivoire characterized by its youthful spirit, minimalist silhouettes, and immaculate tailoring. Known for his vibrant visual and poetic imagery, Diaby’s creative expression extends to his ready-to-wear brand which aims to promote Ivorian tradition and modernity, using organic fabrics such as linen, cotton, wood, and leather.

Trained as a photographer and auditor, Diaby started designing his own pieces for photoshoots in 2017 using the sewing techniques he had picked up from his seamstress mother. After a piece he designed and produced for a store called La Petite Boutique sold out in just one week, he began work on a full-blown collection, steadily developing an aesthetic that subtly subverts masculinity and plays with pattern and color in unexpected ways.

Meaning "ours" in the Senufo language, Olooh is deeply inspired and influenced by Diaby’s Ivorian culture and the vibrant energy of his hometown of Abidjan. With each collection, the brand seeks to explore identity through innovative, well-constructed, and timeless menswear pieces, Diaby using design to interpret his country’s untold stories and express his personal experiences, observations, and fascination for Abidjan culture.

“Olooh tells my own story,” Diaby told Nataal. “That of a lover of his city, which he explores tirelessly while seeking to respond to the universal issues of our time: better products, better education, better values, better exchanges, better communication, better representation. It is around his questions that the Olooh community is formed. These struggles are ours.”