Sophia Bentoh @ Amsterdam Fashion Week

Sophia Bentoh presented her collection 'Ibileye' during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Amsterdam. Not only the looks but also the prints of the fabrics were designed by this talented designer.

For her collection Ibileye she was inspired by her African roots and by the punk of the eighties.
With bold combinations of expressive ethnic drawings, geometric forms and rhythmic color use. The prints are dynamic, it's like watching a kaleidoscope.
Personal memories and cultures are apparently interwoven in Ibileye's designs. It already begins with the African name Sophia Bentoh received from her grandparents in Africa: Ibileye. It means a precious and beautiful piece of fabric.
Each creation is divided into patches with different designs, in complementary or contrasting colors. Faded figurative prints of African origin coincide with the Western pop and punk culture of the 1980s.
Her inspiration is translated in her use of fabrics, looks and styling. Typical punk symbols such as safety pins, spikes, lightning blades and Mohican haircuts are combined with the symbol of the Peace sign.

In African fabric designs, the use of symbolism is very important, different meanings for different issues. Ibileye presents prints and garments for both women and men; For self-conscious city nomads that are not afraid to combine different colors and motifs.

About Sophia Bentoh
Print- and fashion designer Sophia Bentoh was born in 1979 in Lomé, Togo (West Africa). In the Eighties she moved to the Netherlands with her African father, Dutch mother and little sister. With a father who creates art and a mother who is a doctor and sewing clothes, Bentoh is since her childhood surrounded by special arts and crafts, bright colours and fabrics with showy drawings, like the characteristic African wax prints. This was very stimulating for her own creativity and later on defines the signature of her collection Ibileye. All the drawings for the silk-screen prints are made by hand and on the computer. Her passion for this artisan process existed during her fashion design studies at Artez Arnhem (1998 – 2002).

Sophia Bentoh is since 2001 active in different fields of the fashion industry. The first years as a designer for Stijl Instituut and from 2004 as a freelance stylist for Little Thing Magazine (China), in advertising for brands like Nike and Adidas or as a styling assistant for L’Officiel NL amongst others. Her passion for silk-screen prints emerged again and in 2010 she starts to draw and develop her own prints. Some of those prints were bought and produced on fabric by different clients, used in fashion and interior, and internationally sold. Bentoh also creates her own exclusive series printed on fabric, shirts and bags. She sold those special pieces in shops such as Jutka & Riska Amsterdam or at design markets. On those markets the response was so positive that she got encouraged to bring it to a new level; a complete clothing collection that combines her different prints. In 2014 she founded ‘Ibileye’.

For more photos of the show visit Patricia Reports!