Creative Nigerian photographer Lakin
Ogunbanwo features Renowned Nigerian Model, Wale Bello in his new
creative shoot which has been featured on Vogue.com.
The shoot has to do with different cultural hats in Nigeria that me wear. This new photo series is
currently displayed at Nataal’s New African Photography exhibit in Red
Hook, Brooklyn.
There’s historical symbolism, or what Ogunbanwo
calls a “silent hierarchy,” tucked inside each and every hat: The towering red
cap of the Igbo tribe, for example, is the reserve of men at the upper echelons
of chiefdom—the taller the crown, the higher the wearer’s social standing.
Impressive in both shape and size, the conical abeti aja takes its curious yet
playful title from the Yoruba phrase for “dog ears,” and is often worn on
special occasions with an agbada, a grandiose cape that is equally audacious in
its proportions. – Vogue.
According to Lakin, “It’s only until you
leave West Africa that you realize that people elsewhere aren’t dressing their
head with the same importance that we do here. For Nigerian men, a hat adds a
sense of confidence, it’s like a personal crown.”
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