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Creative photographer Lakin Ogunbanwo hats project was featured on Vogue.com. And according to Vogue.com, this new photo series is currently displayed at Nataal’s New African Photography exhibit in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The project featured men fashion in nigeria like never before and Lakin did it with a boost of melanin!
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.
Lakin told Vogue, “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.”
See the Photos
Source: Vogue.com