A Google search of Oumou Sy, like so many other trailblazing African designers, results in a few pages that barely indicate the extent of the Senegalese designer’s profound and illustrious career and influence. Sy, who is part of a pioneering class of designers, is revered for pushing boundaries and has, as a result, inspired today's contemporary fashion. After overcoming the passing of her father and refusing an arranged marriage at the ages of five and nine respectively, the womenswear designer then embarked on her life-changing fashion journey in 1965 at the tender age of 13. With the opening of her very first workshop, Bagatelle Couture, Sy’s ultimate dream was to be “independent and self-sufficient”. 

Over the decades, the fashion designer, stylist, and entrepreneur worked across multiple mediums that firmly positioned her as a cultural innovator. Some of these included the theatre, cinema, fashion education, and becoming an organiser of some of Senegal’s biggest cultural events. Her collections were showcased across the globe, from Europe to the United States and more.

Instinctively ahead of her time, in 1996 Sy and her then husband, Michel Mavros, founded Metissacana, which translates to “mixed blood” or “the mixing of races and culture” — the first internet café and cultural centre in West Africa. The name symbolised bridging the gap between African culture and European technology. Through Metissacana, Sy intended to provide Senegalese citizens with public access to the internet after “realising its potential to organise events”. A year later she established SIMOD, Senegal's first fashion week event, and Carnaval de Dakar, an annual parade of traditional costumed dancers, folklore and musicians. Her passion to develop the local fashion and creative industries led to the launches of Leydi, a costume and design school, and Macsy, a model agency.

Sy’s journey is one of sheer extraordinary African talent, tenacity, and genius craftsmanship. We trace her journey from Podor as a small-town girl to one of West Africa’s most respected designers. 

Imane Ayissi is the Cameroonian Designer Redefining Couture with African Textiles

Childhood 

Sy was born in Podor, Senegal, on the 1st, January, 1952. Inspired by her late father, Sy displayed a strong will to defy societal norms. She refused to learn how to read and write in French at an early age; as a result of French dominance from 1677, the French language became and continues to be Senegal’s official language. Without any formal education and an unconventional upbringing, Sy opened a dressmaking workshop at just 13 years old, Bagatelle Boutique, in Saint Louis — the island city her family moved to following her father’s passing. Bagatelle operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week with seamstresses rotating eight-hour shifts. Sy believed her clients deserved prompt service.

Fashion Career  

In Sy’s world, ideas have no restrictions. Her avant-garde creations merge her different creative worlds with unusual ornaments, contrasting materials and often exaggerated proportions. She’s been known to feature quirky embellishments and accessories on her ensembles such as gourds, discs and tiny perfume bottles. Sy’s eccentric spirit inspires openness and a fearless attitude, “Inspiration is everywhere; it is in the air, and everybody can breathe creativity,” she revealed in an interview, speaking about her choice of materials and inspirations. 

In her 2007 Germany runway show, Sy showcased baskets with the woven material used in basketry constructed onto dresses as capes or exaggerated panels, and in some cases even worn as flamboyant summer hats. Perhaps what makes Sy’s work unique is her ability to effortlessly fuse contrasting materials and ideas, for instance adorning an evening dress with calabashes. Her approach is to recycle the old and use everyday materials familiar to African culture in new and thought-provoking ways. 

Sy’s love for proportion and structured silhouettes can be seen in her regal ready-to-wear collections that are constructed to appeal to West Africa’s elite. Her couture designs that boast dramatic shapes take centre stage using unassuming materials like herbs and bark together with naturally dyed fabrics. These are transformed into feminine and exhibition-worthy designs. 

Inside the Artisanal World of French-Sudanese Fashion Designer Abdel El Tayeb

Film work 

The 1990s were a turning point for Sy. The designer began working in the wardrobe and costume department for films, starting with the La Nuit Africaine 1990 production by Brahim Babai. Since then, she has collaborated with multiple film directors in over a dozen local and international films as a costume designer and wardrobe stylist. Some of these include Djibril Diop Mambéty’s award-winning Hyenas, and most recently Laurence Attali’s Tabaski.