All Over Albany

Nigeria to Albany to the fashion world

A few of the looks from the Head of State website. There are a bunch of others at the link.

This is great: Taofeek Abijako -- an Albany High grad -- was featured this past weekend in the New York Times style magazine for his menswear line, Head of State. A clip:

Abijako was still a senior at Albany High School when he released the look book for his first collection on his Twitter feed. A few weeks later, when an email from a buyer for the Japanese luxury retailer United Arrows arrived, he assumed it was a prank perpetrated by friends. The buyer asked to visit his studio; since Abijako was working out of his childhood bedroom, he demurred, and instead they met in Manhattan. "I came to New York City with my clothes in a little bag and they looked at me like, 'This little kid?!' But once I showed my work, they decided to carry the entire collection," he says with a hint of pride. His luxe streetwear line, Head of State+, features wide-necked sweatshirts, cropped half-zips, fitted jeans and loungey basics, often in warm, rich tones. But the line also moves beyond the requisite sweatpants to offer social and political commentary.

There are a bunch of interesting bits in the profile about how he raised the money for the collection and experience with the YouthFX program.

Abijako was the subject of a short YouthFX documentary directed by by Aden Suchak, in which he talks about the experience of immigrating to the United States from Nigeria.

See also this profile of Abijako from last year by Jess Winans.