3 minute read
Velma Owusu-Bempah
Images courtesy of Velma Owusu Bempah and LaceupMedia
A HEAD START IN FASHION
The head-turning handmade hats, fascinators, headpieces, crowns and clutches of Ghanaian brand Velma’s Millinery & Accessories provide a unique finishing touch to an outfit when you are dressing to impress.
The brand’s founder and creative director, Velma Owusu-Bempah, has raised the profile of the country’s fashion accessory industry, with a global client list that includes Ghana’s First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo, TV host Joselyn Dumas and even the mother of US singing superstar Beyoncé. Such success combined with Velma’s millinery masterclasses for the next generation earned her the Ghana’s Most Outstanding Woman 2019 award. FLYafrica takes a closer look at the work of this caring creative.
Images courtesy of Velma Owusu Bempah and LaceupMedia
A family affair
Family is a big part of Velma’s story. Perhaps “storey” is a more apt word because the family business has grown to accommodate the generations over three floors of its flagship premises on the corner of Oxford Street amid the commercial bustle of Accra’s Osu neighbourhood. On the ground floor Velma’s mother, Sarah Crossland, runs Sarah’s Designs, the textile business where her daughter got her starting job after completing her degree in marketing at University of Ghana. Now the latest Velma’s Millinery & Accessories collections are displayed for sale in the ‘family concept store’ on the first floor alongside ladies’ clothing line Ophelia Crossland Designs – founded by Velma’s sister – men’s clothing line Nineteen 57 – the brainchild of Velma’s brother-in-law, Kofi Okyere Darko – and family-run children’s clothing line Ohemaa Kids’ Club. The second floor is taken over by Velma’s Millinery Academy.
Such proximity allows for the easy cross-fertilisation of ideas. Recent family collaborations including the sisters teaming up with Swarovski for a show in Dubai in which Velma created a headpiece with crystals cut by the luxury jewellery company to accessorise one of Ophelia’s designs.
Getting started
Surrounded by beautiful fabrics while working in her mother’s textile business inspired Velma to get creative. “I started making little purses and crafts for family and close friends with pieces of the fabric,” she says. “Customers that came by the shop loved what I was creating and started making orders. They also began to ask if I could add millinery to what I was doing.”
Encouraged by the customers and her mother to follow her passion, Velma furthered her studies at the prestigious London-based arts university Central Saint Martins where she specialised in millinery and bag design. Brimming with ideas she returned to Ghana in 2004 to set up Velma’s Millinery & Accessories. Early work focused on complementary hairpieces for Ophelia Crossland Designs, but Velma continued to hone her craft – training with established milliners such as Ian Bennett and Chloe Scrivener, from the UK, and Australian Carol Maher – and went on to build a global business.
Images courtesy of Velma Owusu Bempah and LaceupMedia
Inspirations
Velma’s creations are daring, intricate works of art that bring the bling without ever looking gaudy. Each piece is unique and guaranteed to stand out from the crowd, but there are recurring themes. “I get inspiration from natural things like plants, flowers, pure leather and butterflies,” Velma says. She also uses a lot of natural materials, many of them sourced in Ghana, but also from England, Australia, China and the United States. “I use a huge variety of materials,” she says. “But I do like to work with feathers, banana straw (sinamay) fish leather, plastic, fabric dyes, rhinestones and pearls.”
Spring Summer Collection
Nature has had a big influence on Velma’s latest collection, which was devised and created during lockdown as Ghana protected itself from Covid-19. Stuck at home, Velma looked to the spices, vegetables, fruits and plants in her kitchen and garden to be her muse. She handcrafted each piece at home from what she calls a “home-made recipe”, dyeing the fascinators, bandeau, hatinators and percher hats with natural colours and decorating them with quills, sinamay, straw, plastic, feathers, sequins and beads. The quarantined creativity even continued to the photoshoot. Velma took the pictures while daughter Alethea modelled each of the 14 pieces – her involvement dependent on three days straight of her mother’s much-loved roast chicken salad being the family evening meal. To see the collection, visit velmaaccessories.com
Other lockdown adaptations include the selling of a range of fabric face masks and the millinery academy has gone online until, as Vera puts it, “things calm down”.
Images courtesy of Velma Owusu Bempah and LaceupMedia
