Skip to Content
StyleMowalolaJun 10, 2025

Mowalola Shuts Down Martine Rose Comparisons: 'Need More Black Women in Fashion'

Responding to an X post that called her a better designer than Martine Rose, Mowalola says there’s room for everybody. 

By Precious Fondren
Photo by Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images

Mowalola is in a lane of her own, according to herself. 

The edgy Nigerian fashion designer, born Mowalola Ogunlesi, is stopping the comparisons to other Black women designers in their tracks. 

Responding to an X post that effectively said she was a better designer than Martine Rose, Mowalola said there’s room for everybody. 

“Nah we not gonna do this,” she wrote. “Need more black women in fashion. She could never be my competition. I love everything she does.”

She then further separated herself from other designers. 

“Gurl nobody is my competition, not even Demna,” she wrote in another post. “I am Only worried about Myself.”

As she should be. The fashion industry is notoriously difficult for anyone to break into, so why would she worry about what others are doing when she herself has been making waves for years? Only 7.5 percent of designers are Black, according to Zippia. 

Even if you haven’t spent money on a Mowalola piece, you’ve seen her clothes. She’s been worn by the likes of Megan Thee Stallion, Paloma Elsesser, and Solange.

Rose’s designs have been seen on Hailey Bieber, Timothee Chalamet, and, most famously, Kendrick Lamar.

In an interview with Complex, Mowalola addressed the absence of Black women at the top of fashion houses.

“In terms of Black women being creative directors, I feel like those questions should be asked to like the people that actually have the power to do those things,” she said. “People always talk to me about it, but I’m like, ‘What’s that going to do?’” 

The Latest
Tagged

Related Stories