Today we’d like to introduce you to Nneoma Kanu.
Hi Nneoma, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
As a young girl, I’ve always loved clothing and accessories and just making stuff out of nothing. I was obsessed with Vogue and Ugly Betty and would spend hours playing Stardoll and Roiworld dress-up games. If I couldn’t buy it, I was going to find a way to make it and I found fun in the chaos of trying to create. That stemmed into a love for DIYs and thrifting as I got older. Fashion was something that always brought me a lot of joy and peace and I found it to be so much fun. That being said, being the oldest child in a Nigerian household, I had to think realistically and around high school, I kind of put the idea of taking fashion seriously to the side. My first year of college was when I realized that firstly, nobody has one true identity or a box to be placed in. People are multifaceted. Secondly, if something brings you true joy, you’ll always find your way back to it, which is what happened and how a NEK came to be!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It really has not been a smooth road lol but I thank God and my family and friends for making the ups and downs easy to process. Firstly, I had a lot of self-doubt in the beginning. Something I was so confident in when I was younger became something I was so shy in expressing. Even calling myself a designer gave me the heebie-jeebies in which I had to learn, as long as I love it and I’m confident in it, that’s all that really matters.
Another struggle was finding my ”team” in order to create this brand. During this process was when I realized what people mean when they say that fashion tends to be a very exclusive space. I didn’t know where to start, where to go, and who to talk to. Thankfully my friends that have their own brands and that work within creative industries gave me so much insight and help.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a designer but that extends into a lot of different things. Within my brand NEK, I create limited collections that have a specific theme and pieces curated for that theme that people can purchase. Outside of NEK, I do a lot of thrift flips (which is basically reworking secondhand clothing to have a more modern look), making custom pieces, and styling and making pieces for photoshoots. Additionally, I use my Instagram and TikTok to post thrift flips, styling videos, and a little bit of interior design DIYs.
I think what sets me apart from others is simply that I am me. A very simple answer but I think everyone has something to bring to the table that only they can bring. We can all look at the same piece of clothing and style it completely differently and I find that so interesting. Same thing with thrifting: someone else’s trash becomes someone else’s treasure.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love LA’s proximity to the creation of clothing. The Fashion District became my second home when I moved out here and sometimes, I would simply just go for inspiration and to get ideas of what I wanted to make.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nekthebrand.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/nekthebrand?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- Other: https://instagram.com/ohmynome?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Image Credits
@mason___foster
@wellknownstudios
