My name is Oluwatobi Oyebade (Mrs.), Founder and Creative Director at Couture by ISÉMINI (the award-winning, Go-to Afrocentric Millinery Brand in Africa). A T-shaped Lawyer by Profession and Milliner by Passion; certified by the London College of Fashion as a Fashion Accessories Designer in 2020. Tobi started handcrafting (fabric bows and roses) at age 8 in a bid to beautify herself and look different from her 3 gorgeous sisters. It worked! As she started getting compliments from admirers and soon requests for her hairpieces and gele styling service started coming.
In 2018, she decided to start a career from her crafting passion after resigning from the Bank after hosting a series of monthly paid gele training classes and free online classes. At the time of commencing my beginner’s class in Millinery, I did not know there was such a word as “Millinery or Milliner”. I was more fascinated by the idea of designing and creating a masterpiece that is capable of transforming the wearer’s looks and boosting their confidence and Spirit.
Finding that there was indeed a global hat industry and renowned Milliners all over the world was a moral boost for me to turn my passion into profit. This was one of the reasons I wrote the first Millinery Book in Africa titled – Starting a Profitable Millinery Business (foreword by globally renowned Milliner Mrs. Grace Chito Mark) currently being read on 3 Continents and sold on Amazon Kindle (buy here).
It’s my desire that the Couture by ISÉMINI Brand impacts not just the life of her owners but the society at large as we aim to always employ eco-friendly and best practices in our production, employ the best hands, and reward our staff and customers appropriately. We take pride in making only Exquisite and Authentic Afrocentric (and Western) Headpieces and fashion accessories and It has been fulfilling reading feedback from several #iseminiqueens (around 4continents and counting) on how easy and fun going out and looking great has been for them. They literally get all the admiration, their confidence improved and productivity multiplied because they wear ISÉMINI so join the #IseminiQueen (and king) league, wear ISÉMINI, and get all the admiration you truly deserve).