Never once enthusiastic about designing, third-year Texila American University student Bukola Esther Teniola found herself in a situation where she was forced to make her own outfit or spend Christmas wearing an old one. She took the task on of making one and has since found herself creating more, from simple to exquisite. luwabukola Esther Teniola is her full name given to her by her Nigerian parents back in her hometown Lagos. Oluwabukola means ‘God added to wealth’. Teniola is a name that speaks of wealth also and the name Esther is royalty, the name of a famous queen mentioned in the bible. Esther certainly has been living up to her name with her wealth of talent.
Esther’s dabbling in designing began a few years ago during the Christmas season when she took her selected piece of cloth to her sister’s seamstress to have the perfect outfit made. However, when she turned up on Christmas Eve to collect it, she was in for a surprise. Her outfit had not been sewn, because the seamstress was running behind schedule. But her sister’s outfit, the material for which was handed in after hers, had been completed because she was a friend of the woman. Collecting her material, she went back home and decided to make a simple dress for herself; a style she was sure she could manage. Her mother, Esther explained, would make sportswear for various schools and she had grown up seeing her at the sewing machine. Yet, her mother had never sewn any outfits for her. Nonetheless, it was her mother, she said, who first influenced her in designing. So, for the very first time on that Christmas Eve, Esther measured herself and sewed her very first outfit.
