Kosibah 20th at 116 Pall Mall, London

{1st Sept 2011}

Adrian & I were introduced to the amazing work of Yemi Osunkoya of Kosibah in August 2010; we were in the process of coordinating a bridal shoot called Our vintage Story. Yemi was so generous and understood what we were trying to achieve that he loaned us two of his beautiful dresses.  We’ve been in contact with him since then so it was with great delight that we accepted his invitation to attend the celebrations to commemorate his 20th year of creating Couture Bridal & evening wear.

Our excitement is palpable in this 365 image which was made by Lovicci. Alas, Adrian was unable to attend so our friend, Amalie, joined me on the 1st of September at 116 Pall Mall. We enjoyed Champagne & Canapes before Kosibah’s latest collection, Bienvenue 20 was ably and beautifully shown off by models.

Seyi asked me to cover the event from a spectator’s point of view, right from all the work behind the scenes through the event and afterwards. Hope you enjoy this long (you’ve been warned!) post. Amalie & I certainly had a great evening and wish Yemi & Kosibah many more years of continued success.

Cake & Cupcakes by Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium.Smoked Salmon & Caviar and Brie and Cranberry Canapes; Compere Diana Dahlia.Leanne from Wild about Flowers ; Yemi OsunkoyaHeirloom bouquet by Tiny Gems; Make up by Kemi Kings;  Headpiece by Claire Ogden DesignsYemi alongside one of his creations.Amalie guarding the 2 cupcakes that she managed to get for she & I; back view of one of the evening dresses.Flowers by Blue Sky Flowers; Cake & cupcakes by Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium.Models being briefed…I simply had to photograph their shoes.Smoked Salmon & Caviar Canapes = yum!Throughout the room, there were similar gorgeous arrangements of the actual dresses with their accompanying sketches which were framed by Sharmaine of Opal Picture Frames & Gallery.Tiffany from Grant-Riley Weddings in conversation with Harriet Maxwell.Sharmaine framed the sketches mentioned previously.Elizabeth Solaru of Elizabeth’s Cake Emporium.So I look up from my camera and saw none other than Broadcaster Josie D’arby getting settled down into her seat in front of us.Josie was lit by the Kosibah monogram as the event had just started and there was no other space to get this shot at Josie’s request.Wedding planner Candice of Cerendipity Events.Yemi on his way to start his speech during which he…asked his Mother to be recognised. Proud Mum moment.Seyi Ogunmola Olusanya of Cedar Events finalising plans with Diana Dahlia.Yemi’s Mum in Blue Gele.Damien Lovegrove was the official photographer of the event; he’d just shared a joke with Wedding Photographer, Pippa Mackenzie.As you can see, this group was actually posing for a different photographer but I recognised some of our Twitter friends: Wedding Planner Andri Benson & Hairstylist & Make up artist Joyce Connor.Make up artist Ana Ospina Ruiz & Joyce Connor.After Yemi announced that he’d taken inspiration for Bienvenue 20 from Ballet, these 2 Ballerinas performed for us..Before an Adult Ballerina provided the finale ballet dance to an awed audience.Sculptural Cake designer Janet Mohapi-Banks.Harriet Maxwell, Janet Mohapi-Banks & Tiffany Grant-Riley.Presenter Natalie Murden.Hair by Kasia Fortuna.Adebayo Jones coordinated and choreographed the models.Official photographer Damien Lovegrove.Close ups of the delicious cupcakes.Our friend, Amalie Gunasena before she handed the cupcakes to me so I could at least appear in one photo haha!

Seyi Ogunmola Olusanya of Cedar Events, Adebayo Jones, Claire Ogden (Bridal headpieces) Lyze Bamigbola-Silas (Evening wear Hats & Fascinators), Kemi Imevbore Uwaga (Make up), Joy Adenuga (Make up), Kasia Fortuna (Bridal Hair), Liz Inigo Jones of Bluesky Flowers, Elizabeth Solaru of Elizabeth’s Emporium (Cake & Cupcakes), Diana Dahlia (compere) Josephine Lormond Criqui & Kosibah interns (Abiola, Josephine, Mary, China & Priscilla).