An Interview with BFYNE Designer Buki Ade on her “Sahara Collection”

The mind behind BFYNE tells us what she wants next.

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Nigerian-American designer and entrepreneur Buki Ade is in control of the swimwear industry globally. Buki’s signature style is incorporating traditional prints to her swimwear designs, constantly drawing inspiration from her roots to diversify traditional aquatic attire. Seen on models such as Jourdan Dunn, and pop culture heroines like JuJu, Bfyne is quickly becoming the go-to swim wear brand.

Bfyne has been featured in Vogue, Glamour, Afropunk, The FADER, Sports Illustrated and more. We caught up with Buki for a quick chat to discuss her inspiration behind the Sahara Collection and future plans for Bfyne.

Besides natures bold and natural tones, what was your main inspiration behind the Sahara Collection?

The main inspiration behind the Sahara Collection is being Nigerian and tying my designs back to my culture. That was extremely important for me to execute properly. I also wanted to bring sexy to dashiki print which I’m pretty sure this collection showed.

How did your Nigerian background inspire this collection?
Everything about this collection was influenced heavily by my Nigerian background. I live and breathe my culture, and I made it my mission to showcase that through the designs and prints.

Ankara prints are starting to become quite popular, how do you want to set Bfyne apart?
We understand Ankara prints are becoming quite popular on social media. Bfyne stands out because of its uniqueness and boldness.

Any plans to shoot an editorial in Nigeria?
Nigeria is home and we’d love to create something magical back home, definitely it’s in the works.

What’s next for Bfyne?
There’s so much in stored for Bfyne, we plan to keep blowing you away with never before seen designs.

Shop the Sahara Collection here, and check out some of the looks below. 

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