Joy Ahoulou

Awarded

Joy Ahoulou

Menswear collections 'JoyBoy S/S 08' and 'JoyBoy A/W 08/09' (diploma work)

Fashion Design

Jury report

Joyful, wild and colourful
Joy Ahoulou was honoured for his pre-diploma and his diploma work, the men's collections 'JOY BOY S/S 08' and 'A/W 08/09' (2007 and 2008). 'JOY BOY' is Aholou's label and his second collection. Look books and collections are of a piece, persuasive as an overall presentation in their coherence and expressiveness. In this sense, the collections are not 'alone' but are accompanied and invigorated by the design and particularly the photography of the look books.
Joyful, wild, colourful, cool, contemporary and exceptional are keywords that come to mind on seeing Joy Ahoulou's clothes. Based on his ideal of a young man on the verge of becoming an adult, the fashion designer designed clothes for men who on the one hand indulge in hedonism and in the delight of their own body, but who are on the other hand also affected by a certain childish naïveté. A condition lovingly ironized by Joy Ahoulou when he slightly modifies classics such as for example the polo shirt, reassembles the bomber jacket or lets monkeys and birds peek through the jungle in the ensemble of trousers and jacket made out fabric with prints by Monika Stalder. The photos in the look book excellently express the dichotomy between self-confident action and naïve desire. The young men emanate a peculiar mixture of being lost, uncomfortable and self-confident. With his collection, Ahoulou has managed to capture exactly these feelings and make them visible through his clothes.
Patrizia Crivelli

Biography

Joy Ahoulou
Born in
1983
Education
Fashion designer

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