Oyeyemi Abiodun Babatunde (Maxivive)

TELL us about yourself, growing up, family background, education and all. I’m Oyeyemi Abiodun Babatunde. I am a graduate of Child psychology, I was born and raised in Lagos, from a polygamous home.

What else do you do for a living? For now, all I do is fashion designing. I run a fashion label called ‘Maxivive’ which just launched its diffusion line called ‘MXVV’.

MXVV whose grand purpose and business is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to solve and do what lies clearly at hand. Please fill us in on your rise to fame and how did it all start I started designing officially in 2007.

At that moment, i was just in SS1. However, I will say my rise to fame began in 2011 when i was shortlisted as one of the cutting edge designers of 2011 by Ynaija.

Shortly after, in 2012, i got on Nigerian Idol season 2 as the official male designer for that season which was directly succeeded by my winning of the Model of Africa, most creative designer of the year. 2013 came with an individual package as i had my first solo presentation which featured a shoe project/collection i tagged “ITELE”.

By the end of 2013, i applied for LFDW fashion focus competition, then young designer of the year competition but i did not make the cut. After that i went back in, to re-strategize.

I worked more and came back with a collection that caught the international attention in 2014, then i re-applied for fashion focus and i got in. Also in 2014, after the collection that got me into the competition which further made me show my works on an international stage, i decided to work with the seasons we have in Africa especially in Nigeria as opposed the popular western seasons of “ spring/summer, Autumn/winter”.

I started the seasons of Wet, Dry, Harmattan and cruise.  Which of your many jobs excite you the most? Fashion designing. What other areas of your career are you looking to explore? My career in child psychology.

I hope to be a private therapist and counselor in the nearest future.  What has been the high point of your Fashion Career? The moment i showed at the Lagos fashion and design week runway which gave “Maxivive” much more local and international visibility on a grand scale.

What has been the lowest so far? Those early days of my career in the fashion industry where i was more of a “usage box” to stylists in the industry. What are the plans for the future- short-term goals, anything?

My short-term goal presently is to get “Maxivive” much more visibility by showing on international runways both in Africa and other continents but most importantly in major fashion capitals of the world.