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Oluwafunmilayo Faithful Afolabi, popularly known as Funmilayo Adekanye, is one of the country’s leading creative costume professionals whose journey into the film industry took an unexpected but rewarding turn.
She initially joined the industry with dreams of becoming an actress, but fate redirected her path, leading her to discover her strength behind the scenes. Today, she is regarded as one of the leading creative costume designers in Nigeria, having handled costume and wardrobe for several award-winning film productions.
One of her notable works is Farmer’s Bride, a culturally rich Nigerian film widely praised for its literary adaptation, deep Yoruba cultural authenticity, strong performances and striking cinematography.
The film also received commendation for its costume authenticity, which helped bring its characters and setting vividly to life.
The film’s success was reflected in major industry recognition. Farmer’s Bride won Movie of the Year at the Best of Nollywood Awards (17th Edition, 2025), alongside Director of the Year awards for Adebayo Tijani and Jack’enneth Opukeme. It also earned honours at the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards 2025.
Speaking on her creative approach, Adekanye explained that her academic background in psychology plays a major role in how she designs costumes. According to her, costume is not just about beauty but about behaviour and emotion. She studies characters through their motivations, social background, trauma and aspirations, then translates those elements into clothing choices.
“I don’t see wardrobe as decoration,” she said. “I see it as emotional architecture. Through silhouettes, colours and textures, costumes reflect what a character is feeling inside, even before they speak.”
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On Farmer’s Bride, Adekanye worked as the Wardrobe Manager, leading the wardrobe department and ensuring the film’s costume vision was properly executed. Her responsibilities included overseeing fittings, maintaining costume continuity, managing breakdown processes and handling large-scale wardrobe logistics.
She also worked closely with the Costume Designer to preserve character consistency and cultural accuracy throughout production.
Explaining how she ensures her designs elevate storytelling, Adekanye said she always begins with a close analysis of the script. She maps out each character’s emotional and social journey and aligns costume changes with that progression.
She also collaborates with the director, cinematographer and production designer so that costumes blend seamlessly with the film’s overall visual language.
For her, costume communicates character traits instantly. “Before a character speaks, their clothing already tells you who they are,” she noted. “Structure can show emotional restraint, colour changes can signal growth, while worn-out fabrics can reflect inner conflict. Every detail must serve the story.”
Her creative process starts with breaking down the script and studying each character’s psychology, social environment and emotional journey. She then develops colour charts, silhouette plans and fabric choices, backed by extensive research, especially for period films.
Fittings help align costume with performance, while strict continuity systems ensure the story remains visually consistent.
Adekanye added that psychology has also strengthened her leadership skills on set, helping her communicate better with cast and crew under pressure. Creatively, it allows her to see costume as an extension of identity, how people use clothing for protection, self-expression or aspiration.
From her experience, she believes costume design is central to storytelling. It establishes time, place, class and ideology instantly and helps audiences track character development subconsciously. When properly aligned with script and performance, costume deepens emotional connection and immersion.
For Funmilayo Adekanye, costume design is more than fabric and fittings, it is storytelling in motion, quietly shaping how audiences feel, understand and remember a film.
