Ivie Osula’s journey into fashion began not out of ambition, but out of necessity. As a corporate executive in Nigeria, Ivie found herself crafting bespoke power suits to enhance her presence at work. Her distinct sense of style quickly became her signature, capturing the attention of colleagues who couldn’t help but notice the confidence and authority she projected. Inspired by on-screen characters like Jessica Pearson, Ivie’s designs—particularly a striking royal blue peplum blazer—became a conversation piece. When she wore it to a management presentation, her colleagues were amazed. One even said, “Ivie, I need you to make me look like Olivia Pope!” That day, she received her first order, sparking the beginning of DWL (Defining Women’s Lifestyle).
Affectionately dubbed ‘The Vibrant Queen’, Ivie’s designs are known for their bold colours, powerful silhouettes, and ability to project strength and confidence.
What started as a personal project to amplify her own presence has now grown into a global luxury brand, empowering women in boardrooms, conferences, and high-profile events across Nigeria and beyond. DWL is more than just fashion—it’s about helping women dress their way to confidence, offering them pieces that amplify who they already are, Osula said. Excerpts:
Can you share the story behind the first bespoke power suit you created for yourself? What was the reaction like?
My journey into power dressing started from my workwear during my banking career. I always loved a smart and unique look, and I started off designing custom structured midi length dresses for myself to work with five inches heels. Yes, I was that girl. I realized that this positioned me well as very confident and put together. As I got into middle management, I realized that slapping on a blazer took my look to another level.
I was inspired by Jessica Pearson’s character in the suits and intrigued by how she owned a room whenever she stepped in based on how confident and assertive she looked, commanding maximum respect.
I would always take screenshots and recordings until one day I designed a royal blue peplum blazer inspired by one of Jessica Pearson’s styles. I had it made and wore it to the office on a day I had a management presentation to make and in my colleagues’ words “ah, Ivie you’ve moved from wearing dresses now it’s blazers”. They had so many amazing things to say about my blazer and how much of a boss babe I looked like in it. When I mentioned that I designed it myself they were stunned.
That day, I got my 1st order, one of the senior management staff said, “I need some suits, I want you to make me look like Olivia Pope” and she ordered 2 blazers. With time, based on the continuous orders for blazers I told myself, “Ivie, DWL is cut out for blazers” and I decided to niche in blazers and the rest is history.
What inspired you to transition from a corporate executive to the fashion industry? Was there a specific moment that made you take the leap?
Yes, my journey from finance to fashion! I used to work with one of the most reputable international banks in the world. I had 14 years’ experience in finance and supply chain finance. My journey into fashion started from immediate client validation. I used to make outfits for myself for work which helped me project myself as very confident and well put together. I liked the fact that my designs were unique to me, and it gave me extra satisfaction because I designed them. From my structured pencil dresses, middle length pencil dresses to my peplum blazers in vibrant colours. From the 1st outfit commissioned to be made from a colleague to the repeated orders I kept getting from colleagues and friends to make them pieces that were boardroom and presentation worthy to project a confident image, I knew I had to share my passion with the world.
DWL started off from being a side hustle until I left corporate altogether in 2019.
That was how I transitioned fully from finance into fashion, and this is where we are with DWL, getting into making power blazers for women in board rooms, conferences, media, dinners and all what not.
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Looking back at your journey, what has been the most rewarding moment for you as a designer and entrepreneur?
As a designer and as an entrepreneur, for me daily rewarding moments are when clients give us feedback of how dressing in DWL has helped them either change the perception people have of them or help them project the right kind of perception through dressing. The fact that I, as a fashion designer and my brand can have that kind of impact is just the little everyday victories and rewarding moments.
Whenever I get that photo, video, voice note from DWL women around the world, I do a happy dance knowing that we are making global impact as a brand helping women project the best versions of themselves.
DWL breaking into the Middle East, was one of the most rewarding moments as a designer because that’s when I took the brand from being a Nigerian brand to an international brand. As an entrepreneur, my ability to set up DWL in Nigeria and grow it while shuttling between Qatar and Nigeria, expanding the brand into the Middle East starting from Saudi & now solid in Qatar as well as being able to manage the businesses across borders is one of the most rewarding things for me as my ability to grow a sustainable business across borders.
A major milestone in its journey as an international brand was DWL being accepted into the prestigious Scale 7 Fashion acceleration program, a Qatar Development Bank funded project which gave the brand increased visibility and capacity to cement it status as an international brand and also establish retail partnership with one of Qatar’s biggest departmental stores, 51 East.
What personal challenges have you faced in your journey as a fashion entrepreneur, and how have they shaped you and DWL?
As a fashion entrepreneur especially one like me that manages business across borders, part of the challenges is that you realize that fashion trends vary across borders. And, for example, starting a business in Nigeria, moving into the Middle East, you recognize customers do not have the same preferences. You make blazers but it’s not the same. The fact that customer taste and all is different and you have to be able to painstakingly research, understand the market and find out what works in different climes.
At the beginning you just feel like “oh there’s no place for me here” but that challenge is what for example in my case gave birth to the concept of long line blazers for DWL. We realized that with long line blazers, we could break into what could ordinarily have been a modest market and that’s how the concept of blending contemporary trends with modern fashion came about which stands till today as one of the DWL’s unique selling points in the Middle East and even in Nigeria.
Another thing which is a general problem is getting, managing and retaining talents as a business. People that you plan to be around leaving a position and having to start again but part of what that that did for us to do is that it has forced us build structures around the business such that you rely more on structures than people because people will come and go but the structures in place will help to minimize disruptions and new hires are able to fit into roles easier. These are ongoing things we manage everyday but as challenges come, part of the skill of being an entrepreneur is continuous problem solving. Many days, you wake up as a superhero, then some days you wake up and feel like so many things are going wrong, but you move and continue to tackle the challenge as they come.
And as a fashion entrepreneur, especially somebody like me who manages businesses across geographic locations, one of the challenges that you face is realizing that a design for example that can be an absolute favourite in one country based on buyer appetite, trends, customer preferences might not be receptive somewhere else. It could be a challenge. So, you then must realise that you need to research not just generalize. Sometimes you need to research per geographic location to know, so having to map out what works here, what would work here in terms of what has worked here, at the beginning started off as a challenge but part of the thing being a creative entrepreneur is to quickly use that as an advantage to then find out. For example, using this buyer preference as example, when we just got into the Middle East, Saudi, of course it looked like for a hot minute it was difficult for us to break into that market but we quickly realized that the concept of our long line blazers and then we realized that it was not just something that was accepted in the Middle East but something that could be worn universally and that’s where our fusion of contemporary Western trends and cultural influences came about. And till today part of DWL’s main unique selling points is the fact that a lot of our designs have a fusion of contemporary trends and modest fashion which is inferred in most of the kind of cuts in our jackets. So, something that was a challenge was something that has become a unique selling point for us.
How did you manage the transition from creating bespoke outfits for yourself to establishing a global brand? What steps should young designers take to turn their passion into a business?
Setting up the DWL brand was built on customer validation from the beginning with my colleagues seeing designs I had made for myself and commissioning orders which led to the birth of the brand.
Learning from my own story, the first thing I would say is validating your idea. This is done by researching what the market wants and testing the product(s), this ensures you are putting products in the market that will sell. Part of the things you would learn to be a sustainable business is what you like is not necessarily what the market wants.
Another step is to identify your target market. You quickly realize that it’s not family and friends that sell a business, it’s appealing to the right target audience. When you can identify your target market, their buying behaviour and preferences, you are able to put out market-ready products that they will be willing to buy.
Another thing I would say is start small, business has so many moving parts outside of the direct product and looking to start with too many products and ideas can be overwhelming and even make you never get into it. Start with a few designs or ideas so its manageable and as you grow, with better authority you expand your scope.
Also, networking is very important. Build a network around people in the value chain of your line of business, this opens you up to collaborations, referrals as well as other opportunities to help position and grow your brand.
