Samira Bawumia and Velma Owusu Bempah
Ghanaian millinery and clutch designer, Velma Owusu Bempah, has managed to rise above odds and grab some positive attention to her business in a fashion industry where attention is only given to cloth designers.
The UK-trained millinery and clutch designer is one of the country’s best. She is the designer behind the clutch used by Samira Bawumia to complete her beautiful outfit and headpiece during the ‘Ghana 60 years On’ parade on March 6.
She told NEWS-ONE in an exclusive interview over the weekend that it is a great opportunity for her to design for the vice president’s wife.
According to her, it always feels special when such high-profile personalities in the society approach her for business.
“It makes us feel special because before people of that nature come to you, they know, I mean they look out for you. So making a choice to come for you, then they know they are coming for a good quality stuff,” she said.
An unparalleled figure in Ghana’s fashion scene, Velma Owusu Bempah is a distinguished milliner and women’s clutch and jewellerry designer for over a decade.
She is unique and known for her effortless take on glamour.
The CEO of Velma’s Millinery & Accessories has built a thriving and successful business, operating from Sarah’s Fabrics building in the heart of Osu, Accra, where she offers her clients impeccable hats or fascinators and the best of accessories for women.
She is respected for her comprehensive style, exceptional taste and expertise accessible to her growing audience.
As a young Bsc Marketing graduate from the University of Ghana Business School in 2004, Velma was inspired by her mother, Sarah Crossland, to go after her passion to become one of the world’s celebrated bags, jewellery and millinery designers.
In 2005, she then enrolled at the Central St Martin’s School of Arts& Designs, an affiliate of London School of Arts, where she took courses in millinery, bag designing and communication.
Having completed, she returned to Ghana to establish what is now known as the Velma’s Millinery & Accessories in 2006.
She has so far endeared herself as a trusted curator of style and image to her many celebrity clients and high-profile personalities.
“Every Ghanaian or African woman deserves to stand out on their own and be unique…my thing is every woman that comes to me should stand out,” she said is the inspiration behind every work she does.
“I do a lot of sourcing; I mean putting raw materials together and all that. For just a piece, I need to do a whole lot of collections. When a client gets a clutch from me, I can’t do the same thing for another person,” the mother of two beautiful daughters added.
On top of her tall clients list are Anita Erskine, Sandra Ankobiah, Juliet Ibrahim, Shirley Frimpong- Manso, Joselyn Dumas, among others.
Aside designing a clutch for Samira Bawumia, she also has clients in South Africa, UK, Ivory Coast and other countries.
Velma collaborates with other respected fashion designers, including her sister Ophelia Crossland by designing millinery or fascinators, clutches or bags and jewelleries to complement their collections.
Her first clutch collection was called Ankara collection and then she followed with Royal collection, which were made of kente. She also did metallic and semi-precious stone collections. She most often designs clutch bags and she is unique at it in different shapes; be it box, oval or envelope shapes.
She will be releasing her latest collection at the 2017 edition of ‘Rythms On Da Runway’ fashion event.
“I don’t repeat clutches or bags. Unless someone stresses me to do something similar,” she revealed, adding her products are affordable, depending on what a client wants.
“Velma’s Millinery & Accessories is a shop that when you enter you can come for something. It is a shop that is not so expensive that one can’t afford. Everything in our shop is unique even if it’s the cheapest,” she stated.
With her vast expertise in designing, Velma remains an inspiration to a department of Ghana’s fashion industry that is yet to win more media attention.
By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: fdee500@yahoo.com)