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Love the Way You Look in Love, Iguehi Designs

Published

7 years ago

October 10, 2019

In 2018, I left a promising career in healthcare to pursue my own clothing line, Love Iguehi (EE-Gway-HEE), full time. If you understand what growing up in Oakland in the 1980s as the eldest child to immigrant parents was like — you know that becoming a doctor or engineer was a much more accepted career path. However, as I build my brand as the daughter of an Nigerian artist (James Esoimeme), the switch from a career in healthcare to clothing design now all makes sense.

I am fully American by any standard and I am also fully African; Nigerian, to be more specific. My parents made sure that their culture was passed down to my siblings and I and they reminded us that although we were born in the U.S., Nigeria was our home. I have vivid memories of my parents dressing in their traditional attire with beautiful lace and vibrant ankara prints (ankara is typically 100% cotton fabric with vibrant patterns, often with tribal type patterns made through a wax-resist dyeing technique called batik) as they headed off to weddings, parties and other celebrations in the ’80s and ’90s. The celebrations were always colorful and lively. People ate, laughed and danced the night away as popular Nigerian musicians like Fela, Sunny Adé, and Shinna Peters were played across loudspeakers as the beats vibrated the walls. My parents wore the traditional Nigerian clothing with such pride, but as much as I enjoyed being at the parties, admittedly, I didn’t always feel comfortable in traditional clothing.

I graduated from Oakland Technical High School in the late ’90s and while hip hop culture had provided more acceptance around Afrocentricity, overall I grew up in a time when African American beauty wasn’t broadly celebrated and simply being African or Black came with some negative perceptions.

I made a point to stand boldly in who I was. I was a young Nigerian-American woman who loved and appreciated the duality of being raised in both cultures.

My love for self, my love for culture and beauty, my interest in connecting people to their home, all helped birth Love Iguehi in the fall of 2016.

Love Iguehi (EE-Gway-HEE) is a brand focused on using ankara prints to create clothing that helps infuse people with a rich sense of self-love. I aspire to create versatile, high quality products that foster love and community while celebrating the cultural richness that connects us to each other. By fully embracing my heritage and sharing it with the world, I hope to sew joy, positive energy and the love I felt as a child at those parties into every piece.

I started out making clothing that was all custom made-to-order products and I have expanded the line to include off the rack and ready to wear items for all sizes. My most popular items are our convertible wrap skirts, long duster coats, custom skirts, head wraps and clutch purses. As I continue to expand the line I will offer men’s apparel as well.

Love Iguehi is an Oakland-based clothing brand founded by Iguehi James. Iguehi is a wife and mother of three and a member of New Life Community Church in Oakland. Iguehi is a member of the Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce (OAACC) and the recipient of the OAACC Startup Business of the year award. Love Iguehi clothing and apparel can be found online at LoveIguehi.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @LoveIguehi.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 8 – 14, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 8 – 14, 2026

Published

14 hours ago

April 10, 2026

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Oakland Post: Week of April 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 1 – 7, 2026

Published

5 days ago

April 6, 2026

Oakland Post

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Black Artists in America, Installation Three Wraps at the Dixon Gallery and Gardens

TRI-STATE DEFENDER — With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

Published

2 weeks ago

March 24, 2026

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By Candace A. Gray | Tri-State Defender

The tulips gleefully greet those who enter the gates at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens on an almost spring day. More than 650,000 bulbs of various hues are currently on display. And they are truly breathtaking.

Inside the gallery, and equally as breathtaking, is the “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” exhibit, which runs through Sunday, March 29. This is the third installment of a three-part series that started years ago and illustrates part of the Black experience through visual arts in the 20th century.

“This story picks up where part two left off,’’ said Kevin Sharp, the Linda W. and S. Herbert Rhea director for the Dixon. “This era is when we really start to see the emergence of these important Black artists’ agency and freedom shine through. They start to say and express what they want to, and it was a really beautiful time.”

With 50+ paintings, sculptures and assemblages, the exhibit features artists like Varnette Honeywood from Los Angeles, whose pieces appeared in Bill Coby’s private collection (before they were auctioned off) and on “The Cosby Show.” Also included are works by Alonzo Davis, another Los Angeles artist who opened one of the first galleries there where Black Artists could exhibit.

“Though [Davis] was from LA, he actually lived in Memphis for a decade,” said Sharp. “He was a dean at Memphis College of Art, and later opened the first gallery in New York owned and operated by black curators.”

Another featured artist is former NFL player, Ernie Barnes. His work is distinctive. Where have you seen one of his most popular paintings, Sugar Shack? On the end scene and credits of the hit show “Good Times.” His piece Saturday Night, Durham, North Carolina, 1974 is in this collection.

Memphis native James Little’s “The War Baby: The Triptych” is among more than 50 works featured in “Black Artists in America, From the Bicentennial to September 11” at the Dixon Gallery & Gardens, the final installment of a three-part series highlighting the impact and evolution of Black artists through 2011.

The exhibit features other artists with Memphis ties, including abstract painter James Little, who was raised in a segregated Memphis and attended Memphis Academy of Art (before it was Memphis College of Art). He later moved to New York, became a teacher and an internationally acclaimed fixture in the art world in 2022 when he was named a Whitney Biennial selected artist at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

Other artists like Romare Bearden, who had a Southern experience but lived up North, were featured in all three installments.

“During this period of time, he was a major figure,” said Sharp. “He wrote one of the first books on the history of African American art during a time when there were more Black academics, art teachers, more Black everything!”

Speaking of Black educators, Sharp said the head curator behind this tri-part series and Dixon’s partner in the arts is Earnestine Jenkins, Ph.D., an art history professor at the University of Memphis, who also earned a Master of Arts degree from Memphis State University (now UofM). “We began working with Dr. Jenkins in 2018,” he said.

Sharp explained that it takes a team of curators, registrars, counterparts at other museums, and more, about three years to assemble an exhibit like this. It came together quite seamlessly, he added. Each room conjured up more jaw-dropping “wows” than the one before it. Each piece worked with the others to tell the story of Black people and their collective experience during this time period.

One of the last artists about whom Sharp shared information was Bettye Saar, who will turn 100 years old this year. She’s been working in Los Angeles for 80 years and is finally getting her due. Her medium is collages or assemblages, and an incredible work of hers is on display. She’s married to an artist and has two daughters, also artists.

The exhibit catalogue bears some of these artists’ stories, among other scholarly information.

The exhibit, presented by the Joe Orgill Family Fund for Exhibitions, is culturally and colorfully rich. It is a must see and admission to the Dixon is free.

Visit https://www.dixon.org/ to learn more.

Fun Facts: An original James Little design lives in the flooring of the basketball court at Tom Lee Park, and he makes and mixes his own paint colors.