Following the plan to make Ondo Kingdom the hub for carnival costume making and design in Africa, the pet project of Destination Ondo, which was created by the Founder of La Campagne Tropicana River, Beach and Forest Resort, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, has kick started with the conclusion of two weeks intensive training of the first set of Nigerian youths shortlisted for the programme.
The formal ceremony, which was held recently in Ondo town, was declared open by the Sasere of Ondo Kingdom, High Chief Olu Adeduro, who represented the Kabiyesi . The renowned multi talented and awards winning Nigerian international fashion designer icon, model, modeling instructor and fashion entrepreneur, Adebayo Adegbe, fondly known as Modella, was contracted to conduct the training session with his team. It was an enthralling experience for the youths who had the privilege of being tutored and taken through the rudiments of fashion design and carnival costumes making.
The training session witnessed creativity at its best with the use of common placed and discarded materials such as local sponge, groundnuts, leaves, plastic spoons, straws, plastic and bottles, utilised by the team to create and design unique, beautiful and enchanting carnival costumes with colourful and fascinating ambience.
A colourful graduation ceremony was held to round off the training session, with an exhibition of the products of the students. Fifteen of them were selected to model their creations to the admiration of guests. Three of the participants were adjudged winners of the modelling session as Akintola Fumilayo, emerged winner with her sponge laden regalia, while Olasanmi Esther came second with her colourful costume, and Awosika Ireti made third place with her plastic spoon design.