Hey y’all, welcome to my new monthly feature On Style - a companion to my Everyday Style Hero weekly segment. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that on Wednesdays I feature a regular person that I’ve seen in my travels around the city and whom I believe has great style. Once a month I’ll meet up with someone I know who has great style for a more in-depth discussion.

The subject of my first feature is Dorcas Olasumbo, co-founder of A Note To Her, a Toronto based card company, and a senior brand manager at HBC. I first met Dorcas a year or two ago at a business lady meet-up organized by a mutual friend. She was very funny and easy going but also très chic. Since then I’ve been following her and I just love her seemingly effortless style. I really like the way she incorporates trends into her style.

“YL” is me Yateh asking the question

“DO” is Dorcas Responding

Italics are my thoughts and flavour

We began our discussion about hair. I feel like most conversations between women start off that way, but over scones and other delicious food we discussed style, work, and life

YL: Does your work influence your style?

DO: Definitely, this role is a collision of both of my passions - marketing and style.

YL: Would you say your style is informed by your work or your mood?

DO: I’m very much a mood dresser

YL: So you couldn’t plan your outfit the night before?

DO: Nooo no no. What if you wake up and you don’t want to be polished? Maybe you’re feeling casual. What if your mood is different? Or how does my body feel? I genuinely wake up, do a mental/internal check and how I am feeling (time permitting) is how I’ll dress for the day. If I’m short on time my go to is all black.

YL: Do you feel like your colleagues dress with the same in mind?

DO: Definitely, working in fashion retail I find people are willing to take more stylistic chances and if I mention a designer for the most part they know who I’m talking about. I enjoy the fact that I can push style. At my previous job it would cause a reaction if I came to work a little too stylish.

YL: I definitely relate to working in a space where people don’t care about style and the moment you walk in wearing a monochrome look you hear the record scratch when you walk in.

YL: Growing up did you have a style influence?

DO: I just tried different things, as I got older I just tried different things and used it as a way of expressing myself.

“Though we both agreed that we dislike
the Bottega Veneta quilted square-toe shoe”

YL: Do you have any style inspirations?

DO: Yes! There is a girl on Instagram named Fisayo Longe (@fisayolonge). She has a brand which I also follow that is just amazing. I don’t think my style is like hers but I can pick pieces of hers that really speak to me and incorporate them in my style.

Another person’s style that inspires me is Melissa’s Wardrobe (@melissaswardrobe). She is da bomb, she’s amazing!

YL: I second that comment! If you’re not following her you should be. Though we both agreed that we dislike the Bottega Veneta quilted square toe shoe (if you follow her you know what we’re talking about).

DO: Last but not least Kahlana Barfield Brown (@kahlanabarield). She has a great mix of classic and feminine with tomboy. Her hair and nails are always on point. She’ll style a crazy bottom with a classic top but it always looks good. If there was anyone’s closet I’d like to have it would be hers.

YL: Have you been following the fashion scene out of Africa right now, primarily Nigeria? (Dorcas’s background is Nigerian and I’m Ghanian)?

DO: I haven’t been following the Lagos fashion scene as closely as I’d like but there are a couple of brands that I have my eye on - Andrea Iyamah is one of them. I love the brand and her personal style and how it carries into the brand. The clean long lines, and wide leg pants are just a dream. I’ve been following Orange Culture - but only see myself buying one or two pieces. Overall there is a lot of fun and great design coming out of the Lagos scene.

I was interested in Dorcas’s opinion about the African fashion scene because the North American perspective tends to be heavily based in Ankara (a West African type of wax print, not the capital of Turkey), whereas when you look at designers like Trevor Stuurman from South Africa or ATAFO out of Nigeria, I like the way they play with design and colour and traditional fabrics. It’s a whole scene that we are just seeing the surface of from across the Atlantic.

YL: Do you feel like Toronto has a style?

DO: I think it has a style in pockets. If you were to go to apartment 200 there is a certain type of person who goes there, that is also dressed a certain kind of way. I don't think it’s a one brush stroke for the city. Given my age group and circles you’ll see a lot of the same style but if you were to go from the east end to the west end of the city you’d see a landscape of style.

One thing we commiserate about is the lack of options in clothing shopping in the city - our lack of enthusiasm around thrifting (we just don’t have the thrill of the hunt-reward gene) and personally with the bedbugs in the city I just don’t trust it.

YL: What is your favourite item in your closet?

DO: It's hard to pick one…

YL: Ok I’ll give you a cluster of about five items..

DO: For my 25th birthday my brother bought me a Balenciaga motorcycle bag! I had loved this bag forever and really wanted it. Mary Kate and Ashley had it - the chunky silver hardware in classic black. I absolutely love it (it wasn’t even that popular at the time). It has character.

A beautiful long slip dress in silver with gorgeous full body beading from the brand Virgos Lounge. I’ve tried to wear it to weddings but it’s so beautiful it would potentially upstage the bride. I wanted to pack it on vacation but I was worried it would be damaged. It’s just so beautiful I couldn’t bear for anything to happen to it.

Now that I think about it these two items are my favourite items like if my house was burning down and I was safe and I could rescue two last thing it would be the bag and the dress.

It was at this point that JASON MOMOA walked past and I was stunned!!!!!! He looked fabulous. Our waitress served him coffee and I asked her if he smelled good and she said he smelled neutral. We were enthralled by the fact he was sitting next to us and we didn’t know - also his outfit was great but it was the eye catching leopard print wool coat and, well he always looks great in everything he wears. It always looks like he’s wearing whatever he wants!

YL: Trends that you love and trends that should die?

DO: The heeled thong sandal - it’s so ugly but it’s just starting to peak and I’m over it already. Honestly I’m not a shoe person but the shoe space right now is in a weird place (nods in agreement)

YL: I hate the dad sneaker movement, it looks ugly and nobody can tell me otherwise. Also tear-away pants shouldn’t have come back - DON’T @ ME

Dorcas definitely laughed at my vehemence in my two dislikes

DO: As someone who is into athleisure - I’m ok with tear-away pant

YL: What should never go away?

DO: Neutrals for all! I’m loving all of the neutral tones for spring and wider leg pants, I’m not abandoning skinny’s but I’m enjoying a wider leg.

As our chat went on we discovered that we went to high schools down the street from each other in Scarborough, we had similar experiences growing up with African parents, and continued to talk about style that we love and hate and shared some shops we frequent (COS, Aritzia, Simmons, Massimo Dutti etc.). Also exploring some new brands on the 4th floor at the Bay (do not sleep on those sales on the 4th floor!).

Thank you Dorcas for letting me interview you!

Yateh <3

Photos provided by Dorcas Olasumbo

Editing by Andrew Kraan