GQ Style fashion director Mobolaji Dawodu spends so little time at his desk, he says it’s collecting dust.
“I’m not a desk person, even when I am in the office, I’m walking around — I’m always on,” he said.
Dawodu, who joined GQ Style a year ago from The Fader, was promoted this month from style editor to fashion director. A week ago, the film “Where Is Kyra?” debuted at Sundance Film Festival, for which Dawodu served as costume designer. Coming off a string of men’s fashion weeks in Paris, Milan and New York, he’ll begin working on a commercial shoot next week.
Dawodu, who was born in Nigeria, said that men’s fashion in New York is beginning to progress, and he’s seeing men make more of an effort. During men’s fashion week, Hugo Boss and Raf Simons’s collections are the ones that stood out the most.
“Guys are definitely trying more, but in fashion, there’s always going to be good and bad of everything — that’s a different conversation,” he said.
We asked Dawodu to create a diary tracking one day on duty during New York Fashion Week: Men’s. Entries have been lightly edited.
7 a.m.: Wake up. Night before was late: There was a Hugo Boss show, then a cocktail party. I get up, get dressed and reach for my only and forever [Levis] 501s. Listen to some Henryk Gorecki, Symphony No. 3 — this always gets me going in the a.m.! I pick up my daughter for school at her mom’s, and she gives me a rundown of what happened at school the day before. I find out who was put on a five-minute timeout in recess the day before, about second grade, etc. It’s lovely to start the morning by taking her to school — makes my days shine bright!
8:45 a.m.: Get home and relax for a half an hour or so. Look through emails, speak to a director and producer I’m working with on a commercial next week. Listen to some beats — right now, I’m going heavy and hardcore on the Cymande song “Dove,” which we were listening to a lot while riding around between fashion shows in Paris. I check out the news. The world is wild right now, but it always has been — I’m still in love. Get some vibes going.
Mobolaji Dawodu
10 a.m.: Head to the city and meet up with a photographer friend of mine, Ian Reid, at Skylight, where a lot of the men’s shows are held. We go to the shows, and in between, I help him find interesting people to photograph with original style. (There’s a lot of uninteresting style out there.)
11:20 a.m.: Head to the John Elliott fashion show. Crazy amounts of street photographers.
12:30 p.m.: Head to a Nike appointment to see some new sneakers: Comme des Garcons Dunks, the new Riccardo Tisci collaboration, the new Acronym sneaker and the Vlone Air Force 1.
1:30 p.m.: Head up to the Ralph Lauren headquarters for a look at Purple Label for autumn/winter 2017. The Ralph stuff actually looks awesome: easygoing, but still elevated. Feeling it.
2:15 p.m.: Roll with the rest of the GQ Style crew to Barneys for lunch at Fred’s. I had a palm shrimp salad and a glass of wine — oops. Is it only 2 p.m. on a weekday? I like France! Ha. Good people watching. Cool to see a priest eating some soup and a fly old lady with great hair — sustenance and inspiration all at once.
3:15 p.m.: Head back downtown and see the Bottega Veneta pre-fall collection. GQ Style is obviously about menswear first, but I must say I was really digging the women’s collection. Luckily, we shoot fly women sometimes, too.
4:15 p.m.: Head back to the GQ Style office at One WTC just in time for a toast to Jim Nelson, the editor-in-chief of GQ. Earlier this week, he was named Editor of the Year at Condé Nast — congratulations, Jim!
5:30 p.m.: Back to my desk for about 20 minutes of checking emails and opening mail.
6:45 p.m.: Leave to head back to Skylight for the Todd Snyder show.
7:30 p.m.: Hop in a cab with the GQ Style crew. The much anticipated Raf Simons show is at Gagosian on 21st street. I was into it. It was lit! Afterwards, Will Welch asked if I Shazaamed any of the music from the show. I didn’t notice the music — I was too caught up with the clothes. Vibes.
9 p.m.: End of the night, and what an ending it was! Had a Ralph Lauren dinner at the Polo Bar. Great food — branzino — great conversations, an all-around great experience.
11:30 p.m.: It’s a wrap. Time to go home, stay up late for no reason, get some rest, think about life. I look forward to finding out what happened today in second grade. Tomorrow, we do this all over again!
