Fashion Creatives Eulogise the Salience of Mother and Son Relationship

A mother is often regarded as her son’s first wife. She’s the first woman who sees his nakedness and dotes on him as her pride. When it feels like the world has turned its back on him, she holds him in her bosom, letting him bare his soul out to her because she is his mother.

She, alongside his father, grooms him to become a good husband and father. And prods him to always turn his weaknesses to his strengths.

That’s how beautiful the relationship between mother and son can be. Such beauty is what inspired Kalu O. David, the creative director of David Black, to work alongside other fashion creatives to create an editorial titled Nwoke Nne Ya translated as ‘My Mother’s Son’.

According to David,

“Over the period of the lockdown, I stumbled on images of Mary, the mother of Jesus and wondered about how she was presented to us through art and how that has influenced pop culture – sort of.

The relationship between sons and their mothers has been pathologized, idealized and surprisingly, largely unexplored.”

This editorial validates the salience of a mother’s role in her son’s quests for true happiness and of the lived experiences of pain, joy, and persistence that comes with that type of freedom. It speaks to the tradition of preserving and passing along stories that reflect the strengths and struggles related to the formation of our identity and expression.