“Creativity is my main thing.”
Tega Akinola
Interview by Crystal Mayanja
Kappa photo credits: Kappa/Max Giorgeschi
Nosakhari photo credits: Nosakhari/Jacob Power
A Closer Look
It was an early day for me in March in my Brooklyn home, when I spoke to Tega Akinola. She was at home outside of London and it was after 3pm there. Administrative work was on her agenda and a call with a potential new partner. She would be working on the quote for the potential work she would do.
My first introduction to Tega was through Bianca Gittens of RE/Stance in October of 2025. Bianca wanted to me interview Tega for the upcoming RE/Stance event in February 2026 and I looked at her social media and was blown away by her work. Fast forward, I asked Tega if she would be open to an interview for CRUSHfanzine and she obliged.
What I love about this magazine is its approach. The perfunctory questions are out and it’s all about feelings, vibes, and individual idiosyncrasies of the interviewee and interviewer. I was having a normal day for me i.e. dropping off my son to school, returning to eat breakfast, which was avocado toast, and then get ready for the interview by reviewing my questions. I hoped for a fun and flowing discussion.
“Creativity is my main thing,” she said. Tega is certainly a very creative person who works in different mediums such as music, fashion, and film. She is also a multi-disciplinary artist/designer who’s collaborated with some of the biggest fashion brands, such as Nike and Ray Ban and publications such as i-D.
When I asked about what she currently finds inspiring, she responded with “Inspiration comes from short form media content that’s done creatively to introduce a project.” This can be seen in the latest collaboration Kappa x Tega Akinola, just released in April which transforms football (soccer) jerseys into new fashionable designs.
As a huge football fan myself, I asked Tega about her favorite Premier League team, which is Arsenal and her favorite play being Saka. Somehow, I knew this would be her answer, and I wasn’t mad at it, even though my team, Manchester United is a fierce rival, Arsenal has my respect. Her country teams for the World Cup: England and Nigeria. Mine, Brazil.
Back to the fashion, but for Tega, sport and fashion intersect effortlessly, and this melding can be seen in her namesake collection as well as her partnerships with Kappa and recently, London-based leather handbag brand, Nosakhari.
Working with leather is an inspiration of late and manifested a capsule collection, the Modern Circuit Edition with Nosakhari. She and the founder, Nosakhare Osadolor met in 2024 and the collab debuted during London Fashion Week in February of this year. The collection focused on themes of connection, flow, order, and chaos today. She came in wanting to create her own bag and they landed on re-iterating a new version of the popular Butler Crossbody bag with her signature cable detail that can be seen in her own designs.
“It was a good process. There were a lot of sessions just brainstorming and discussing things. I feel like we’re quite stubborn people when it comes to design. It was very collaborative,” she says of being a student again in leather through this process.
Obsessions: When she’s not making waves in the fashion and art industries, I asked Tega about her obsessions. “Running and sport in general. Running because it’s accessible,” she says. Basketball was her choice at university.
Influences: I inquired about her influences in fashion. It makes sense she would pick Alexander McQueen as her favorite designer. I had to applaud this as I too am a massive McQueen fan and riffed on how I still have some of the Vogue‘s when he was dressing Naomi Campbell for one of his iconic collections before his untimely death.
Favorite Brands: Miu Miu and Prada. She likes what they do – the ugly chic aesthetic is her vibe. Tega says she wants to start vintage shopping and pick up Prada Sport pieces from the 90s, a love of hers. She finds a through-line in her fashion sportswear with these storied brands.
Dream collab: Prada or Miu Miu again would be her choice, with a sport edge, referencing bags like the Prada nylon hobo’s and cross bodies famously from the 90s and early 2000s.
When I asked Tega what three songs or artists would make up the soundtrack of her work, two came to her effortlessly.
#1 – The Hans Zimmer-composed song from the first Dune film was her first choice.
#2- Lana Del Rey is one of her favs that’s playing while she’s working. “Her story telling puts me in a different time zone,” she says. I concur. The third artist would come at the end of our talk.
We moved into her namesake brand and what she’s focused on now. She’s revamping the point-of-view of the brand to blend all her inspirations including futurism, sportswear, and women’s wear and thinking of and concepting new products.
As we wind down, some forty minutes in and since it’s approaching evening in the UK, I ask Tega how she usually end’s her days. You can find her at her family home practicing her piano and/or violin to keep the fingers agile. Did I mention her brother was the DJ at the Nosakhari x Tega Akinola preview? Hers is a family of creatives, from her seamstress mom to her dad who was a graphic designer back in Nigeria, to her sister whose studying interior design at university. She says she loves creating with other people but says next lifetime, music will be her focus. She also starts playing one of her instruments when taking a break from creating a piece to get the creative juices flowing.
Getting back to the third artist on her playlist, Tega aptly says any song from FKA Twigs. “Love her.”