Fashion designer Mo Rabiu is drawn to unconventional materials.
She’s made a vest out of a thick, tan couch cushion. A sleek teal coat and matching pants from upholstery. A fringed red-and-white sweater out of a blanket.
Since founding her clothing line, So’Radical, in 2022, she’s brought her work to fashion weeks in Paris, London, and New York City. She’s wowed audiences in the Capital Region and beyond with her eclectic, one-of-a-kind designs, which balance elegance and comfort. Her clothing brings quality, heft, and substance to a world dominated by cheap, mass-produced outfits.
“My work and my personal style go hand in hand,” Rabiu says. “Every time I put on an outfit, I want it to be ‘so radical’ in the sense that I want something that is different. Unique. I try to do a lot of avant-garde styles.”
A native of Lagos, Nigeria, Rabiu has always loved fashion. She cites her mother, a fabric designer with an eye for color, as her biggest fashion influence. “Every time I touch a fabric, every time I touch a textile, it speaks to me,” Rabiu says. “Fashion is in me because that’s what I was born into.”
Rabiu moved to London when she was 14, and came to the US around the age of 20. She had family in Schenectady, and attended Fulton-Montgomery Community College before enrolling at SUNY Plattsburgh. She taught herself to sew by watching YouTube videos. “I wanted to learn how to make something on my own—to make my clothing different,” Rabiu says. “I wanted to put a pocket here, put a stitch here…stuff like that.”
But first, the real world. After graduating from college in 2012, Rabiu landed a finance job in New York City before eventually relocating to Albany to be closer to her family. Then the pandemic hit, and she found herself yearning to do something more creative.
That desire inspired her to open a tailoring shop, European Tailoring & Alterations, on North Pearl Street in downtown Albany. Her services include hemming pants, shortening sleeves, and making other adjustments to clothes.
It was from that tailoring work that So’Radical emerged. Because of her reluctance to throw out perfectly good fabrics, Rabiu began experimenting with remnants of materials used for other jobs. Her first garment? A tapestry blanket she turned into a hoodie. When she posted pictures of it on social media, the response was overwhelmingly positive. “The community loved it,” Rabiu says.
Since then, the designer’s modus operandi hasn’t changed all that much. Her work still emphasizes sustainability. She loves thrifting culture and is a harsh critic of fast fashion—quickly produced, inexpensive clothing that mimics the popular styles of fashion labels—which she regards as exploitative and wasteful.
And while Rabiu still likes to make hoodies, in recent years her designs, which she creates for all genders, have leaned more tailored. She recently made a splash by designing and crafting the white satin suit that Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs wore to her inauguration earlier this year. Applyrs gave Rabiu almost complete creative freedom—her sole request was that the outfit include a tulip, the city’s official flower. Rabiu stitched one into the lapel. “A suit created with intention for a woman making history,” a European Tailoring Instagram post proclaims.
In asking Rabiu to design her inauguration suit, Applyrs was making a statement. During the first couple of months of her mayorship, she has emphasized the wealth of talent the city has—artistically, culinarily, and otherwise—and the importance of supporting local businesses if we want to see Albany succeed. Rabiu’s small business, which has brought Albany’s name to fashion shows around the world, is the epitome of that mindset.
“Every single thing is made by me,” Rabiu says of So’Radical’s designs. “And it’s made right here in Albany.”
