Meet Telfar Clemens, the designer behind Liberia’s iconic Olympic team outfits

Telfar Clemens, 36, is a fashion designer, DJ, and the founder of Telfar, which is a genderless fashion label based in Brooklyn in New York City. Picture: Jason Nocito/Instagram

Telfar Clemens, 36, is a fashion designer, DJ, and the founder of Telfar, which is a genderless fashion label based in Brooklyn in New York City. Picture: Jason Nocito/Instagram

Published Jul 31, 2021

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If you didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of the Liberian Olympic team uniforms at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics which took place on July 23, please take a moment, after you read this article of course, to google ‘Liberia Olympic Team Uniform’.

Out with the boring, often dull, golfer-like Olympic uniforms we’re used to seeing, which quite frankly aren’t very flattering. Liberia already claimed gold with their designer attire which was designed by Liberian-American fashion designer Telfar Clemens.

Clemens, 36, is a fashion designer, DJ, and the founder of Telfar, which is a genderless fashion label based in Brooklyn in New York City.

According to fashion news website WWD.com, Clemens recently visited Liberia for the first time in 30 years. A much younger Clemens and his family fled the country when a civil war broke out in 1990.

It was in his home country where he found his inspiration for his debut performance gear collection, and what better way to showcase it than at the biggest sporting event in the world.

Clemens is considered one of the rising talents on America’s fashion scene, with his in-demand collection of handbags, and the likes of celebrities such as Beyoncé and Zoë Krawits sporting a Telfar original.

Its official website says that Telfar is a unisex line started in 2005 by Telfar Clemens. And the company tagline, ‘It's not for you — it's for everyone,’ certainly says clearly that far from being designer clothing to be admired from a distance, everyone in fact deserves a Telfar original.

African News Agency (ANA)

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