imekura hearts lagos.

Moving to Lagos has been a big turning point for us. So many things have changed. We've changed.

Both of us had to get jobs for one thing. That meant doing grown up things like waking up early and thinking about stocks and real estate. Those parts were scary! But it has also meant actually growing as people. We've had new experiences, seen new things and made new friends. Those parts we liked.

When we got here, one of the first things we did was release a collection that was inspired by the emotions we experienced during our shift. We called it "Lagos" and it featured our citrusy line of "Molue" tops, the sexy Je Suis Africaine v-neck for girls, the "football or soccer" confusion shirt for guys and our first ever tote bags!

We threw a thing to formally launch the collection and the label in Lagos and were able to do it in collaboration with our friends at the Xposure Studio in VI. Their fine work (pictures taken of our friends in our shirts) was the central exhibition piece that night. We printed them out then pegged them to hangers and hung them from a clothing rack instead of the real shirts! That was fun.

Finally we released the most recent of our love notes. Also called "Lagos". This note was really special to us because it was our expression of the mood that was Lagos as we first re-experienced it. Ayetoro was what we were listening to then and we still feel his track "Naija Blues II," which we featured in our note, is extremely eloquent of that mood.

This love note was not just to our image club but also to the whole of Lagos as we saw it. A crazy, beautiful, vibrant, sexy city that's like no place else on earth.

See love note here.

XX

music sounds better with you...

Has that thing ever happened to you where a tune gets into your head and becomes a soundtrack for everything you're doing? Like driving or shopping or dressing up? And then some how (especially if you're in the creative industry) the tune leaks into your work so that it's translated into a story or a drawing or a design? Yes? Don't you love that?

It always seems like art that was influenced by other art that you love and appreciate comes out with an extra something. Like a love child that will always remind you of the other parent (which is only good, i suppose, if you actually love that other parent). Later you can look back on it and have a total nostalgic moment. So sweet.

If I remember correctly, when imekura started, we (the other green girl and I) had simultaneously gotten into Bossa nova. I had discovered Joao and Astrud Gilberto, Cee had discovered their daughter Bebel and we were in total harmony. Bebel's work in particular featured on our respective playlists around the time we were working on the nostalgia collection.


Some of our favourites included:

- Baby
- Jabuticaba
- Sem Contecao
- So Nice (Summer Samba)

We also liked "Ides of March" which is a popular and classic bossa nova song. The one we had was I think performed by a group called Brasilia.

At that time we were also getting into the newer indie rock genres (see Williamsburg, NY) via Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Hives, The Strokes, etc. Cee's significant other (at that time) played bass for a progressive rock band and it was in following his performance circuit, she uncovered the band that impacted us the most in the year 2004.

On July 28th 2004, at Lion's Den, New York, Cee discovered Jupiter One!!!!


An electro-pop rock fusion act that uses synthesisers, multiple keyboards and violin(/fiddle?) to create the catchiest hooks and the most wistfully unforgettable melodies ever. Since that night we managed to catch them live one more time before returning to Nigeria and we were not even slightly disappointed!

They have recently achieved some fame because tracks from their self titled album have been used in a lot of big franchise video games (See Madden). One song "Platform Moon" was also used for a Mazda commercial and the ever addictive "Countdown" (which is the song currently stuck in my head) was used in pre-season premiere special of "Heroes"! Naturally we are stoked by their success and hope for much, much more!

We loved them so much back then that the track, "Summer Eulogy" (I think it's now called "Summer Song"?) from their first CD featured in our first love video. It's still one of our best. Other songs on there that juiced us while creating our line were:

- Wrong Line
- Kamikaze Pilots
- Mystery Man

These songs and more are now on their officially released self titled album. Till today, we love Jupiter One and can not urge everyone enough to check them out!

On the whole, in 2004 we listened to a lot of different things but I think I can confidently say that Bebel Gilberto and Jupiter One were our strongest musical influences when we first started creating Imekura. We are eternally grateful to them for this and hope we can pass on the creative buzz that they gave us.

Well, there have been two more collections since "Nostalgia" and one currently in the works. As music continues to be part of what inspires us, please expect more rhapsodies on the musicians and music that will always be a part of our process!

ja ne!
xx

What's happening?

It's November, the United States has changed history by electing a "man of colour" to the office of President and our much awaited new collection is...yet to make an appearance. Surprised? Frankly we are too! What's happening?

All sorts of things really. We're trying to learn flash so we can finish up the website and meanwhile we are quite busy with our respective jobs.

On the bad news side we did lose some inventory to some light fingered staff about a month back so now there are some really limited edition imekura tees and totes floating about out there somewhere. We may have to introduce a certificate system and empower our clients to demand them of anyone seen wearing one. Hmmm...

Anyways, on the good news side we are gathering up a wealth of inspiration and skill so we can happily guarantee that our next collection is going to be too fresh! There might even be a couple of surprises included so you should keep an eye on this space!

We hope you'll stay interactive! Feel free to leave comments here or write us at info@twogreengirls.com.

Sorry for the long silence. We're still in love with you.

All our love,
xx

A peek at what’s still in stock.

All our shirts are limited.

We only make about 20 copies of each item and after you buy them up we close the design and it is put away for posterity.

Sometimes, a design gets a lot of popular demand and we reprint a new version of it but in an even smaller number to preserve the limited nature of the shirts.

A good example of this would be the “Ikoyi” Shirt from our first collection, “Nostalgia”:

"Old Ikoyi" "New Ikoyi"

Sometimes you guys send us cute pictures of you wearing some of our old designs. Those go up, with much painstaking love, on our scrap - book page, which you should totally check out.




But the most important things that you can find right now on our website, are the items that are for the time being in stock!

They are:
“Molue”


“Soccer or Football?”:





“Je Suis Africaine”:

And our most recent collection’s surprise items:

The “Je Suis” Totes

We are working hard to finish up the purchasing dynamics of the websites so you can get your hands on these latest Imekura pieces.

We can’t wait to see you in them!

XX

Two Green Girls Dreaming…

Welcome to the Imekura blog! We’re glad you stopped by!

Many of you have been sending us questions, some of you telepathically (how do you do that?), about the Imekura T-Shirts. Questions like, are they still in production? What’s up with the website? How long till the next collection?

We really can’t thank you enough for your caring and your support so instead of trying to do so, we will tell you a story.

A long time ago, somewhere in the Western Hemisphere, two girls of a greenish disposition were dreaming dreams. Though the girls were green, their dreams were many coloured and the colours were many hued. Sometimes, it was hard for them to keep it all in their heads and the dreams would spill over and splatter their clothes.

That’s how the idea first came to them to do the shirts. They set to work almost immediately, following several constitutional naps. They took pieces from every day-dream and night dream they had ever had, in every place they had ever lived and every mood they had ever felt. Some of them weren’t complete and some were only half remembered but it didn’t matter because they really liked them.

They called them Imekura because while they waited for the ink to dry, they made up haikus. That made them think of borrowing things and changing meanings. So they did that too.

When they were done, they made a love video about it and sent it to you! The rest as they say is history.

Since that time the two green girls have moved across an ocean and during the swim, some things got a little shook up.

We now dream and create from Lagos. The website is still damp in places but is actually being worked on by a cool little company called Yellow Dog where at least one green girl now works.

It takes a little longer now because we both got jobs. Now, there’s less time for naps, dreams and haikus but we always somehow find a way!

So in summary, we are still in business, you will soon be able to comfortably shop from our website and we are brimming over with inspiration for a brand new collection.

We hope you plan to hang in there, because the story keeps going and all our friends and fans who support us have become an important part of it.

So thanks for all the love. We love you guys the mostest!

XX