There is a particular kind of woman Laura Hanson designs for. She walks into a room without announcing herself and yet the room shifts. She is not dressed to be seen. She is dressed to be remembered.
That distinction is at the heart of everything Lauren Haute Couture does, and it has never been clearer than in this Kaba and Slit lookbook.
The kaba and slit belongs to everyone. It has dressed Ghanaian women through funerals and festivals, church services and corporate boardrooms, market days and red carpets. It is, in every sense, the people’s garment. What Lauren Hanson does in this lookbook is remind us that accessibility and elevation are not opposites.
Every look is built around a clean, structured silhouette; a bodice that meets the body honestly, a skirt that falls with quiet drama, a slit that opens at exactly the right angle to give the wearer full control over what she reveals. Nothing here is accidental. These are decisions made by a designer who understands that the real work happens before the fabric is cut.
Lauren Hanson does not shy from colour. Bold terracottas and midnight blues, sage greens and ceremonial blacks and whites move through the lookbook with the ease of a designer who has made peace with the full range of what African textiles can carry.
But there is discipline here too. Each colour choice feels less like a trend call and more like a character one; as if Hanson held each fabric up to the light and asked “who is this for?” The ankara prints hold their own energy. The lace breathes. The solids give the eye somewhere to settle. The result is a palette that like a wardrobe with memory.
This lookbook speaks to a wide constituency. To the professional stepping out of a meeting in Accra who wants her clothes to say something before she does. To the wedding guest who understands that elegance and ornamentation are not the same thing. To the woman who has always loved the kaba and slit but wanted it to feel; finally, like it was made specifically for her.
These are not trend pieces. They will not feel dated in three years because they were never chasing a trend to begin with. They are rooted in something older and more durable; a silhouette with history, now in the hands of a designer with vision.
To move through this lookbook is to understand what it looks like when craft meets culture meets conviction. It is the Lauren Haute Couture woman, fully realised. Dressed not for the moment she is standing in, but for the room she is about to walk into.
Lauren Haute Couture is based in East Airport, Accra. Follow @laurenhautecouture on Instagram
Now, see for yourself. Scroll through the looks below and let Lauren Hanson’s work speak on its own terms.
