Benin Series: MonsieurEstNoir On Embracing Your Identity

Founder Ayinla Da Silva wearing a piece from his Wax Capsule 2

Following on with our Benin Series with Beninese model, photographer and now fashion entrepreneur Ayinla Da Silva, the proud soul behind the MonsieurEstNoir label—meaning “The man is Black”. In an intimate conversation, Ayinla revisited his brand’s raison d'être and what it means to him.

What ignited your passion for fashion? And how did you start modelling and photography? Have you always known you would make a career in fashion?

Fashion has always been a part of my life. As a child, I’ve always been a fan of playing dress-up and watching my parents and aunties getting dressed to show up at our family functions.

Then, when‌ I was in high school, I decided myself that I would become a model. Although my first trials with my high school were unsuccessful, I finally took my shot on a day they were missing a male model for an event. Since then, I became a regular model for my high school and even others in town.

With photography, I first experimented as a kid with the camera of one of my mum friends. I enjoyed playing around with it and taking pictures of him. Later on, as a teenager, I practiced more thanks to a friend who used to lend me his camera on our everyday strolls to be “our crew photographer”. Even if I went on to study finance and insurance, I’d always dreamt of making a career in Arts. I’d go wherever my imagination would take me.

Models @charlifit_17 and @mr_nassara wearing MONSIEURESTNOIR SS22 swimwear sets

From modeling to photography, your imagination has taken you to create your own fashion brand MonsieurEstNoir. What is your brand all about?

MonsieurEstNoir came from my pride of being a Black person today. Feeling that pride has not always been obvious. Growing up in Benin, being Black or born in Africa was a complex for a lot of us as the system constantly fed us with ideas of the Western world and White people being superior to Africa and its people. School books or TV shows would point out how miserable our continent was. We grew up internalizing those low opinions, so our shared dream was always to leave the continent for better life opportunities in the West once we got our high school diploma. 

I only realized how much it had affected me when I left Benin for Canada. I decided to cut Black, non-White and Muslim people off so I wouldn’t be connected to the bad ideas they were associated with—murderers, thieves, terrorists, to name a few. I’m a Muslim Black man, yet I made the decision to silence who I was to be accepted into this Western world. It was quite a process for me to completely change perspective, and Montreal has helped me a lot on that journey. Meeting people from different backgrounds and communities embracing their diverse identities literally opened my eyes. Then George Floyd’s murder reinforced it.

Now I want to state that new found pride loud and clear through my art. Being proud of who I am, my culture, my Blackness, my people, made me conscious of my value as a human being, and this is what MonsieurEstNoir is all about. I want people to feel free and be themselves, no matter their skin colour, social class, religion or sexual orientation. MonsieurEstNoir speaks of love, respect, and equality.

The name “Monsieur Est Noir” aptly reflects that new state of mind.

Indeed, it’s a result of that process. I used to sell customized vintage dresses back in 2018 and I was thinking of a brand name at the time. I came up with “MonsieurEstNoir”. As one of my closest friend’s wasn’t sure about it, I forgot about it for a while. I didn’t have much funding to support the brand at the time anyway, so I put the brand on hiatus to take stock of things.

Fast forward to 2020, when George Floyd’s murder happened, I was devastated. I couldn’t stand it. Buoyed by the global protests' momentum, I went back to my brand which I then proudly named “MonsieurEstNoir”. I couldn’t care less about what people thought about it at this point. It became my way of making my voice heard as a Black man.

Then, after a much needed 6-month trip to West Africa traveling in Benin, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire to reconnect and recover from the lockdown in Montreal and those sad events, I officially started MonsieurEstNoir, fully designing all the pieces myself and producing them in Benin, at home. Everything was so accessible, as if it was just there waiting for me. The 25 tee-shirts test drop sold out immediately, to my great surprise. I have just kept up since then.

MONSIEURESTNOIR Color Pop collection photographed by @shawnpicture__, assisted by @takoumi_ramya @iamcorneille

What inspirations fuel your creative process?

I’m pretty much inspired by everything and anything in our daily lives. I’m a simple person who tries his best to make every day count. Life, nature, humans, animals, music, history, love, Voodoo—since it’s a major Beninese cultural heritage—and earth. Earth really is a daily inspiration for me. I guess there is no coincidence that “art” is at the centre of the word “earth”.

You use a lot of prints and even created your own for your SS22 collection? Do prints have a special meaning for you?

Growing up in Africa, I’ve been exposed to a wealth of patterns, repetitions of shapes, colours, textures and lines, especially on textiles. As well as finding patterns visually attractive, I see them as something innate, a sign of belonging to a group, a source of creativity gifted by life through humans, animals, earth and nature. I see patterns in Black African women's braided hairstyles, in animals’ unique coats, in leaves’ shapes. Trees, pods, seeds can be conceptualised as patterns. I want MonsieurEstNoir  to stand out from the crowd with very distinctive prints.

Any favourite pieces you’re most proud of from your collections?

Definitely! I’m most proud of my “Protect Our Black Women” tee. The inspiration came from the women of my life—my mother, sisters, aunties, grandma—and all the strong Black women I know. Growing up with women made me understand their struggles and realised how much they need to be empowered in this unfair society. They are not being heard enough, always told what to say or think. They’re told how to act, dress and being rejected because of their hair or skin colour. I always feel the need to be there for them. And to do this, we need to stand together as one, big and strong community.

You mentioned having felt that everything was accessible during your time in Benin. How has the local creative community contributed to your work? Was it easy to find people to work with?

Having worked with so many creatives over the past years in Benin has just made me realise how talented creatives are in my home country. For instance, I made my last commercial collection, MEN SS22, in Benin with an almost full Beninese team. Being surrounded by so much talent felt like an immense source of energy. I can’t wait to go back and connect with more talent.

On another note, that last stay made me notice that the current government acknowledges the power of our cultural heritage through the different initiatives putting it in the spotlight. It obviously fills my heart as an artist, but it also gives hope to Beninese people, whether they are creative or not.

Founder Ayinla wearing MONSIEURESTNOIR The Chris Summer Fit, photographed by Aïsha Fadonougbo

Lastly, what mantra do you live by? When was the last time you said it to yourself?

YOLO: You only live once, so stop worrying about the past. It’s already gone. The future lies in the present. Just live it and make it count. The last time I said it to myself was yesterday while I was stressing about my future and a more personal and funny situation I’m not ready to talk about here. *laughs*