The work of an artist has always been a practice of articulation—transmuting one’s innermost imagination and ideas into the external world. Participants serve as portals between the unseen and the seen, as they tap into and reveal their boundless creativity. This praxis is essential to the craftsmanship of Dynasty and Soull Ogun, the founders of Brooklyn-based brand L’Enchanteur. Together, the sisters design ornate jewelry, accessories and clothing; their work has adorned such luminaries as Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Erykah Badu and Joey Bada$$. Founded on the ethos of art as a form of mystic healing, the label reimagines the family heirloom—and invites its patrons to examine their relationship with objects. Winners of the 2024 CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund Award, the designers have a portfolio featuring intuitive designs and intentional work. The fund, which has helped elevate the profiles of such industry darlings as Sandy Liang and Christopher John Rogers, now also propels the L’Enchanteur duo to a new stratosphere.
The brand launched in 2017 as a merger of Dynasty’s and Soull’s separate entities, BRZÉ and Alkhemi9. At the time, Dynasty was helming BRZÉ and crafting cut-and-sew pieces from denim. A representative from Berlin’s Bread & Butter trade show invited Dynasty to the event after spotting her work on a client in South Africa. Dynasty and Soull saw the trade show as the perfect opportunity to collaborate. They arrived at the venue with minimal inventory: five pieces of clothing, three rings, two bracelets and a necklace. “Coming as we did felt like this obstacle, because big denim brands like Levi’s and G-Star were building out stores at this show,” Soull recalls. “Dynasty and I had a small space, but even then, we were able to create a feeling. The triumph around that was that everyone was sending people to our booth.”
L’enchanteur is a French word that translates to “enchanter.” The codesigners chose the term to reference their ability to awaken objects—while paying homage to the patois of their mother’s family, which hailed from Dominica in the West Indies.
Whether using fabric, sheets of gold, brass or stones, the Ogun sisters turn inanimate objects into sculptural pieces. Their craft was developed through a legacy of autodidactic learning. Their maternal grandmother worked as a seamstress in Dominica, outfitting customers for Carnival; their mother designed and custom- made their clothes in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood.
As the youngest of six—including their late sister Catherine, who was also a designer—the duo spent their time sketching ideas and caricatures of themselves, something Dynasty now describes as a process of self-immortalizing. Soull and Dynasty’s collections appear as a visual portmanteau of their cultural influences—being raised in Flatbush, with roots in Dominica and Lagos.
The brand’s Fall 2022 presentation involved pairing elements of Nigerian and Dominican dress, with a modern New York flair. Their Spring 2025 collection, K.O.D.E. (Keys Open Doors Everywhere): Extra Terra Astrals (E.T.A), Memory in Time, serves as a means of unlocking inner strength and inviting attendees to walk through portals.
“We were using different aspects of memory—whether inspired by an outfit our dad had on or the way we practice our connections to memory,” says Soull about their inspiration for the collection. “Whether that’s tea drinking, herbs, meditation or sound healing—all of these different aspects were essentially conceptual. We were creating a world where those conceptions live.”
In tandem with their use of embroidery on West African fabric and textiles, their presentation leaned toward surrealism, bringing together the familiar and unfamiliar.
The healing aspect of L’Enchanteur is embedded in the design process—and allows the designers’ own journey to take place. Their craft-making relies on symbolism, letting them share what those different symbols mean and how they’ve been used as tools of medicine. What ensues is an affirmation from patrons; their adornments essentially become an armor. This relationship between the objects, the makers and the customer forms an intimacy that builds a unique community. Now, on the cusp of receiving a $300,000 grant from the CFDA, the Oguns aim to broaden these relationships and take their brand worldwide. Says Soull, “We’re ready to receive what we deserve from all the work that we’ve put in.”
Photographer: Marisa Langley
Photography Assistant: Nas’tassia Simpson