Busayo’s Colorful Miami Art Week Pop‑Up at Art Basel

Busayo’s Colorful Pop-Up During Art Basel #MiamiArtWeek

Post by Michelle Olupona

Dec 08 2025

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Miami has always felt like a city that understands us. During Art Basel and Miami Art Week , the color gets turned all the way up – the light, the art, the people – and it feels like the most natural place in the world for Busayo to live in the wild. Women come to Miami ready to be seen, and I design for women who are not afraid of standing out, who feel a connection to color, to print, and to the joy that clothes can bring.

This year, I set up a garden pop‑up during Miami Art Week, and from the moment we opened, it felt like a reunion with old friends and a first meeting with so many new ones.

Tucked into a lush outdoor space with trees overhead and soft grass underfoot, our little corner was a calm pause from the intensity of the fairs and parties. Beautiful hand‑dyed pieces – circle‑printed dresses, long brush‑stroke shirt‑dresses, swingy minis, and full, dramatic maxis – moved in the breeze while people drifted in straight from panels, studio visits, and the Convention Center and various fairs.

The best part of a pop‑up like this is the intimacy of styling. All week I had one‑on‑one conversations with women about what they needed their clothes to do for them. Some were heading to serious collectors’ dinners and wanted something that felt elegant but still joyful. Others needed looks that would move from a day of walking fairs to a night of dancing, with just a change of shoes and lipstick. We adjusted belts, swapped sizes, layered on jewelry, and I watched as each woman shifted when she found her dress. Her posture changed. Her smile relaxed into something more genuine. She saw herself in the mirror and recognized a version of herself she wanted to bring into those rooms.

Miami Art Week is crowded, loud, and high‑stakes. Tens of thousands of visitors, hundreds of galleries, so many events that you can’t possibly attend them all. In that environment, clothes become more than decoration; they become a way of claiming your own space.

One night I spotted my friend, Ona, founder of Tribalized, wearing our iconic Dayo Dress, standing in front of a huge abstract painting at a gallery. The dress and the artwork seemed to be in conversation, both full of energy and movement, and yet she still felt like the center of the frame. Another evening, at a rooftop party, a woman in a short printed shift and stacked bracelets danced with her friends, her dress catching every flash of colored light. Seeing these pieces in motion – with sneakers, with heels, with big earrings and bare faces – reminded me that clothes come alive through the lives they are invited into.

All week, one idea kept coming back to me: dress as a source of power. Miami Art Week can be intimidating; you are constantly entering rooms full of people who seem to know each other, who speak comfortably about art, money, and taste.

But when a woman walks into those rooms in a look that felt truly hers – in a print that matched her inner volume, in colors that made her feel joyful – the energy shifts. The clothes are not a costume; they are a tool, helping her show up as herself more fully. That is the kind of power that I want Busayo to give.

I also loved reconnecting with our existing customers and friends, and meeting women who had followed us from afar but were trying on the pieces for the first time. Some had traveled in from all over the US and Europe; others were local Miami women who had seen us on Instagram and decided to stop by. Listening to what they loved – which colors excited them, which silhouettes made them feel grounded – was invaluable. It reminded me that design is a conversation, not a monologue.

The garden pop‑up became a little salon. Artists compared notes on installations they had seen that day. Curators and collectors swapped schedules for the next round of fairs.

Friends brought friends who had never worn Nigerian prints before and wanted to try. In between all of that, there were quiet moments: someone sitting on the swing in a dotted dress, catching her breath; another guest standing alone under the trees, smoothing the front of her new dress and taking a deep, satisfied breath before heading back out. Those are the moments I carry with me.

By the end of the week, I felt deeply grateful – for the women who trusted us to dress them for important panels, big dinners, and once‑in‑a‑lifetime parties; for the chance to see Busayo pieces moving through Miami’s streets, galleries, and dance floors; for the reminder that color and print can be serious tools for joy. Miami confirmed something I have always believed: clothes can be a source of strength, a way of honoring yourself as you move through the world. Art Week will always be about the art on the walls, but for me, it is also about the art we wear on our bodies and the stories we tell when we step into a room in full color.