Save this story Save Story Save this story Africa’s biggest and buzziest fashion week drew to a close on Sunday night with an intimate dinner held by Nigerian heavyweight designer Lisa Folawiyo, who returned to the official Lagos Fashion Week schedule after a seven-year break. The five-day event saw approximately 16,000 people in attendance, up from 15,000 last season. Some 65 designers flocked to the Nigerian metropolis to showcase their collections to an audience of press, influencers, and other industry figures.
This season, it was local talent who dominated the week, with several Nigerian designers showcasing their collections on and off-schedule. As with all Lagos Fashion Week events, shows happen on-site at the Federal Palace Hotel, while off-site shows take place around the city. Mainstay designers like Emmy Kasbit, Ugo Monye, and Sisano showcased their collections through a mix of presentations and runway shows. Other buzzy designers such as Hertunba welcomed guests to their new stores (in addition to their runway shows), while LFJ held her Spring/Summer 2027 runway at her concept store Akoko.
Even those who now show up at fashion week internationally like Iamisigo , who showcased her collection in Copenhagen, and Orange Culture and Fruché, who both presented their collections in Berlin, are committed to returning and being a part of the Lagos Fashion Week calendar, too.
Now in its 16th edition, the platform is gaining more international attention than ever before. International buyers and media were in town from the Middle East as well as neighboring African countries including Senegal and Ghana, while buzzy US influencers and models Eni Popoola and Alton Mason also flew in for the shows.
(Left) Jermaine Bleu, and Boyedoe (right).
During the week, guests gathered at the US General Consulate to witness Omoyemi Akerele, founder of Lagos Fashion Week, receive an Excellence in Commercial and Creative Leadership Award from Consul General Brandon Hudspeth. Guests included Chioma Ude, founder of Africa International Film Festival, influencers Popoola and Akin Faminu, as well as designers like Ejiro Amos Tafiri. The award signifies Lagos Fashion Week’s ability to help springboard talent into the international market, particularly in the US.
“[Akerele] has built a platform that brings Nigerian fashion to the world,” said Consul General Hudspeth during Friday’s event. “American talent has found a home right here in Lagos. Last year, singer Ciara was right here making headlines on the Lagos runway during fashion week.” He also points to brands like US’s Tia Adeola and Studio 189, a label co-founded by actress Rosario Dawson, which have shown on the Lagos schedule.
Omoyemi Akerele, founder of Lagos Fashion Week receiving an award from Brandon Hudspeth, the Consul General.
Beyond the runway, Nigerian designers are going global, Hudspeth acknowledged. “Nigerian designers are reaching American customers, and that creates business for Americans and Nigerians,” he added, pointing to New York-based e-commerce platform Moda Operandi, which holds digital trunk shows for Lagos Fashion Week designers, and trade shows like Coterie, which has featured local talent. “This, of course, is cultural diplomacy, but it is also commercial diplomacy, and the consulate is working to build these relations and connections.”
African designers who have spent more than two decades in the industry returned to the schedule, including Christie Brown and Lisa Folawiyo, as well as Bridget Awosika from Nigeria. “I feel it’s important that we were within the official calendar. It makes sense,” said Folawiyo. “It’s something I really thought about and I felt this is the right time.” The brand, which turned 21 years old this year, brought Lagos Fashion Week to a close with a candle lit five-course meal, surrounded by an intimate crowd of celebrities, influencers, friends and industry leaders.
For Ghana’s Christie Brown, returning to Lagos Fashion Week after an eight-year hiatus was part of a larger expansion strategy as the brand builds its presence across the continent. “As much as we’re building a global brand, we also do believe that there are certain key markets on the continent that we absolutely need to have a presence in,” said founder and creative director Aisha Ayensu. Those hotspots include Kenya, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa. “This is a re-entry into the market. We don’t want to come in guns blazing. We want to enter cautiously.” The brand now has a six-month residency at luxury retailer Temple Muse, giving local consumers an opportunity to shop Christie Brown pieces in Lagos.
Ugo Monye, the founder of his eponymous label, returned after a year-long break. The popular Nigerian designer explained that there’s an overwhelming pressure to create and prioritize design. Many simply enjoy the design process and do not pay attention to whether the backend business operations are in order. Unlike in the West, where designers are creating collections for four or more seasons, Monye and several African designers prefer to do one collection a year. He said his collections from two seasons ago are still in demand.
“Because I was having some backend issues, the workload was a lot and then to add fashion week on top of it, I just said, ‘You know what? Let me just take a break and catch my breath, then come back,’” he said, adding that he is the only person on his team overseeing the business. “Our industry is not fully structured yet, so you have to be a part of everything, even when you hire people.”
Despite the break, Monye is committed to showcasing in Lagos. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for a long time,” he said. “The brand [leaving] the fashion week calendar is out of the question.”
Showing during Lagos Fashion Week is increasingly important because of the rising media attention, said Abelia Anaba Franklyn, founder of couture house Weiz Dhurm Franklyn. “[Designers] want more coverage. It’s such an important moment in fashion, African fashion and Nigerian fashion,” she said. “Nigerians have the spending power. Once you have a distinct point of view that is not a regurgitation of another brand, people will acclimate toward you.” Now, the couturier is branching further into ready-to-wear where her pieces start from $600.
Elsewhere, others used fashion week as an opportunity to announce major business news. On Saturday, Post-Imperial shared that it was shutting down after 10 years. “I’ve said everything I needed to say with Post-Imperial,” said founder Niyi Okuboyejo backstage at his final show, which was a collaboration with Nigerian sustainable fashion brand This Is Us. Over the past decade, the brand built a strong wholesale model and was in over 200 retail stores, from Bergdorf Goodman in the US to Alára in Nigeria.
“Today’s a great day for me,” he added. “I also tried to expand the idea of what fashion is, and fashion shows aren’t necessarily just runway.” With this final collection, held in the courtyard, Okuboyejo gathered friends of the brands to walk the makeshift runway, including stylist Ugo Mozie, industrial designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello, and Dada Gallery’s Oyinkan Dada.
There’s often a misconception that Lagos Fashion Week is just for Nigerian designers. While they make up the majority, there are a handful of designers from across the continent who traveled to cash in on the buzz. This season saw some new and old international designers join the schedule, including Ghana’s Christie Brown and IGC Fashion from Uganda.
Unable to secure sponsorships in time, IGC Fashion self-funded its trip to Lagos Fashion Week, hoping to connect with media, a new audience and a larger fashion market. “We’re lacking media and big investors in the country. It’s a big opportunity for designers in Uganda to be at a stage like Lagos Fashion Week,” said brand founder Katende Godfrey.
Over in North Africa, Moroccan designer Scheherazade Essrhir shares a similar sentiment. After participating in Lagos Fashion Week’s Green Access, an incubator for young designers, Essrhir took some time away to perfect her craft. “Through Green Access, I learnt that being a designer is more than creating and designing. It’s a lot of work,” she said. “[At Lagos Fashion Week], they support us even when the show is over.” In Lagos, Essrhir feels she has support and community as the fashion week team schedules regular check-in calls and feedback.
From a business lens, South African designer Mzukisi Mbane, founder of Imprint ZA, believes Lagos is the place to be. “In South Africa, we have fashion shows. We have the glitz and the glamour. But for me, the bottom line is always important,” he said. “I want to be visible to people that can help the brand grow and be seen… even if [buyers] are not purchasing pieces, I’m still on their radar.” Mbane was named a recipient of this year’s Africa Fashion Up Award, an initiative dedicated to nurturing emerging regional designers, and will see him receive mentorship from Balenciaga, since the Kering-owned brand has on-going partnership with the platform.
British Nigerian designer Reni Abina chose to bring her collection to Lagos again this season. “As we expand internationally, it’s important to me that we remain connected to the city and the community that first embraced us,” Abina said. “We’ve always wanted to build a truly global fashion brand, but I don’t believe that global recognition should come at the expense of our roots.”
There were a handful of buyers in attendance this season, many of whom noticed a shift in the overall collections on display. “I’ve been coming [to Lagos Fashion Week] for a few years, and this is probably the most cohesive year that I’ve ever experienced,” says Arinola Fagbemi, a buyer at Lagos-based concept store Alara, adding that they are now building collections around who their client is and what they might want to buy from them.
Wearability is a key concern. This season, Alara partnered up with Lagos Fashion Week to host a showroom for designers after their runway shows. It’s a move that’s really helped buyers, including the Alara team, see the clothes in-person and gauge things like finishing, texture, and weight. Standout shows for her include Orange Culture, Dukun, and Orire. “We’re looking for the finishing. Clients are very discerning, especially the Alara client. They want things that are well made. They don’t care that it’s from Nigeria or from Africa. They expect the same level of detail,” she says.
African retailers are setting aside a separate budget for Lagos. “We’ve understood now that it works differently,” says Fagbemi, adding they do not follow the international buying calendar and place orders for every season. “The fortunate thing is that the turnaround time for a lot of African brands is very quick. So what we’re seeing on the runway now, many of them will have it ready for the holidays, because of Detty December [a festive period full of parties and live music events] and that peak period.” Alara buyers also attend Milan, London and Paris fashion weeks.
Viva Accra operates on a different model. “We have an allocation for African designers within our overall buying budget, rather than a completely separate budget for Lagos. It’s about finding the right brands and making considered buying decisions,” says Sacha Okoh, creative director and buyer at Viva Accra, a concept store in Ghana.
Lagos Fashion Week is an important discovery platform. “We have a genuine interest in growing our African designer offering,” continues Okoh, noting that the store currently carries a number of Nigerian and Ghanaian brands, but she is “always looking for designers whose work I feel can sit comfortably alongside our international labels.”
She adds: “A collection can be beautiful on the runway, but for me, it’s also about how those pieces translate into real wardrobes. I look for that balance between creativity, quality, wearability and commercial appeal.” Standout collections include Christie Brown, Jermaine Bleu and Boyedoe. Okoh regularly attends fashion weeks and trade shows in Milan, Paris, and London.
As Sunny Dolat, a researcher, consultant and Lagos Fashion Week SS27’s creative director, observes: “This year, the platform attracted an even larger international audience than last, with many visitors traveling to Nigeria specifically for fashion week,” he says. “This strongly indicates a platform that is not only well regarded and respected, but has firmly established itself as an important destination for discovering some of the most compelling design talent from across the African continent.”
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Source: Lifestyle