“For the chief executive of the luxury etailer Luisavia-roma.com to attend Lagos Fashion Week, as he did last month, might have raised eyebrows a few years ago. Today, Andrea Panconesi is one of the city’s fashion scene’s most enthusiastic evangelists. “Lagos is the next important emerging economy,” he explains. “With the oil moving from the Middle East to Nigeria, the UN is expecting it to be the world’s largest city by 2015. It is the centre of business for the whole continent, like São Paulo is for South America. And where there is a strong economy, fashion follows.”
Nigeria has sashayed into the style spotlight this year: Michelle Obama wore London-based Nigerian-born Duro Olowu’s print dresses and a hand-painted indigo blouse by Lagos-based Maki Oh for a state visit to South Africa in June, while Beyoncé posted a selfie wearing a sweatshirt by London-born Nigerian designer Walé Adeyemi on Instagram in January.
Helen Jennings, editor of the pan-African fashion magazine Arise, says that Lagos designers are right at the zeitgeist. “The handcrafted quality and their locally-sourced fabrics tap into how luxury fashion is moving globally,” she says.
Malawi-born Daphne Kasambala, founder and chief executive of ethical African fashion etailer Sapelle.com, says: “Nigeria is a vast country with a diversity of tribes and tribal groupings. The Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo tribes, for instance, all have different cultural backgrounds, costumes and histories. This gives these designers a wealth of textiles, prints, and influences to draw from.”
Take the clothing currently on offer from Nigerian labels such as Jewel by Lisa, which incorporates exquisite hand embellishments into everyday patterned Ankara fabrics; Re Bahia, which uses traditional hand-embroidery techniques with modern-day prints (skirts from £340); and Buki Akib’s handwoven sporty styles (hooded jackets from $555). Orange Culture uses prints featuring old Nigerian coins for its tailored suits (blazers from £220), Nkwo’s slinky retro silk wrap (£375) updates the traditional wrapper and Bridget Awosika fuses an African aesthetic with a downtown New York vibe with handwoven silk-fringed dresses (from £250).
“These labels clearly have tribal inspiration but don’t shriek ‘Africa’, so they fit into the western wardrobe”, says Simon Burstein, chief executive of London fashion boutique Browns, which is planning an event to celebrate designers from Lagos next year. . .”
The Financial Times has the full story.
Photo: Kola Oshalusi
Founded in 2007, Ladybrille® Magazine is a California based pioneer digital publication demystifying the image of Africans in the west through contemporary African fashion and celebrating the brilliant woman in business and leadership, with an emphasis on the African woman in the diaspora. Our coverage includes stories on capital, access to markets, expertise, hiring and retention, sales, marketing, and promotions.
