Yes, Lagos Fashion Week Day One didn’t deliver Fashion, and I will try to explain what really happened.
When you hear Lagos Fashion Week, most people think of fashionable outfits, runways, and designers. Less is usually said about another important aspect of it – the conversations on fashion itself.
In case you are new to this, the Lagos Fashion Week is a 4-day event that brings together the who is who in African fashion. Specifically, buyers, consumers, and the media come to view the current collections of designers.
It happens in the fashion capital of Lagos, Nigeria, and Wednesday, October 23rd, officially marked the first day of the 14th Edition.
Heading to Lagos fashion week, I had expected to be hit and blinded by the steeze and slay of various fashionistas. But oh, how wrong I was. The beginning of the 2024 season of the Lagos Fashion Week was actually way less about fashion looks and more about conversations about fashion in Africa in what was termed – Fashion Business Series 2024.
The first event was a breakfast meeting titled – Lagos Fashion Week x Bicester Collection:The Fabrics of Change. This featured top panelists – Dodos Uvieghara (Beauty and lifestyle entrepreneur, Founder and creative director of Melrose Loft and the D’Artiste Beauty); Adebayo Oke-Lawal (Founder, Orange Culture); Tamu McPherson (CNMI Diversity, Equity and Inclusion ambassador); Laurent Vinay (Chief Brand & International Communications Officer, Value Retail).
The panellists used their personal experiences to educate the audience on more ways for African fashion to be elevated African fashion can really make its way to the global space. This was quite an enlightening conversation because it highlighted how some African designers were already killing it in the global space and there is still room for more.
It also emphasized on how social media platforms are a good ways for upcoming designers to put themselves out there in order to be noticed. There was also the call for African designers to be intentional with how they want to portray themselves and most importantly, tell a story with their pieces.
“For African designers, it will be great to really collaborate and be intentional in terms of how you want to portray yourself because everybody is watching. Your voice is very powerful, your voice needs to be heard and the more authentic and true to yourself, the more you stand out,” Uvieghara emphasized.
On his end, the Orange Culture founder, Bayo spoke extensively on how designers needed to include effective storytelling in their pieces. For him, upcoming designers and fashion enthusiasts trying to build their brands need to do so with effective storytelling and communication.
He also pointed out how it does not stop with just building your brand. It is also important to learn how to interact with buyers. “A lot of times, people will say I want to be international, but are you prepared? Do you have what it takes to sit in a room with buyers and defend your business?:
The session later came to an end and this was followed by the Business of Photography Masterclass with Kola Oshalusi x Sony. For emphasis, Kola Oshalusi is one of the biggest names in Africa when it comes to runway photography. There is literally no global magazine that he hasn’t worked with…unless they are not that big.
Kola used this session to share his secrets about what made him the success that he is today and how other upcoming photographers could do the same.
And just when we thought the talk shows were finally done with, we had the stylish Denola Grey walk in with some pretty fashion girlies – Fashion and Lifestyle Queen, Frilancy Hoyle; Fashion Influencer, Nneka Michel and Content Creator and Fashionista, Tenicka Boyd,
This session which is also part of the Fashion Business Series 2024, centered on Influence in Style; Shaping Global Conversations On African Fashion.
Everyone in this panel has, for a long time worn African designs and always used the opportunity to showcase them. Throughout the session, they all emphasized how ready the world is to see more of African fashion and the designers in Nigeria need to start putting in more effort towards this.
This concluded the lineup of events for the day at the Lagos Fashion Week itself…So yes, day one did not exactly deliver fashion but it had conversations and training sessions that were timely and necessary.
But then, this did not mean some stylish guests did not show up…Here are some photos to prove this!
