A glimpse of the Nigerian Fashion Industry in 2014.

It’s no longer news to the world that the Nigerian Fashion Industry thrives every day with more fashion designers creating trends and fashion stylists spicing up these trends for fashionistas. We have more Nigerians and foreigners buying and wearing made in Nigeria pieces. Like the previous years, 2014 has been another good year for the industry. A lot of beautiful SS14 collections by Nigerian designers have been seen on the bodies of people from all works of life attending red carpet and random events.

More designers are taking the spot light in the international fashion scenes. Deola Sagoe and Clan presented their SS15 collection at the Mercedes Benz fashion week New York. Opening the show, Clan debuted elevated street wear designs that complimented the high end couture ideology of Deola Sagoe. Deola Sagoe featured garments of detailed cut outs and appliques. The LVMH Young Designer Prize also gave the industry a widespread attention as two of our own creative geniuses Amaka Osakwe of the fashion brand “Maki Oh” and Adebayo Oke Lawal of “Orange Culture” were part of the shortlisted candidates for the 2014 international competition. Another major high light for the industry so far is the Native and Vogue International Fashion Week Port Harcourt which featured top international and local designers and models.

As the year draws to an end, both established and emerging designers, fashion bloggers, fashion stylists, celebrities, socialites and in general fashion lovers are counting down to the Nigerian renowned fashion shows such as Lagos Fashion and Design Week and Music Meets Runway. The Lagos Fashion and Design Week is already which slated to take place on October 29th to November 1st.

This year, Lagos Fashion and Design Week has expanded to include other designers from across Africa, also it has added an edge to reach out to up and coming talents, this is called “Fashion Focus” which features British Council Fashion DNA Project. This ties in with British Council’s on going work to develop innovative, high quality events and collaborations that link artists and cultural institutions in Nigeria with their counterparts in the United Kingdom. As part of the partnership, LFDW is also working with Frallain Inc, a luxury brand group and Istituto Marangoni which is one of the best fashion schools in the world to offer 15 up and coming designers opportunities to be participants at targeted workshops and networking sessions between 2014 and 2015

The British Council collaboration on the project with LFDW will provide a wide raft of benefits including mentorship, designer support and opportunity to showcase at the international fashion showcase at London Fashion Week. It will also provide a chance for the young designers to show their collection to an audience of international buyers and fashion experts.

If you are fashion conscious, African and Nigerian, You can’t help it but bask in the glory of the progress happening in the Nigerian Fashion Industry. The growth tells us “We can achieve more and have Nigeria become a fashion hub for the world.



...Chioma Olamide Udom...