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.”
Buyers search for wearable African fashion
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.
