A Photo Diary of Lagos Fashion Week

For the first time in all my years of attending Lagos Fashion Week, I decided to bring a camera along.

Each year, I find myself wondering whether it will follow the same theatrics as the last. There is the Lagos heat, the rush between shows, the politics of who gets to sit in the front row, the chatter, the clapping and applause, the procession of fashionable looks and the inevitable reunions of people who have not seen one another since the previous fashion week.

But in the theatricality of Lagos Fashion Week, we can become so preoccupied with the spectacle that we overlook the stories unfolding around us. As a writer and an observer, I have always been interested in the threads that do not necessarily get pulled together: the encounters, gestures and fleeting moments that might seem insignificant but often carry their own stories.

I wanted to document the moments that might otherwise escape the photographers whose lenses are usually trained on the runway and street style. While I was interested in capturing the outstanding looks and runway walk, I also wanted to pay attention to the emotions, the people and the unfamiliar occurrences that make up the experience of Fashion Week.

What happens when a show ends and everyone spills out into the evening? What happens in the queues, in the rush between presentations, in the brief pauses before another show begins? What does it look like to wait for a ride after hours of standing, watching and being watched?

What happens in the queues?

In the brief pauses before another show begins

Watching, and being watched

What does it look like to wait for a ride?