The Trends That Defined Lagos Fashion Week SS27
Lagos Fashion Week returned for its 16th edition from 28 October to 1 November under the theme “Crafted”, continuing a conversation about heritage and innovation while exploring the knowledge, skill and creative ideas shaping African fashion. The five-day schedule was packed with more than 60 designers, but only a few met the threshold for innovation […]
Making it in Lagos
Titi Ogufere wants Nigerian designers to win international orders and fulfil them at home. She has met designers who make beautiful furniture but cannot produce a hundred pieces when asked.
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 […]
Dede Arisekola Is Building a World of Her Own
Most designers at the start of their careers arrive with something to say. Dede Arisekola is charting a less familiar course, guided by a question: “What if the things we inherit were only the beginning of what we could become?” The Irish-born Nigerian designer is interested in the societal expectations woven into the clothes we […]
African Art Doesn’t Need the White Cube
For centuries, African art has thrived through colour, movement and ritual. But as contemporary African galleries rethink how work is shown, the white cube is no longer the only option.
How Brands Sell Belonging
Belonging is the new currency of African fashion, and the labels that trade in it are turning shoppers into believers.
The Masters Africa Can Still Afford
Ayo Adeyinka left finance to deal in modern African art. As his gallery takes Lamidi Fakeye to Frieze Masters, he makes a case for buying the continent’s masters while they remain within reach, and giving their work a life beyond private collections.
The Commercial Life of African Culture
Ownership, rights and distribution shape who profits from the African creative economy, from wax print and photography to Afrobeats.
The Art of African Braiding, Through the Eyes of Gen Z
In many African cultures, hair can carry stories from one generation to another. Through braiding and threading techniques, a simple change in appearance can become meaningful, representing different statuses and stages across an individual’s lifespan. Hair traditions were therefore fundamental to a community’s identity, often signifying the crown of its kinship and the core of […]
Young African Photographers Are Looking Back
In 2024, a Nigerian hit found a second life on social media. “Who Get Dat Thing (Remix),” by Dekumzy featuring Slow Dog and Stormrex, began circulating after a group of young Nigerian women recreated the choreography to Stormrex’s verse, dressed in the exaggerated glamour of the late 1990s and early 2000s: fitted tops, low-rise bottoms, […]