Lagos Fashion Week 2025: A Final Recap

Lagos Fashion Week 2025: A Final Recap 31B4D015 D33C 4A53 A1ED 587C2C80D21E

Lagos Fashion Week’s fifteenth-anniversary edition delivered on its promise to position the city as a serious fashion capital. Over five days, more than fifty designers presented

Ananse Center for Design Opens in Lagos: A New Integrated Hub for African Creatives

Ananse Center for Design Opens in Lagos: A New Integrated Hub for African Creatives reception

For years, Nigeria’s creative industry has dazzled the world with talent and imagination, yet struggled to translate that brilliance into sustainable business growth. From fashion to furniture, countless designers and innovators have been constrained by inadequate infrastructure, limited access to global markets, and deep dependence on imported materials. The result: a sector overflowing with ideas […]

Snatched Waists and Style Play: The Corsetification of Nigerian Fashion

Bonang Matheba poses in a dramatic teal and green corseted gown by Veekee James, styled by Dahmola, against a neutral backdrop.

Corsetification in Nigerian fashion is cinching itself into the heart of style, emerging from Lagos red carpets, owambes, and endless scrolls of Instagram and TikTok. It’s a waist, pulled tight, hyper-defined, framed by elaborate bustiers and couture-heavy tailoring that now defines one of the most visible aesthetics of Nigerian femininity. This isn’t just a trend, […]

Beauty in Hard Times: Africa’s Lipstick Effect

Beauty in Hard Times: Africa’s Lipstick Effect Carlos Idun Tawiah 1

What do women hold onto when everything else feels uncertain? Across Africa, one answer rises again and again: beauty rituals. In times of economic pressure, when inflation climbs and currencies wobble, many women continue to invest in small but powerful acts of adornment—braids, gele, fragrance oils, or a few yards of fabric. Economists call it […]

WORN OUT — Part II: How African Governments Are Responding to the Textile Waste Crisis

WORN OUT — Part II: How African Governments Are Responding to the Textile Waste Crisis WhatsApp Image 2025 07 19 at 22.19.04

Western wardrobes don’t end in Europe or North America. They spill quietly, devastatingly onto African soil, packed into shipping containers and sold in open-air markets under the guise of “donations.” But from Accra to Kigali, Dakar to Lusaka, something is shifting. The bales keep arriving. The markets keep choking. But across the continent, a patchwork […]

Detty December: Celebrating the Vibrant Cultures and Economic Ties of Lagos and Accra

Detty December: Celebrating the Vibrant Cultures and Economic Ties of Lagos and Accra AfroFuture

Every December, the cities of Lagos and Accra in West Africa transform into epicenters of celebration, culture, and community. What has come to be known as “Detty December” is more than just a series of end-of-year parties; it’s a cultural phenomenon that has significant implications for both the economy and societal fabric of these vibrant […]