The highly anticipated GTBank Lagos Fashion & Design Week will hit Lagos, Nigeria on October 29th, with the additional feature of a new initiative, “Fashion Focus” – a 12 month-long opportunity for 15 fashion designers to attend workshops, network with industry professionals and showcase their work during fashion week.
The judges for the Fashion Focus project included its creative director, Wadami Amolegbe, editor of Genevieve Magazine, Dimeji Alara, Kehinde Okunoren of the fashion label, Okunoren Twins, and Oluwabunmi Alake, who is the project co-ordinator from the British Council.
Speaking on the project, Amolegbe stated:
“Fashion Focus is aimed at developing the Nigerian fashion ecosystem by nurturing the very best of talent through intensive workshops and classes delivered of international standards. This will ensure that our designers can compete in fashion industries locally and globally.”
Out of over 100 applications, the inaugural set of finalists chosen for the event are Abimbola Oye, Adeju Thompson, Babatunde Oyeyemi, Frank Aghune, Lamipo Somoye, Michael Shumaker, Mimi Habibah, Olivia and Sylvia Enekwe, Olujumoke Omilua, Oluwatobi Akintoye, Omowunmi Owonifari, Oyindamola Omolale, Temitayo Nathan, Titilayo Belo and Ugonna Ibe – all upcoming designers who have already experienced a three-day workshop in line with the project, which was lead in association with Yaba College of Technology (with input from lecturers in the Industrial Design, Fashion and Screen Printing departments), and lecturers from the university sector college, Ravensbourne, as well as designer Elena Corchero of sustainable British fashion label, Lost Values and Iain and Andrew Foxall of British fashion agency, Foxall Studio.
One of the finalists, Temitayo Nathan (CEO of fashion brand T.I. Nathan) spoke on his experience with Fashion Focus so far, saying;
“I enjoyed every part of this experience. I learned the ethics of fashion trade and how we could work with hands to make fabrics and accessories.
I also learnt how we could to mix wearable technology with fashion, how to tackle retail spaces with technology and basically boost customer service with technology, [and] I also learnt the importance of branding and brand identity. It was an awesome experience generally.”
We at SPICE are looking forward to seeing this new initiative unfold as part of the Lagos Fashion & Design Week platform, which will begin its exciting catwalk showcases from October 29th to November 1st, 2014. In the meantime, find out more information about the event, here.
Image source: Fabmagazineonline.com
