In the last three months of the year, the Nigerian megacity of Lagos is home to a succession of cultural happenings, from West Africa’s largest art fair, Art X, to international festivals devoted to poetry, literature, music and fashion – most recently GT Bank Fashion Weekend.
Speakers this year included fashion and buying director at Matchesfashion.com, Natalie Kingham, designer Roksanda Ilinčić, Sir John – the makeup artist behind some of Beyoncé’s most memorable looks – and top model Adesuwa Aighewi. Showcasing their latest collections on the runway, meanwhile, were New York-based collective Three As Four, recently launched South African brand Viviers, Ghanaian Studio 189, Imane Ayissi of Cameroon and Nigeria’s own Ituen Basi.
Here, Vogue spotlights five Lagos-based designers whose work is generating buzz.
Read more: Duro Olowu’s Guide To Lagos
Ian Audifferen
Ian Audifferen
© Manny Jefferson
The designs of Tzar Studios – the brand Ian Audifferen started in 2013, a year after graduating with a degree in microbiology from the University of Lagos – really have to be seen up close to be fully appreciated. “I think fabric is the most important element of design,” says the 29 year old. “I’ve started playing more with pattern and texture to give my clothes added depth and introduce an element of fun.”
Models wearing designs of Tzar Studios.
© Manny Jefferson
What started as a line of shirts has quickly evolved into ready-to-wear for both men and women. For his AW19 collection, Audifferen reinterpreted traditional modes of dress from Yoruba culture in a silk rayon blend; shortening the iro (a wrap skirt) and fastening the buba (a loose fitting blouse) at the neck with a giant safety pin, some also have a tulle yoke or pocket for “added depth”. His “half-half” shirts, meanwhile, are cut from two contrasting ankara fabrics.
Mfon Ogbonna
Designer Mfon Ogbonna (foreground) with model.
© Manny Jefferson
Mfon Ogbonna’s three-year-old brand, Idma-Nof, is something of a second act for the 40-year-old designer. After working as a pharmacist for a few years, she decided to actually make the garments she had been sketching on medical journals, and hung up her white coat to retrain in fashion design. She studied in the US, Paris and London, where she took a course in womenswear and print at Central Saint Martins. “These different experiences have very much formed the person and designer I am today,” she says. “The precision and structure from my career as a pharmacist definitely feed into my work, but at the same time I’m a bit of a wild child.”
Model wearing Idma-Nof.
© Manny Jefferson
If there’s a look that encapsulates that sentiment, it’s a neatly tailored coat and trousers from Ogbonna’s AW19 collection, cut from a densely patterned, woven jacquard – fringe bursting from the seams. For spring/summer 2020, the designer is focusing her gaze on locally-produced textiles, such as asa oke, silk printed with her own designs, which are inspired by photographs of Nigerian masquerades by Phyllis Galembo.
Nkwo Onwuka
Model wearing NKWO
© Manny Jefferson
In 2012, five years after establishing her womenswear label NKWO, Nkwo Onwuka decided to rebrand with a focus on sustainability and artisanal textiles. Her spring/summer 2020 collection, Be Us Be Them, is so called because: “Humans are destroying the environment. I think we have to go back to where our ancestors are from, look at how they lived in harmony with nature and learn some lessons from them.” With every design, Onwuka minimises waste wherever possible.
Models wearing NKWO.
© Manny Jefferson
Think jackets made from upcycled denim jeans; off-cut asa oke threads, woven into a fringe trim and inserted along shirt plackets; ruched strips of Nigerian cotton, dyed with natural indigo and arranged on a dress in formations that pay homage to the body paint worn by the Koro people of Ethiopia’s Omo Valley (“a tribe that continue to live in harmony with nature”); and tiles of white fabric embroidered onto a net tunic – a monochromatic mosaic intended to resemble solar panels. “In Africa we really need to harness the power of the sun to its full capacity to make cleaner energy,” Onwuka adds. “We aren’t doing that right now.”
Lanre da Silva Ajayi
It’s almost 15 years since Lanre da Silva Ajayi founded her eponymous brand, making her a pioneer of Nigeria’s fashion industry along with the likes of Tiffany Amber and Lisa Folawiyo. So what’s changed in that time? “Nigerians are embracing clothes by Nigerian designers more than ever before,” she explains. “Previously we would have looked to European and American designers if we wanted to go to a wedding or special event.”
Model wearing Lanre de Silva Ajayi.
© Manny Jefferson
Occasionwear and made-to-measure remain the dominant market in Nigeria; and da Silva Ajayi’s unapologetically decadent style satisfies both those demands. Her The Modern Day Antoinette (spring/summer 2020) show was no exception, with an abundance of gowns in shocking pink silk, gold lamé and yellow tulle – a two-piece suit and mini dress with voluminous cape sleeves cut from olive green organza made a particularly strong statement. “I want to make clothes that empower and flatter women,” says da Silva Ajayi. “The idea that a woman can put on a dress and feel completely transformed is not something I take for granted – Marie Antoinette really took it to the next level, and so this season I wanted to create a contemporary interpretation of her style.”
Paolo Sisiano
Self-taught designer Paolo Sisiano has an innate sense of movement when it comes to cutting and draping fabric. Before creating his brand Sisiano in 2013, he studied contemporary dance with Lagos-based troupe ‘Spirit of David’. “I would make my own costumes to dance in,” he remembers. “The transition into fashion was seamless. I want my clothes to be dreamy and romantic, so when you wear them you feel like you are escaping reality to live a fantasy.”
Paolo Sisiano wearing his own design.
© Manny Jefferson
Sisiano’s spring/summer 2020 collection is made entirely from hand-dyed cotton in earthy and pastel tones, with a marble effect that creates the illusion of fabric cascading from the body. However, his ethereal aesthetic is bolstered with an ambitious business plan – on 15 December he will move studios, from the historical area of Yaba to the burgeoning commercial centre of Lekki, where he also plans to open a store.
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