The Fashion Bits At MTN Lagos Fashion Design Week.

 

 

 

 

Lagos was destination point for fashion designers and fashion lovers last weekend as the 2nd edition of the MTN Lagos Fashion and Design week took place in grand style

FASHION and style rocked Lagos city last weekend as the second edition of the prestigious MTN Lagos Fashion and Design Week  (MTN LFDW).

The fashion week, which is at the apex of the Lagos fashion calendar, was a meeting point for all players in the industry to come and display their treasure trove of creativity for the entire world to see and buy.
The event which took place from October 24 – 27, saw some of Africa’s top as well as upcoming design labels showcase their new collections.

Iconic Nigerian labels such as Lanre DaSilva-Ajayi, Ituen Basi, Jewel by Lisa, Mai Atafo all established their presence at the event.

For its new collection, Lanre DaSilva-Ajayi held people spellbound from start to finish with her chic, flowy and print-tastic collection.

Renowned for its Victorian and Edwardian era influenced pieces, the designer presented  “Butterflies“, a collection flourishing with outfits made with multicoloured print, silk and lace.

Ituen Basi’s newspaper inspired Spring/Summer 2013 collection was also among the creative collections spotlighted at the event. The Nigerian label’s collection evoked fun and glamour through its use of print and colour - characteristics that have come to define the vibrant local fashion scene.

Nigerian design label, Jewel by Lisa is always one to look out for during fashion week presentations. At the presentation last Saturday the label presented lots of multi-coloured luxury print outfits, which paid homage to the modern day Fulani girl.

For its presentation, Sunny Rose showed us the different sides of blue in blue denim, silk, chiffon lace and more.

The label’s creative head showcased models strutting the runway in print frocks, knee length dresses with sweetheart necklines and evening wears all in colour blue.

Mai Atafo Inspired unveiled its Spring/Summer 2013 collection at the show with a colourful bridal collection and dapper male collection.

Fashion labels such as Mango, Vintage Colette, Grey, Alter Ego, Omer Asim, Bridget Awosika and Emmy Collins  also made beautiful appearances on the runway.

The emerging young 12 designers also strutted their stuff on the runway where orange culture entertained with his music, whacky designs and models.

This year’s event started on October 24 with a presentation of the top 12 finalists of the LFDW Young Designer of the Year.

The Made in Lagos exhibition opened on October 25 and featured amazing jewellery from Pot of Gold Africa, Femi Bags, House of Tara, L’eespace, Modern School of the Arts, Colurs in Africa, Jasmine Rose Flowers, Pearl 8 hand beaded bags from Ghana and many more creative enterprises. The runway opened to breathtaking designs from Nigerian designers on October 25.

The MTN LFDW ended on Saturday with the LFDW Young Designer of the Year finale where Josh Samuel Clothing Company emerged as winner and went home with the grand prize of N4million naira.

Interestingly, Nigeria also became destination point for foreign buyers with the presence of the representatives of UK Department Store chain Selfridges and Munich-based MyTheresa.com at the MTN LFDW to select Nigerian products to stock in their outlets.

Here are some of the creative and breathtaking runway pictures from the show.

Author of this article: Nike Sotade

Remi Lagos Believes Nigeria has a Lot to Learn From Senegal.

This excerpt is culled from www.234next.com, a Nigerian online daily news website. I find it mind-blogging and have decided to share it with you. Hope you enjoy reading.

The label remiLagos, owned by fashion and textile designer, Oluremi Oshokale has rightly become an outstanding international fashion institution, 25 bright designer. It was always a delight for passers-by to view her window displays at her first outlet along Bode Thomas Street in Surulere. Her clothes had the hallmarks of style, taste and a subtlety that portrayed a classic cut and fluid fit! Trained at the East Croydon School of Art & Design, Chelsea School of Art & Design and Inchbald School of Art & Interior Design, Ms Oshokale has also succeeded in frequently showcasing the expanding creative phases of remiLagos on prestigious fashion runways in Europe, the United States of America and Africa.

Now that women, especially young women, seem to prefer wearing jeans, I ask Ms Oshokale how designers like her intend to bring back the dress. “The dress never went anywhere,” she candidly responds. “The dress only changed form in the context of time, place and style. Dress changes its form from one season to another, from one austerity to prosperity period in that the dress either rises or falls. “Ironically,” she continues, “it rises most times when there’s prosperity and falls most times when there is a glut in textile mills.

So there is a conspiracy! Have you noticed that the midi is back? It is a global conspiracy to sell our same old dress again and again. So, when there’s prosperity in our environment you are bound to have a more defined dress. That’s what we should be looking forward to. When you have prosperity, you bring back the dress in its totality.”

Has the Nigerian woman been acculturated to dress well and differentiate between office wear, party wear and casuals? “Playing the devil’s advocate, I ask, who truly defines right or wrong dressing? It is a matter of opinion, one’s background, one’s focus and one’s understanding of the impact they make as you emerge from your car, office or home,” she said. “A friend and I went to a breakfast function at 9am at the Muson. We decided to dress in what we thought was appropriate. Some came in evening attire. But when the photographs of the event emerged, we looked drab and they looked amazing. A lot of times, dress sense is about achievement!” Who then sets the trends; designers, fabrics sellers or fashion writers? “ We all do, some more than others. The emergence is a very mysterious spiritual and economic phenomenon. All begins in the mind as intention, desire and, eventually explodes into the mass consciousness as a trend to be observed by so many other people in the music, film and design industries.”

How has she been able to deal with the challenge of traditional attires, which don’t seem to change that much? “I thrive on the concept of traditional mixed with modern and, outrageous mixed with trends. That’ s my passion!,” she says.

Nonetheless, it hasn’t been smooth sailing for the remiLagos label over the years. She has weathered the journey by being retrospective, relying on her skills and learning the lessons of experience. “When I first started this business,” she recalls, “I used to go to a lot of shows and they wouldn’t let me show my designs because my dresses weren’t African. They were asking me, who are you? I’ve strived for the past 25 express who I really am, my values and to proudly embrace my heritage! In this respect, the result has been a clothes line reflective of her heritage. Some of the ‘boubous’ and ‘kaftans’ are beautifully embroidered and embellished. The most recent are a series with different shapes and styles of African masks prominently emboldened on them. “These designs,” she explains, “are a fusion that comes from really understanding my origins and culture. Also, I think they reflect my designers’ skills honed over a period of time, mixed with travel, life experiences and lifestyle. This is lifestyle because you really have to understand the values of people who wear your designs.” Designing for all seasons Incredibly, the ‘boubous’ with African masks has not been well-received in certain quarters. “They have been the most difficult clothes to sell ever,” she said, “based on the comments from Pentecostal Christian clients.”

Her shop assistant corroborate by adding that, “they say that a Christian should not wear a dress like that!” Ms Osholake is philosophical about the seeming righteousness of these clients. “Deep down in the recess of our minds, we are fundamentally a superstitious people. It always manifests in our comments, behaviour and attitude to creativity,” she explains. In the West where she trained, designers work on clothing for different seasons and have their summer and winter collections.

Does the absence of four distinct seasons in Nigeria mean she has to be a designer for just one season? “Not true,” she retorts. “Seasons are time-bound. One of the reasons I left England as soon as I finished Art School was because I couldn’t deal with the idea of seasons in what seemed like short periods of time. I now find in Nigeria that life is full of seasons. Different types of events define different types of seasons.

In designing for a lot of my clients, one of the periods in time I’ve come to align with is the period after they have been abroad on holiday; what Nigerians call after-summer. After summer, you pay school fees, so collections at that point are different from what we call Christmas; when Nigerians come from abroad to see family and friends. This is the time for traditional marriage and wedding and of course to celebrate the New Year. Rainy season to me, is like winter for my industry; a time when social events are limited to indoors. So, one’s dress sense is different from when you are out in the sun. All these are observed consciously or unconsciously as designers or creative people.”

Is there a tie-in of luxury, size of dress and beautiful lines in her famed signature ‘boubous’ and ‘kaftans’? “My experience of luxury,” she recalls, “came from when I lived in Abidjan when it was referred to as Petite Paris. I lived on the 17 of Boigney when Africans knew what lifestyle was all about and when Africans converged in Abidjan to display elegance, luxury; not necessarily wealth, but a lifestyle. Then there is Senegal, which I have been visiting for the past five years and where, every March, President Wade hosts designers from all over Africa; all expenses paid. Designers are chosen par excellence and I have represented Nigeria for the last four years.” Ms Oshokale believes Nigeria has a lot to learn from Senegal. “All Senegal has to export is fashion!” she said. “Every other human being in Senegal is a tailor, sewing what we have now come to know as a brand; the Senegalese ‘boubou’, ‘kaftan’! It’s an important lesson to us as a nation, because Nigeria has similar export products as in fashion, film and music. President Wade has come to recognise the power of his people as fashionistas. The income they generate worldwide from sewing is incredible. They took their industry to New York and are running a parallel niche industry for all things African and African- American; especially the ‘kaftan’ and boubou.’” Power of exclusivity She is also a textile designer who adopts interesting styles of dyeing. Her designs are made from fabrics like chiffon, silk, satin and damask. But how is she and others coping with body types and shapes? “Sizing is done by professional companies called pattern makers; where body-types are averaged-out into small, medium, large – size 10 etc,” she said. “A lot of research is done for commercial purposes. Africans have not come to realise the power of research in the fashion industry. The industry abroad depends solely on this information and it is what gives birth to styling, designing and even some trends you see emerging globally. From my experience of buying shoes in Balogun where they say try it; so if it fits you it is your size; I apply the same rules at remiLagos. If it fits you, then that’s your size and that’s the Gospel truth on how I conduct business with sizing.” On the contribution of African designers to the global fashion arena, she said the primary offer is a sense of refreshment. “We have the confidence and freedom to do what we like because we don’t have the hammer coming down on us from the media globally; where the media praises you one season and knocks your collection next season,” she said. “I’ve been to exhibitions abroad and seen influences that were original to African designers, but nobody gives African designers the credit for our originality. It is inevitable because we don’t have the media platform that values us the same way they value foreign designers. Our media prefer to place foreign designers in their magazines. I am one of the very few designers that constantly advertise my collections as a brand!” Ms Oshokale said she relishes the exclusivity of her label and that it’s really to do with the niche market she has created for herself in 25 years. “I don’t think there is anything that is exclusive anymore, be it fabric, design, shoe. Everything comes from the same source, the mind and, the mind is one. It is only the interpretation of these concepts that brings you this exclusivity which becomes your own signature,” she said.