The fashion ecosystem in Nigeria is one full of creativity and constantly evolving. It is as they say in popular lingo, full of mad talent. Style House Files, the organizers of Lagos Fashion week do a splendid job of putting together an excellent and well-organized show every year.

Last year, was my first time attending Lagos Fashion week and it was an interesting experience, I enjoyed it. The street fashion was popping and the designs were magnificent.

Some designers chose to have off-site fashion shows so they could express themselves. For instance, Andrea Iyamah had hers on the beach and Orange Culture had Lojay perform on his runway.

With this year’s show looming ahead and Paris Fashion Week which stretched into a month just concluded, it made us think about how Lagos Fashion week can be better.

Paris is the citadel of modern fashion, and Nigeria is still upcoming, but that’s no excuse, just look at how afrobeat has essentially taken over the world of music.

If you want what you are doing to work, you have to either devise a new but innovative plan or copy one that's already working.

Step out of the box

Paris Fashion week was a glorious time. Gucci had a runway show made of identical twins. The show was partitioned into two, each side saw one twin. At the end of the show, the partition was removed and identical twins walked the runway.

Coperni had an outfit made by spraying it on a model, Balenciaga had a show in the mud and so many other talking points.

Runways aren’t just about models walking around, add some excitement and drama to it.

Intersect with Nollywood

Most of the designers we saw at Lagos Fashion week aren’t popular among Nigerian celebrities. Also, we barely saw any actors and actresses.

Fashion week is not only for fashion influencers. VeeKee James, Xtrabrides, Tubo, and CEO Luminee are popular among Nollywood stars and should be part of the show and we hope to see them this year.

The era of Nigerian supermodels needs to be back

Without offence to anyone, we are short-staffed on Nigerian supermodels. Tall, slim Unilag student don't cut it. Yes, some have walked the Lagos Fashion Week show and have gone on to be international models, but we need them to be big here first and walk Nigerian runways as stars.

There are some models who you’d see in Andrea Iyamah’s show, Lady Biba’s Instagram page and other fashion labels but you barely even know their names.

The notoriety and popularity of people like Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner is a driving force in a fashion that’s now surprisingly absent in Nigerian fashion. We used to have Oluchi and Agbani Darego, but now we have no fashion girls in Nigeria.

Certainly, Nigerian designers have the creativity and talent to compete on an international level but they need to open up themselves, collaborate, allow inclusivity and push the boundaries of their creativity beyond the shores of Nigeria.

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