Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and Africa’s fashion capital, has been a magnet to fashion fans around the world even since before it launched its own Fashion Week in 2011, but in the thirteen years since Omoyemi Akerele founded Lagos Fashion Week, the event has skyrocketed into global status.
Every season Lagos sees Africa’s most visionary established and emerging designers bring the vibrancy of their heritage to innovative new fronts in the fashion world. This year, between October 23rd to 27th, Lagos Fashion Week invited more than 60 designers to present their collections to over 12,000 guests, and from that immense number we’ve picked some of our favourites to spotlight. Keep reading to find out what you missed from Lagos Fashion Week SS25.
Lagos Space Programme
Winning the International Woolmark Prize in 2023, Lagos Space Programme isn’t just one to watch on the Lagos Fashion Week schedule; it's also capturing attention on the world stage. Coming back to LFW after a three-year hiatus, the brand brought a collection of elevated pieces inspired by the traditional Yoruba style, seen in signature baggy trousers and Adire print.
Orange Culture
Launched in 2011, Orange Culture has been bringing its heritage-inspired, contemporary collections to Lagos Fashion Week for some years now, blending tradition, as seen in Nigerian print fabrics, with modernity, evidenced in its fluid androgynous styles. This season, this translated to an SS25 collection that was alive with colour, using colour-blocking, heritage prints, and tailored silhouettes to challenge traditional notions of gendered fashion.
Emmy Rasbit
Emmanuel Okoro’s brand, Emmy Kasbit, revealed a collection titled “Recollection” at SS25, as an ode to his evolution as a designer. Incorporating digital prints created by artisans in India, traditional Igbo hand-weaving textiles, and Nigerian-inspired dyeing practices, the collection was a blend of tradition and modernity, bringing Okoro’s heritage to hybrid silhouettes and elevated pieces.
Kente Gentlemen
SS25 marks the first Kente Gentlemen collection that hasn’t been designer Artistide Loua’s favourite fabric: kente. Whilst kente - a traditional fabric found in Ghana and parts of West Africa - usually dominates Kente Gentlemen’s shows, this season saw the brand diversify its fabrics for the first time, with kente only featuring in one-third of the collection. Designer Artistide Loua brought the relaxed silhouettes of the beach to the runway at Kente Gentlemen’s SS25 show, revealing a collection dominated by sleek tailoring and glittering slips.
Y’wandelag
Y’wandelag’s new collection at Lagos Fashion Week brought an elevated, feminine edge to its commitment to spotlighting traditional African aesthetics, local garment production at SS25. A mixture of refined tailoring, organza shirts, and fluid silhouettes blended the classically feminine with the Y’wandelag’s heritage styles in the perfect balance at SS25.
Kilentar
Southwestern Nigerian brand Kilentar celebrated its cultural heritage at SS25, honouring traditional craftsmanship on the runway. Despite the contemporary style of the brand’s collections, its designs are always in celebration of the ancient techniques its ancestors created, bringing these practices to the bold femininity of the modern woman’s style, seen in chain-detailed dresses and shell-covered crochet busts.
JZO
JZO’s SS25 collection was inspired by a symbol in Yoruba heritage, the chameleon deity that people call AGEMO. The versatility of the colour-changing chameleon translates into reconstructed silhouettes and classic tailoring, a combination resulting in shirts with denim jackets attached in unconventional ways, and shorts with wrap-around detailing.
Fruche
Fruche delivered on sustainable fashion this season, with a collection that was both an homage to its heritage as well as an ode to the future, utilising locally sourced textiles. One look in particular stealing the show, a colour-blocked, patchwork jalamiya robe worn by style icon himself, Eniafe Momodu.
Boyedoe
Unconventional layers and intricate accents dominated the runway at Boyedeo’s SS25 show. Titled “Out of the Earth,” the collection was dominated by tailoring, seen in tailored thread-bare jackets, denim sets, fringed tees, and much more. A highlight of the collection was the layered waist-line detailing on a couple of the looks, which turned skin-tight denim skirts into statement pieces. Boyedeo’s link up with Kenyan jewellery brand Adele Dejak was also stunning.
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