A few years ago, I was chatting with a friend of mine about a party we had both attended some days before. She told me she loved the black and white dress I was wearing, and asked if it was ‘an Escada’. I laughed and told her that it was not ‘an Escada’, it was made by my young dressmaker in Ekiti State. She was shocked and pleasantly surprised. When Adeola Abiola (Treasure Stitches) first started making clothes for me, she had just graduated from university, and was looking for a job. At the time, all my clothes were made in Lagos, the only things I made locally where Iro and Buba. This was not a particularly smart thing to do, because it meant getting anxious every time I needed an outfit for an important occasion. I would have to wait for it to arrive from Lagos, have it fitted then either sent back or given to someone locally for amendments. Deola was one of those who would do adjustments for me. There was a time when I needed something made within three days, and I could not wait for the Lagos back and forth. I sent an outfit for Deola to copy and she did an amazing job. It took a while for her to develop the confidence to try out her own designs, she was nervous about sewing for me and making mistakes. I in turn, decided to invest in building her capacity so that it could be a win-win for both of us. During my husband’s second term as Ekiti State Governor (2018-2022), I had almost all my clothes made by Deola. Today, she is a successful fashion designer who not only makes clothes for public figures, she trains and mentors others as well.

Fashion is about many things. History, economics, politics, culture, diplomacy, values, identity, ownership, communication, power, beauty, self-expression. Fashion is also about livelihoods, employment, wealth creation, value chains and inter-generational engagement. 

I grew up following the work of black thinkers around the world such as Frantz Fanon, Angela Davies, Walter Rodney and James Baldwin, to mention a few. In the world they described, black people, regardless of their station or accomplishments, were meant to go through life as second-class persons. The quality and quantity of education black people received, the jobs they could have, the places they lived, where they ate, where they dined, the clubs they could be members of, and much more, were all determined by the ‘benevolence’ of white people who controlled the levers of power at all levels of society. Those of us who lived in post-colonial societies experienced multiple layers of all this, because our own history and cultural reference points had to be subjugated to the supposedly more superior knowledge and symbols of the colonisers. Whatever we did, wore, ate or worshipped was never deemed as worthy. There are of course many fall-outs of this pattern of indoctrination and self-loathing, but here, I want to focus on the latest conversations about African fashion in general and the recent spotlight on Nigerian designers. 

The annual Met Gala took place in New York first week of May. The Met Gala is a high-profile fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. Successful designers shell out at least U$75,000 for a ticket, in order for a celebrity to wear their designs to the event. The Met Gala is coordinated by Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Magazine, Ms Ana Wintour, and each Gala has a theme. The Met Galas are not for the faint of heart. It is not the place to show up dressed as a demure bridesmaid or a company CEO. It is for those who can interpret the annual themes in ways that are bold, creative, expansive and often eccentric. The theme for 2025 was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. It was an opportunity for designers and celebrities of all races to showcase the ways in which black style has defied circumstance, repression and exclusion across generations and class.

Like all the Met Galas before this one, we saw the good, the bad, the truly divine (thank you, the incomparable Diana Ross) and the ‘what was she/he thinking’ (Halle Berry needs to fire her stylist). All this happens in New York, and the world descends on them for this annual show that not only guarantees gigs for the designers and their crew, there are the stylists, the make-up artistes, hairdressers, accessory providers, media, photographers, influencers, it is a long list of people who make New York the center of everyone’s universe for that period.

 Two weeks later, Lagos was the center of the universe. There was the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards in Lagos. The AMVCA started off modestly in 2013, as an awards ceremony celebrating African excellence in the movie industry. It has now grown in prestige, to be considered the African equivalent of the Oscars. Like the Oscars awards ceremony, where the Red Carpet welcomes nominees and guests, while the world’s leading designers do battle by proxy, the AMVCA has also become the site for serious fashion statements. This year, the theme for the AMVCA was ‘Mother Earth’. The celebrities and their designers did not disappoint. The creations were so amazing, observers from around the world have been comparing the designs to the ones seen at the Met Gala, rating the AMVCA designs as ‘way better’, ‘much cooler’ and ‘out of this world’. Before the AMVCA, there was the JP2025 wedding, that of Priscilla Ojo, daughter of the popular Nigerian actress Iyabo Ojo, and Juma Jux, a famous Tanzanian singer. The wedding featured amazing designs, with guests showcasing different styles made with the Aso Ebi (family uniform). Though a few of the guests should have had better conversations with their mirrors and stylists, on the whole, there was an incredible display of talent and beauty.

From all the positive feedback, Nigeria is now the ‘Fashion Capital of Africa’, and when people are mentioning top fashion cities such as Paris, London, New York, Milan, Lagos needs to be on that list. We are no longer being shown what to wear. We are showing others what we are wearing. 

In 2012, Queen Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi started Africa Fashion Week, London, (and later, Africa Fashion Week, Nigeria) and invited me to be one of their Global Ambassadors. In 2019, I gave a speech at AFWL, where I said, ‘the future is quite bright for African Fashion and AFWL. We should focus on the things we do well and not worry about imitating others. You can only be the best version of yourself, otherwise you end up as a poor imitation of someone else. No African fashion designer should be aspiring to be the next Coco Channel, Tom Ford or Vera Wang. We have fabulous designers who can claim the world as their own’. I am so thrilled that my optimistic observations then have come to pass. Nigerian designers have been influencing the world fashion stage for many years, through talented hands such as Deola Sagoe, Ejiro Amos Tafiri, Lisa Folawiyo, Folake Coker, Ituen Basi, Funmi Ajila, Lanre da Silva Ajayi, Ade Bakare, Adebayo Jones, Mai Atafo and others. More recently, thanks to the power of social media and the massive army of young Africans around the world, we have seen the work of Veekee James, Mama di Couture, Ugo Mozie, Sandra Tubobereni, Toyin Lawani, Yemi Shoyemi, Amy Aghomi and others too many to mention, make an incredible mark on the fashion industry. There are many Nigerian designers who have great Ready to Wear lines that they ship to clients around the world. I saw a video of a woman in the Caribbean declaring that her wedding dress would definitely be made in Nigeria!

 In the words of Frantz Fanon, ‘each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it’. This generation of creative artistes in the fashion, music, film, writing and other related industries, for all their flaws, seem to understand the assignment. We can speak for ourselves, express ourselves and dress ourselves. And we can do it with magnificence and excellence. If we are in a position to support these creatives as clients, investors, collaborators, policy makers or influencers, let us cheer them on. There needs to be a concerted effort to minimise obstacles such as lack of infrastructure, financing and access to markets. Fashion and all its components (local textiles, weaving, beading, jewelry, shoes, bags, cosmetics and so on) is big business. It is a serious affair. It can take millions off the streets. It can truly empower communities, particularly women. It provides opportunities for peer learning and capacity-building within and outside the continent, while boosting trade at all levels. There have been suggestions that there should be an African equivalent of the Met Gala, as a stand-alone event. This way, it can keep the focus on fashion so that events such as the AMVCA do not get drowned in all the fuss about haute couture. That would be something to look forward to, especially if it is in aid of a good cause.

 Well done to all the African/Nigerian designers and their clients who worked hard to make the AMVCA designs truly world class. Just like the Met Gala, we saw the divine, the glorious, the good, the bad, the ugly and the ’what the blazes was that???’. Going forward, I hope the clients of all ages, sizes and pockets who besiege these designers will go easy on the corsets (really, not everyone should be wearing them) and the cleavage (less is truly more). Ana Wintour should consider the following as a theme for the Met Gala in the coming years, ‘Naija does not carry last’.

Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi is a Gender Specialist, Leadership Coach, Policy Advocate and Writer. She is the Founder of Abovewhispers.com, an online community for women. She can be reached at BAF@abovewhispers.com