AFDW returns for sixth edition

The fashion industry has been touted as a multibillion-dollar industry and despite the good efforts of many concerned stakeholders; the Nigerian fashion industry is yet to tap into this wealth.

This and other issues were what the founder of Africa Fashion and Design Week and MD of BluePearl Services International, Queengold Daniella Sekibo raised at the flagging off of the annual Africa Fashion and Design Week at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos. Slated for October 13 to 15 at the Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos, the theme for this year is “Honour the Masters and Celebrate the New’’. As the theme implies, the aim of the week is to celebrate and pay homage to both veteran renowned designers, as well as new designers who show promising potential.

As per the usual practice, series of events are going on before the main event including Business of Fashion Seminars, which will offer the opportunity to young talents to learn the basic foundation of building a fashion brand and earn a sustainable living and the careers that are available in the fashion industry; African Icon of Hope Awards (to acknowledge designers’ outstanding works that have put the continent on the global fashion map) and the Bluepearl Rising Star, a competition in which the most creative and innovative designers selected will each present a much-anticipated capsule collection, before one of the young designer is awarded the title of Bluepearl Rising Star and also given the opportunity to showcase during the New York Fashion Week.

The prize also includes a scholarship to study Fashion and Design Technology. According to Sekibo, five people have been picked and would be voted for by Nigerians on the AFDW social media platforms and the winner would be crowned on the October 15.