#HeinekenLFDW (Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week), is delighted to announce its inaugural new season Presentation at Red Door Gallery, from 30th March – 2nd April 2017. The move not only brings #HeinekenLFDW in line with the global fashion calendar, but also affords the designers featured, more opportunities to maximise media and available distribution prospects. More pertinently, it speaks to the many designers based in Africa who are already creating collections for both traditional fashion seasons of Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter and are seeking a global audience and customer base for their brands.
The Presentation is entitled ‘Identity’ and the nine designers featured, have all to a greater or lesser extent previously traversed notions of identity, modernity, heritage and self-expression in their work. Each designer will be designated a space, one in which they can distill these and other themes further, engage directly with guests, be they buyers or editors and most pertinently, present their Autumn/Winter 2017 Collections.
Among the nine selected are AAKS, Gozel Green, Kelechi Odu, Lisa Folawiyo, Maki Oh, Orange Culture, Post Imperial, Ré and Shem Paronelli. Collectively, they are a snapshot of the verve, innovation and creative ambitions seen across the Nigerian Fashion Industry.
The genesis of the collaboration is #HeinekenLFDW’s commitment to catalyzing the African Fashion industry ecosystem and providing greater avenues for commercial success for designers based on the continent. The Autumn/Winter presentation is an inaugural one and aligns #HeinekenLFDW closer to the global fashion week calendar; a calendar that has long expanded from the big 4 (New York, London, Milan and Paris) to include Moscow, Seoul, Sao Paolo and a myriad of other international cities with vibrant fashion scenes. Timing is also right as the clamor for the industry to thrive reverberates across the continent: the Sub-Saharan African Apparel and Footwear Industry which a recent EuroMonitor report valued at $31Billion, will need to adapt to reflect the international fashion calendar, if designers, retailers and merchandisers on the continent are to compete on the global stage.
Collaborating with Red Door Gallery was instinctive. Although a fine art gallery, Red Door, like #HeinekenLFDW is committed to curating and championing the very best of African creativity. Furthermore, the nexus between fashion and art is natural as both are visual mediums in which mood, message and beauty are related via forms, be they worn or displayed. The gallery space will also allow for the intimacy associated with presentations, and guests will relate with each collection in an installation format.
Speaking about the forthcoming event #HeinekenLFDW Executive Director & Founder, Omoyemi Akerele said: “The team at #HeinekenLFDW and our partners, Red Door Gallery and FETS Wallet are super excited! From the outset our aim has been to create visually dynamic events and commercially profitable opportunities for designers in Nigeria and across Africa. Expanding to reflect the bi-annual fashion calendar, but in a deliberately organic manner via this Autumn/Winter presentation season at Red Door is really exciting.”
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