In light of the covid-19 crisis, the past few months have seen various fashion weeks in Nigeria take to holding digital/virtual shows. A lot of event sponsors in the fashion industry have had to reschedule their shows to a later date to plan for a virtual broadcast for the fashion show while others had to postpone due to the regulations placed by authorities in government.
The relevance of fashion week in Nigeria has long been debated as there has been a lot of controversies about the need for its existence. However, we need to look more closely at what the event entails whilst also analyzing the recent changes the covid-19 has made to fashion weeks and whether those changes would be a way forward. Fashion influencers took to various trendy challenges on social media platforms like Tik-tok and Instagram; as they made the extra effort to keep us fashionably occupied, giving us fashion looks and ideas during the lockdown.
Fashion weeks in Nigeria with the likes of, “Heineken Lagos Fashion Week”, “ARISE Fashion Week”, “GTBank Fashion Weekend”, “Style by Zenith” among many others have created an avenue to develop the business of fashion in Nigeria. In general, fashion week has been a medium where celebrities, fashion/brand influencers, and fashion enthusiasts with different content ideas come together to learn from each other for self-growth. It has also created a means of networking, meeting new people in the fashion industry, building fashion brands, marketing business ideas, and sales of products. Fashion inclined personalities have gained more popularity by attending these fashion events.
We saw the launch of Arise Fashion week that took place in Lagos and was live-streamed for viewers at home; one of the major fashion events to be held since the protests-an amazing show which featured outstanding personalities, music artistes among many others. I must say, the digital fashion show didn’t quite cut it for me; it’s a thrilling experience when an event is witnessed physically rather than live-streaming it; especially a fashion event and we couldn’t get to enjoy that due to the limited number of invites.
While many brands see the past few months as an over-due estimation for inflation in textile industries, many others have said that it has been a period of re-strategizing and a possibility to plan better and consider ways of taking their idea of fashion to the next level.
Fashion week has been instrumental in shaping the future of African Fashion; creating a platform for creativity; an environment for opportunities and discussion with potential clients, (key stakeholders – as we all call, “the money bag”). Throughout this article, we have looked at the various relevance of fashion weeks and have seen that even with the covid-19 most elements of fashion are still valid as people still want to engage and explore fashion. I believe that for creativity to grow, there has to be a platform that promotes and supports its growth and if you ask me whether fashion week is relevant my answer to you is; Hell yes!
The big question now is, “Is Digital Fashion week the future?!” Please let us know your opinions in the comment section.
2 Comments
Elsker
Two consecutive days and I’m dropping a comment on this blog though articles by two different people.
This is quite largely a consumer perspective. From a contributor or designer perspective, I beg to differ.
Technology is the future and though I’m in for an Afrocentric approach, one of the largely exported industry is the Fashion in Nigeria. The absence of a structure to regulate the activities of this industry is undauntedly a shortfall. Now ask if the outcome of the show is commensurate with the initial investment for most upcoming brands? The honest answer is NO. If technology would lessen the cost on infrastructure then I’d encourage brands to seek it as a viable option but the challenge with new technology is the initial cost. Going forward I believe the technology and other technologies for virtual shows, look books etc., that give better user experiences would be developed as an alternative. BOF has given a comprehensive report on the future of fashion, it is a must read for stakeholders.
Femi Adebgite
This is an amazing write up!