Day 3: Lagos Fashion Week Day 3 Connects Business, Culture, and the Future of African Fashion

Day 3 of Lagos Fashion Week 2025 deepened the event’s dialogue between fashion, culture, and industry. The day’s Fashion Business Series programming offered a grounded reflection on how Africa’s creative economy must scale—through infrastructure, inclusion, and people—while the night’s runway captured that vision in movement, color, and form.

The morning opened with “From Cotton to Catwalk: Unlocking Value Addition in Africa’s Textile Value Chains,” a session that brought financiers, manufacturers, and creatives together to reimagine how Africa can strengthen its textile industries from soil to stitch. Anchored by Banji Feyitola, Executive Director of Financial Services at the Africa Finance Corporation, the discussion highlighted that Africa’s textile market, currently valued at $82 billion, could double by 2036 with deliberate investment. “We must spin it, we must weave it, we must produce it,” Feyitola stated, underscoring the urgency of creating a fully integrated cotton value chain across the continent. Moderated by Ezreen Benissan, the conversation featured Ozzy Etomi, Oroma Itegboje, Osam Iyahen, Eme Bassey, and Suren Abeywickrema, who together unpacked the opportunities within local manufacturing and the realities of production in West Africa.

The second session, “Fashion for Every Body: Inclusion, Innovation, and Identity,” curated by Adaptive Atelier, was the first Lagos Fashion Week panel led primarily by disabled voices. Moderated by Denise Eseimokumoh, Editor-in-Chief of Marie Claire Nigeria, it featured Toyosi Alexis, Zainab Mohammed, Kanyinsola Onalaja, and Maryann. Accessibility shaped both the content and experience of this session, which included an ASL interpreter and front-row participation from special needs children. Panelists shared personal experiences of how disability informs style and identity. Maryann reflected on adapting her wardrobe for comfort and confidence, while Zainab Mohammed spoke on visibility, recalling that she never saw anyone like herself represented on television growing up. The panel emphasized intentional design for adaptive fashion and the need for the industry to reimagine what inclusivity looks like, both in production and on the runway.

Closing the day’s Fashion Business Series sessions, “Fashion Workforce: People. Pay. Progress.” examined how talent remains the backbone of Africa’s creative economy. Moderated by Damilola Ademilokun, the discussion featured Irunna Ejibe, Boye Asenuga, Tolu Akinpeloye, and Otunwa Benedict. The conversation centered on labor structures, fair compensation, and growth within fashion’s evolving ecosystem. “Because there was no real structure until some ten years ago, everyone else was really just a hustler,” said Akinpeloye, calling for stronger workplace culture and clearer career pathways. The dialogue closed with an urgent consensus: the future of African fashion depends not just on creativity, but on valuing the people who make it possible.

The evening runway carried forward the day’s spirit of purpose and reinvention. Fifteen designers unveiled their Spring/Summer 2026 collections, each interpreting the season through a shared language of craftsmanship, experimentation, and cultural storytelling. The runway opened with a parade of bold shapes and feminine strength from Sevon Dejana, whose couture-inflected silhouettes shimmered with beaded cascades and sculptural lines. Ibilola Ogundipe offered a softer expression of womanhood, with flowing liquid fabrics, feather accents, and corseted detailing that caught the light like moving water. Across the night, collections blurred the line between tradition and modernity, with Malité, Garbe, and Cute Saint weaving heritage craft into streetwear, fringe, and wool textures that spoke of individuality and memory.

Love From Julez returned with its signature architectural pleats and vibrant color codes, while JZO’s presentation was a masterclass in modern tailoring—structured yet fluid, masculine yet open. Its exploration of form and balance closed the night on a refined, genderless note. Collaborative presentations also took the spotlight. NIVEA x Fruché unveiled a monochrome capsule of sheer suiting and textured fringe, while Lush Hair transformed the runway into a visual statement of texture and volume, closing with chef Hilda Baci in a flowing pink dress and sculptural afrocentric hair.

Across all collections, one theme persisted: the freedom to create without limits. Designers leaned into movement, utility, and storytelling, crafting pieces that mirrored Lagos’s creative pulse. The night felt like a full-circle moment—where the ideas discussed in the morning found expression in fabric, silhouette, and self-assured design.  Day 3 reaffirmed what Lagos Fashion Week stands for: a meeting point of thought and artistry, where fashion is both an industry and a language through which Africa tells its most dynamic stories.

Lagos Fashion Week 2025 is proudly title sponsored by Heineken and supported by Lush Hair, Nivea, Bank of Industry, Meta (Facebook), Afreximbank, African Finance Corporation, MTN, the Lagos State Government, Moët & Chandon and Style House Files.