Day 4 at Lagos Fashion Week: A Celebration of Colour, Culture and Craft on the Runway

 

On Day 4 of the Lagos Fashion Week 2025 on-site runway shows, nineteen African designers presented their Spring/Summer 2026 collections, showcasing a range of trends including the use of raffia, head wraps, and colourful prints. Here’s a recap of the collections and standout trends spotted on the runway:

Maison Alu'lla: Maison Alu’lla is a Nigerian womenswear brand that honours the concept of womanhood. The brand explores familial storytelling for its Spring-Summer 26 collection titled “Madame”. Pieces include sheer dresses, bubble skirts, functional two-pieces, halterneck dresses with fringe-like hemlines, and pieces in colourful prints. For the closing look, a black voluminous dress closes the show. The collection began with a sequence of minimal pieces in black, and then gradually transcended into textured looks with intricate detailing. The Madame collection fuses functionality and modern-day maximalism.

Elexiay: Elexiay is a feminine-driven fashion brand, utilizing techniques like crocheting and knitting. The brand ethos draws from intersectionality, incorporating elements of history, heritage, and craftsmanship. Its pieces, which are mostly sundresses, are chic, colorful, and most essentially functional for the everyday woman. For its 2026 Spring-Summer, the brand continues its chic codes, think dresses from bodycon to halterneck, casual two-pieces, and an off-shoulder balloon-like dress. Elexiay SS26 collection is a perfect blend of chicness meets functionality.

Sahrazad: Moroccan heritage takes Lagos Fashion Week runway. Sahrazad’s SS26 collection is a celebration of Morocco’s traditional craftsmanship and how it shapes everyday design. The brand showcased a mix of men's and women's wear pieces in neutral colour codes like black, dark brown and a pop of turquoise.

ForStyleSake: ForStyleSake’s pieces are fluid, often playing and exploring proportions, textures, volumes, and colours. For its latest collection at Lagos Fashion Week, titled “Sisi,” ForStyleSake continues to step into new style territory. This season, it plays with volumes, prints, and textures. Pieces from the collection are very feminine, the Sisi collection features damask fabrics alongside headwraps, which adds a maximalist flair to the new body of work. The standout piece- a shimmery two-piece with exaggerated bow-like detailing.

Pettre Taylor: Nigerian designer, Peter Acha’s designs are often whimsical, daring, out of the box, and colorful. Entering into the mainstay status following its 2022 Green Access debut, Pettre Taylor uses traditional techniques like dyeing and weaving to create an array of audacious silhouettes. For its SS26/27 Trans-seasonal collection picking up from where it left off last year, Pettre Taylor continues to design outside of the box, with staggering pieces from hand-dyed fabric constructed into boubous and suit sets, to plunging dresses, architectural pants, and ruching techniques taking central stage in the latest collection.

Green Access 2025

Adage Studio Present (ASP) + Unrefyned: Green Access finalist, Adage Studio Present (ASP) explores the architectural side of fashion, creating clothes that transcend between shape and structure. While Unrefyned, uses accessories as a form of identity, creating sustainable pieces. For their capsule collection presentation on the runway, there was a meanswear piece with tulle detailing, a bodycon dress, a blazer with plastic-like details, all styled with accessories from Unrefyned.

Left of Yaba + Jlk Studio: Transforming unwanted materials into fashionable pieces, Left of Yaba’s work explores sustainability. For Jlk Studio, artisanal-crafted footwear is its forte. Together, the duo’s capsule collection featured recycled denim pieces with flared edges and denim toes. Together Left of Yaba and Jlk Studio’s design blends craftsmanship, innovation, and style.

Ndiiche + Sinae: Ndiiche centers Igbo culture in its design, often working with repurposed textiles, a sustainable approach driven by the creative director’s knack for innovation. For Sinae, the brand repurposes second-hand headwrap (gele) into limited bags and accessories. The duo’s capsule collection presentation is powerful, avant-garde- garde and outstanding. Featuring pieces like hand-printed textiles, dresses with denim details, and hats.

Babayo: This season, Babayo returns with its Northern Nigeria flair, and models walk down the runway with dark painted lips. The pieces were earthy, think brown shade like palettes transformed into flowy silhouettes with frayed details. The looks were also styled with raffia-like headbands.

E.S.O By Liman: Its SS26 collection titled "The Line" features the use of hand-dyed and woven fabrics - aso-oke, upcycled glass, and coral beads. Designs range from the brand’s code featuring flowy agbada, men's and women’s two-piece wear, and dresses with bead detailing, to shirt dresses with bold denim details.

M.O.T. The Label: At M.O.T., The Label showcases on Day 4 of Lagos Fashion Week, colourful silhouettes were sent down the runway. Titled “Eko Party”, the dresses were relaxed, chic, and vibrant. Details included ruffles on hemlines and shoulders. Scarves were also used as minimal accessories tied with a less dramatic feel. Standout pieces include a balloon-like shimmery jumpsuit.

MaxJenny: Swedish luxury brand MaxJenny makes its runway debut this season at Lagos Fashion Week, where the brand presented a stellar collection featuring eclectic prints, exaggerated volumes, bringing Swedish luxe to Lagos. The collection was nothing short of stellar moments.

Ajabeng: Ghanaian brand Ajabeng returns to the runway for its SS26 collection titled “Post Drip”. Described as a sartorial response to the existential realities of Africans, the collection explored a style that is rooted in ingenuity, functionality, and defiance. Pieces are laid back, think earthly colour palettes like brown and beige stripped down into button-up shirts and pants. Functional shorts and tailored blazers were also standout pieces from the collection.

Adama Paris: At Adama Paris, Senegalese design codes are alive. The brand has established itself as one of the mainstay brands over the years, and this time it returns with a grand collection. Flowy dresses in shades of brown with ruffle detail dominate this year’s showcase, styled with feathery-drop earrings and headwraps.

Desiree Iyama: Titled “Everything, In Time”, Desiree Iyama’s SS26 collection is inspired by the cycles of life and the beauty of transformation. The brand’s design codes return to the catwalk this season, featuring looks in the brand’s metallic-feel fabrics, voluminous and feathery-like hemlines that aid movement, feathery-like bustiers, and dresses with bead detailings. With over twenty looks, Desiree Iyama’s latest collection feels fresh and innovative.

Eki Silk: One of Lagos Fashion Week's mainstays, Eki Silk was one of the first few brands to ever showcase at the inaugural edition of the event, so it felt only right to showcase again during the 15th edition of the event. The brand’s signature silk prints return to the runway, appearing in vibrant shades of gold and red, creating flowy movement on the catwalk.

Oshobor: 2021 Green Access finalist and now a mainstay on the Lagos Fashion Week roster, is an indigenous brand weaving traditional (Benin culture) into contemporary silhouettes. Its SS26 collection, which happens to be its tenth body of work, is a literal reference to darkness, titled “The Night Has Come”; it examines themes of spirituality, emotion, and celebration that define the night. The collection moved with wearable couture-like precision, positioning Oshobor as one of Nigeria’s finest designers.

Cynthia Abila: Cynthia Abila brought Eastern Nigeria culture to Day 4 of Lagos Fashion Week, the opening look- a raffia-inspired two-piece. What followed next was an array of structured blazer sets in orange, red, and patterned prints, topped up with fringe and raffia detailing. Headwraps and raffia bags were also spotted. Abila’s SS26 blended traditional craftsmanship with modern design flair.

Nkwo: Nkwo brought high fashion chicness to the runway, showcasing looks heavily inspired by its sustainable ethos. There were structured denim blazers, ponchos, dresses styled with stockings and berets. The standout look- a red-patterned blazer and skirt donned by Ezinne Chinkata, the founder of Zinkata.

Day 4 concluded with the Heineken City of Cities presentation; a vibrant cultural showcase featuring live music and designs crafted from raffia and other traditional textiles. Heineken’s show brought together an impressive lineup of talented designers; ranging from Atafo, ESO by Liman, Nkwo, Onalaja, Dimeji Ilori, LFJ, Cynthia Abila, Eki Kere, Oshobor, Ejiro Amos Tafiri, Odio Mimonet, Kilentar, LDA, Orange Culture, Iconic Invanity, Onalaja, Imad Eduso,Ywande, Bridget Awosika, Sisiano, Abiola Olusola, Studio Imo, Hertunba, Ajanee, TI Nathan, Re-Bahia, Gozel Green, FIA Factory - each presenting unique interpretations of contemporary African fashion. The showcase was creatively directed by Sisiano Paolo, whose artistic vision tied the diverse collections together in a seamless celebration of style, craftsmanship, and individuality.

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.