Entries are now being received for the GTBank Lagos Fashion and Design week, tagged ‘LFDW Fashion focus 2014’. According to Omoyemi Akerele, creative director of LFDW, the fourth edition of LFDW is billed to take place from October 29 to November 1, 2014.
The GTBank Lagos Fashion and Design Week (GTBank LFDW), which debuted four years ago has become the leading fashion event for many. Dedicated towards the growth and promotion of creativity in the fashion industry, LFDW nurtures, fine tunes, reward skills and provide designers with a solid platform for achieving their goals.
The vision of LFDW which is primarily centered on providing support to designers via mentorship, education and capacity building, is also an opportunity for designers to present their works before an audience that facilitates commerce.
This years’ edition will include other designers from across Africa, as against previous editions focused on the Nigerian fashion industry. “This year, we will begin to present designers from a selection across Africa as part of our vision to promote interconnectivity within the African fashion industry; a vital tool for the promotion of intra African trade. The African continent creates a natural market for the fashion industry and GTBank LFDW wants to ensure that we tap into this market”, Akerele said.
Previous attention of The LFDW has been solely on the Nigerian fashion industry; ensuring that Nigerian designers have a platform to show case their collections annually and seek out various opportunities for designers both within Nigeria and beyond.
Some new elements are introduced into the LFDW series this year. The LFDW Young Designer of the Year Competition, which ran for three years, will now be replaced by the LFDW Fashion Focus. The LFDW Fashion Focus is in partnership with Frallain Inc and Istituto Marangoni. Opportunities for selected participants include: LFDW workshops focused on building retail ready brands for the business of fashion, presentation at Guaranty Trust Bank Lagos Fashion and Design Week, six months internship with Louis Vuitton Moet Henessy (LVMH’s) EDUN facilitated by Frallain Inc, Scholarship opportunity with Istituto Marangoni, and LFDW Fashion Focus retail pop ups across Nigeria.
Lagos Fashion and Design Week is title sponsored by Guaranty Trust Bank plc, alongside British Council, Maybelline Nigeria and Fayrouz Nigeria. Media partners are Haute Fashion Africa, Wings Magazine, Ono Bello and Style Vitae.
As a leading fashion event on the African fashion calendar, LFDW leads the way with initiatives that supports, strengthens and develops the fashion industry. Beyond the runway, the annual event provides a physical platform that is gradually repositioning fashion as a useful tool for commerce and creativity in Nigeria. The event which is a multiday fashion platform aims to drive the Nigerian and ultimately, the African fashion industry; by bringing together buyers, consumers and the media to view the current collections of African designers in the fashion capital of Lagos, Nigeria.
Mabel Dimma
