African Fashion Week Rises with National Monuments

Funke Olaode

Africa Fashion Week Nigeria recently added another feather to its cap when it showcased the iconic national monuments-National Theatre and Tinubu Square-both in Lagos Island for its two-day fashion explosion that featured seven designers from different African continents including Cameroon and Zimbabwe. Former first Lady, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola was among the dignitaries at the fashion fiesta.

On Saturday April 1, National Theatre played host to fashionistas, fashion designers and upcoming ones as AFWN introduced a fresh dimension of promoting the culture and old fashion through the use of historic locations in Lagos. As selected models strode the runaway, invited guests were excited by the electrifying and the old school designs.

Among all the designs, the renowned fashion icon who has been around for close to two decades, Zizi Cardow was largely applauded for her captivating designs using ABC Wax, a sister brand of Da Viva. ABC Wax which has been around for over a century in Manchester, England. It made a triumphant entry into the African market in 2006.

Speaking on  his company’s involvement in the iconic show using ABC Wax, group marketing manager  of Da Viva and ABC brand Steven Dutton said apart from the fact that Nigerian market is huge, the iconic designs is like going back to root. “We took that decision because we felt the future is more in Africa.  So ABC Wax is a product made in Africa by Africans for Africans.  What we are doing now is to formalize our distribution using similar shops and make the products more available and accessible. We are re-launching which  is coinciding with the African Fashion Week. This is why we partnered with Zizi Cardow to re-launch the product.”

According to Duttonis, “To make Wax is not easy because it is highly technical. ABC Wax guarantees quality. That is important. We also want to break a new ground by building a relationship with upcoming designers. That is one of the reasons we are working with the promoter of the African Fashion Week,” he concluded.