Africa Gears Up for Heineken Lagos Fashion Week 2018

By Azuka Ogujiuba

Lagos Fashion Week will return for its 8th edition this year from October 24th – 27th 2018. Serving as a hub to connect fashion stakeholders, LFW tents Oniru will open from 10am – 10pm.

Heineken Lagos Fashion Week is the leading event on the African Fashion calendar, attracting thousands of fashion experts, enthusiasts and media across the continent and beyond. This seasons event will feature over 50 designers showcasing their Spring/Summer 2019 collections as well as the Fashion Business Series, #LagosFWRetail in partnership with #SheTrades, Visual Makers Fellowship with Canon, Green Access Showcase with Fayrouz x Garment Care and Heineken Live Your Music After Party. 

The Heineken Lagos Fashion Week was announced at a press cocktail, which took place on October 11, 2018.  The cocktail began with a short message by Senior Brand Manager Heineken, Obabiyi Fagade, who reiterated Heineken’s commitment to inspiring African consumers to break boundaries through the LFW platform. He also expressed his excitement for LFW guests to experience the Heineken hospitality suite as well as Live Your Music. 

Fashion Focus Alumni, and Fashion Focus x FETS Wallet Fund recipient, Emmy Kasbit was also present.

Sharing his experience of the incubator programme, he said: “Fashion Focus has been a great journey so far. The fund has helped propel my brand forward in such a short period of time through business mentorship and global opportunities, this has only been possible with the support of the Fashion Focus platform which continuously facilitates positioning my brand globally.” 

Excited at the opportunity to continue to impact young African businesses, the 2018/19 Fashion Focus Africa Semi Finalists who will be going through to the interview stages have been selected. Interviews will be conducted during the Lagos Fashion week.

 The Fashion Business Series will take a new turn this year,  and will on the first day, usher in #HLFW18. The aim of FBS is to create a platform for fashion stakeholders to drive conversation about the development of the fashion industry. This year’s theme; “The Importance of Platforms”, will feature a panel of  experts discussing how various media platforms can be utilised for the benefit of the industry. We look forward to hosting  our very first “FBS Gathering”, a dinner solely for fashion stakeholders. 

Also a key feature in the 2018 lineup is the Visual Makers Fellowship. Ten filmmakers and 20 photographers will attend  workshops over a seven-day period  facilitated by Canon, and will be offered the opportunity to shoot for #HLFW2018. In addition, the Green Access showcase with Fayrouz and Garment Care, a platform set-up to promote sustainable fashion. Workshops for Green Access begun earlier on Thursday the 11th of October, and will see five finalists present upcycled pieces at Lagos Fashion Week. 

 This year’s theme is titled ‘The Importance of Platforms’ and discussions will delve into how the fashion industry can leverage platforms. A dynamic selection of industry experts will lead these discussions. 

Tickets for the runway shows can be purchased online at Afritickets.

Heineken Lagos Fashion Week is brought to you by Style House Files and Heineken in partnership with FETS Wallet,  JC Decaux, Fayrouz, NEPC, Maybelline, Oando, and Garment Care.

Media Partners: BellaNaija, Business Day, Genevieve Magazine, George Britton, Guardian Life, Konbini, Pulse NG, Style Vitae, Ventures Africa and Zumi.  Official Logistics Partner is Taxify.