These days the range of fashion accessories and jewellery available is simply staggering and the variety of products on the market is constantly expanding. This process is driven in part by the global fashion industry, with events taking place in centres like New York, Paris and London driving new trends and influencing what consumers can buy in high street stores and over the web.
Meanwhile, another hot spot for clothing and accessory lovers might by the Nigerian capital. According to a Guardian article, Lagos is tipped to become another “major fixture in the global fashion calendar”. It noted that while up until recently, the idea of an African fashion scene was an “optimistic stretch”, now those days “could soon be very last season”.
Recently, Lagos served as the base for this year’s Arise Africa fashion week, which was started in Cape Town in 2009.
Organiser of the event Penny McDonald said: “You’ve got Milan, London, New York and Paris. Why not Lagos? We’ve been invited to showcase in New York and to return to Cape Town and other places, but there’s such an appetite for fashion in Lagos that we were comfortable with a vision for making this the fifth fashion capital of the world.”
A total of 77 African or African-based designers were whittled down to five winners and these talented individuals will show their work at next year’s New York fashion week. Among those to enjoy success was Ozwald Boateng. The Guardian pointed out that he is the “youngest and first black man to open a shop in London’s prestigious Savile Row”.
For the duration of the Arise Africa event, Lagos was awash with fashion accessories and jewellery and, according to the news source, the gathering of models, designers, celebrities and media personnel indicated how Africa’s fashion industry could grow over coming years.