LFDW Is Coming To Port Harcourt, Lagos & Abuja To Find the Next Big Designers

Are you a young creative designer? Do you want to build and showcase your design talents at the 5th anniversary of Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week? Then participate in Fashion Focus this year.

Fashion Focus is a collaboration between Heineken LFDW and British Council that’s supported by Fashion School Istituto Marangoni and Grey Velvet Nigeria. It is a year long initiative with a vision to fine tune the existing Heineken LFDW strategy to support the professional development of emerging fashion talent in Nigeria. Fashion Focus will scout for, support and develop emerging creative talent that can stimulate the growth of Nigeria’s fashion industry. This is in sync with British Council’s ongoing work to develop innovative, high-quality events and collaborations that link artists and cultural institutions in Nigeria with their counterparts in the UK. LFDW Fashion Focus offers fashion designers opportunities to be participants at targeted workshops and networking sessions between 2015 and 2016, as well as a chance to exhibit their collection at Heineken LFDW 2015.

Speaking on the initiative, Wadami Amolegbe, Creative Director LFDW Fashion Focus stated ‘Fashion Focus is aimed at developing the Nigerian fashion ecosystem by nurturing the very best of talent through intensive workshops and classes delivered of international standards. This will ensure that our designers can compete in fashion industries locally and globally.’

LFDW 2014 Fashion Focus Finalist, Temitayo Ilesanmi Nathan was invited to present his work at British Council X British Fashion Council’s International Fashion Showcase 2015 at London Fashion Week earlier on in the year. He summarises his LFDW Fashion Focus experience as a “defining moment for my brand and me as its Creative Director. Being privileged to showcase alongside other talented designers at the International Fashion Showcase London was a major eye opener for me. I now see the fashion industry in a totally different light – as a platform for creative expression as well as wealth creation”
Fashion Focus is an amazing opportunity for any Fashion Designer to take their career to the next level. The initiative has produced some of the most recognized Next Generation brands in the Nigerian Fashion Industry, including but not limited to Ejiro Amos Tafiri, Orange Culture & McMeka.

Fashion Focus Opportunities:

· Fashion Focus will bring together a range of designers, practitioners and institutions from across Nigeria and the UK to explore new ways of working through a range of workshops and networking sessions which will hold between 2015 and 2016
· Finalists will exhibit their collection at the Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week showcase from October 28th – October 31st, 2015
· Scholarship opportunity with Istituto Marangoni
· A chance to Design, Produce and Retail your collection by Grey Velvet Nigeria

To Apply:

· Visit http://lagosfashionanddesignweek.com/w/fashion-focus/ and fill in an application form, send to fashionfocus@lagosfashionanddesignweek.com | Applications close 11th September 2015

· LFDW will be shortlisting candidates who will be invited for a brief presentation to the panel of judges in either Lagos, Abuja or Port-Harcourt

Open Audition:

Can’t Apply Online? Then join us for open auditions in Port Harcourt, Lagos & Abuja, find details below:

· Port Harcourt: 14th of September, 2015
Venue: 127 Olu Obasanjo Road, GRA Phase 2.

· Abuja: 15th and 16th of September, 2015
Venue: Plot 3645, IBB Way Maitama, PMB 550, Garki.

· Lagos: 17th and 18th of September, 2015
Venue: 20 Thompson Avenue, Ikoyi, Lagos.

Fashion Focus is a collaboration between Heineken LFDW and British Council that’s supported by Fashion School Istituto Marangoni and Grey Velvet Nigeria.

Heineken LFDW sponsors Maybelline and Fayrouz will lend their continued support to Heineken LFDW.