At prime mentors, fashion meets music, DJs smile home

It was a medley of fashion and music recently at the first edition of Fashion Show and Disk Jockey (DJ) competition held at Bishop Aboyade Cole, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The event organised by Oxygen, in collaboration with Prime Chinese Restaurant, was aimed at giving back to society through fashion and music.

While Victoria Ereuchalu, known as DJ Victoria, went home with N300,000 for coming first, Adeyinka Ogunbiade, known as DJ Yinka, was awarded N150,000 for coming second, while Anaka Emmanuel, known as DJ Schoolboy, came third and was given N50,000.

The organisers said their aim was to give the fashion designers and their models a platform to showcase their brands and connect them to global fashion brands.

On what informed the initiative, Chairman, Prime Initiative, Princewill Uche, said: “I was already grounded in my business and I said to myself that my friend and I must give back to the society. I chose to give back through these means because that is what I am known for; I am big on fashion and music. Oxygen is about all of us who ‘grew up known for social, to empower up and coming in these fields.’

“We made international contacts in the entertainment industry and it will be unfair not to mentor the young ones. We decided to put prizes in the DJ competition to encourage others that their craft is also appreciated. As far as the music industry is concerned, they are also artistes and deserve recognition, deserve to be empowered and celebrated.”

He spoke on future plans, saying: “This is going to be a yearly competition but we intend to organise other competitions in other areas quarterly.”

The Director, Oxygen, Stan Mukoro, said: “For me, I have been around entertainment indirectly, provided exotic cars for artistes, including providing a courtesy Bentley for Dbanj to chauffer him around while he was on vacation in Atlanta, GA while I was the custodian of Bentley Motors team in Atlanta. And I started wearing trad five years ago to promote our own style.

“This show is to expose the talents to the world. The next step is to look into their designs, and how they intend to market them globally. There was a rise in African clothing after the release of Black Panther. Nigeria is leading in the world of music when it comes to Afrobeats, so, we are doing this to contribute our quota to the promotion of both the music and fashion industries”.

One of the designers, Ose Okpamen who is the creative director of Hellerose, said: “I am excited to showcase my work. I have been in the fashion industry for 10 years but this outing means a lot to my brand. I believe in this project because we want to start showcasing emerging designers and talents and give everybody a platform. When it comes to fashion, we have to give young people the opportunity to show themselves, make mistakes, learn from them and get better. I personally wanted a platform to show my talents and this event meets my expectation.”

Speaking on the amount of work put into her design for the show, she said: “I spent two years designing the collections, every fabric was created by me, I did not buy any of them. Though I have MSc in Oil and Gas management, fashion is my passion, it is my oil and gas.”