It was one of the best fashion parades ever witnessed at this year’s Heineken Design Fashion Africa (DFA) Showcase 2021 which took place at the Eko Convention Centre of Eko Hotel, Lagos.
Top designers in the country and other parts of Africa came together to showcase different creative African fashion, towing the line of this year’s theme ‘Creative Cultures’.
Yomi Casual, Zikora, Jurio Lutti, Niposkin, Skentele by Etti, Studio Trybe, Meklit.me, Lulla Studio, Femi Toys, among others all showcased different fashion wears both for men and women.
The Theme, ‘Creative Cultures’ responds to the growing need to blend the African Fashion and creative industries with global brands and partnerships, such as Heineken amongst others.
Fashion lovers were thrilled by the display of style on the runway, music lovers also have a great time with performances from amazing Nigerian artistes live at the event such as Patoranking, Aramide, Crayon, Tclassic, Ric Hassani, Ycee, Dapo Turbuna, Reekado Banks and others.
Valerie Ike was tasked with the honour of receiving the guests on the Black Carpet while the duo of Eso Dike and Idia Aisen were seen entertaining the guests as the event host.
Speaking at the event, one of the guests, Amarachi Obiakor, said she was wowed by what she witnessed on the day. The Tai Solarin University of Education student said some of the fashions displayed were top notch and she already looked forward to getting one of them for herself.
The sponsor of the Fashion Show, Heineken, a product from Nigerian Breweries PLC was available for the guests to cool their thirst as the company revealed their passion for sponsoring fashion shows for years.
Business Development Manager (Low and No) of the Heineken Company, Sampson Oloche, who was present at the show said they believe the DFA is definitely a big property.
Speaking at the event, Oloche said, “We have been supporting fashion for 11 years,” he said. “I am happy the event was a success as designers were given the opportunity to showcase their creativity.
“At Heineken, we feel fashion is a big property in our hands and with the right investment, it can become another money-making industry in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
Also present at the event was the Brand Support Manager – Heineken of the Nigerian Breweries Plc, Aboyowa Ikpobe, who also applauded the organiser for a wonderful job.
DFA towards getting to the final showpiece organized a reality show with over 2000 video entries received from different parts of Africa with designers showing off their pieces.
With judges like Godson Ukaegbu, Adebayo Oke-Lawal, Akin Faminu, Oluwatosin Ogundadegbe, Michael Ugwu and Ituen Basi, the entries were reduced to 10 with the lucky 10 camped at a location in Lagos for 30 days where the eventual winner, Zikoranachukwuebuka Ikebuaku of Zikora, emerged.
The winner received ten thousand dollars (10,000USD) to create their designed garment and showcase it within the Design Fashion Africa weekend in October.
This year’s edition of DFA was in collaboration with Jakaranda Productions and SpiceTV.
ABOUT DFA
DFA is a platform that fosters the coming together of fashion enthusiasts, both experienced and upcoming in a bid to commercialize their art.
DFA’s campaign consists of DFA Focus- a series of one-minute episodes spotlighting up and coming creatives, The Culture Brunch- the lifestyle campaign, hosting our creative communities to affect culture and create unforgettable moments, Beyond Home is a series of interviews aiming to connect African creatives in the diaspora with the state of Africa’s, My Fashion Line, the reality TV show crafted to discover the next best talent in the fashion industry, Wearable Art Challenge- a competition aimed at supporting artists that explore the crossover of Fashion and Art.
