Here’s a Recap of the Heineken Lagos Fashion & Design Week Fashion Focus Regionals in Port Harcourt, Abuja & Lagos!

From left: Mobolaji Sadare (Buyer Grey Velvet Nigeria); Wadami Amolegbe (Creative Director Fashion Focus); Amaka Osakwe (Creative Director, Maki Oh) & Jennifer Onochie (Program Manager, Arts & Creative Industries of British Council Nigeria) at the Lagos Auditions

We are getting closer to finding out who our Fashion Focus finalists are!

From Monday 14th to Friday 18th of September, Heineken Lagos Fashion & Design Week conducted regional auditions in Port Harcourt, Lagos and Abuja to scout for the 2015 Fashion Focus Finalists.

Over 150 young designers presented their portfolios and finished designs for the opportunity to be shortlisted as a 2015 Fashion Focus Finalist, to a panel of established industry stakeholders such as, Akpos Okudu in Port Harcourt, Ogwa Iweze (Creative Director of DZYN) in Abuja and Amaka Osakwe (Creative Director, Maki Oh) in Lagos.

The panel also consisted of Heineken Lagos Fashion & Design Week partners; Godson Ukaegbu (Editor-In-Chief of Mania Magazine); Jennifer Onochie (Programs Manager, Arts & Creative Industry, British Council Nigeria) & Mobolaji Sadare (Buyer at Nigerian Retail Store, Grey Velvet).

Port Harcourt judges from left: Zara Okpara (Brand Development & Communications, Jewel by Lisa); Godson Ukaegbu (Editor-in-Chief, Mania Magazine); Wadami Amolegbe (Creative Director, Fashion Focus) & Akpos Okudu (Designer, Akpos Okudu)

Judges at the Abuja auditions from left: Ogwa Iweke (Creative Director, DZYN); Wadami Amolegbe (Creative Director, Fashion Focus); Godson Ukaegbu (Editor-in-Chief, Mania Magazine) & Oyinkansola Momoh (Project Manager, Heineken Lagos Fashion & Design Week)

One of the designers who presented was Asev Silas (Creative Director, Sildek-Style-City). He is a 3rd time applicant who made it to the 2013 Fashion Focus workshops facilitated by British Council, and hopes to be selected as a finalist this year.

Commenting on why he keeps applying to take part in the program he said – “I keep coming back because the Lagos Fashion and Design Week Fashion Focus workshops helped me to understand my brand and the business of fashion. The knowledge imparted during the workshops, has been integral in keeping my business running”.

Asev Silas (Creative Director, Sildek-Style-City)

Heineken LFDW Fashion Focus continues to reward and present opportunities for emerging talents to harness their skills, and ensure they sustain a global presence to a wider audience.

British Council Nigeria has worked with Lagos Fashion and Design Week since its inception to facilitate the capacity building and skills development vision for the platform.

According to Jennifer Onochie (Program Manager, Arts & Creative Industries of British Council Nigeria) – “The growth of the Nigerian Fashion sector is creating opportunity for increased artistic participation and international collaboration. Through the British Council’s partnership with Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week, we provide a platform to continue to facilitate long term UK – Nigeria fashion collaboration, by encouraging artistic expression by young people, providing skills to support the development of a viable and sustainable fashion industry in Nigeria, and exposing new people to new work from Nigeria and the UK reciprocally. We value the dedication of the designers that auditioned in all three cities. They gave us the very tough job of only selecting 16 young designers to work with.”

View more photos from the auditions below:

Cross section of applicants waiting to present their collections to the judges

An applicant presents his collection to the judges in Port Harcourt

An applicant at the Abuja auditions

An applicant showcasing her moldboard to the judges at the Lagos auditions

An applicant presenting his pieces at the Lagos auditions

A Fashion Focus 2015 hopeful presenting to the Lagos judges

The Fashion Focus finalists will be presented at a Heineken LFDW networking event on Friday 9th October 2015, and offered opportunities to participate in targeted workshops and networking sessions in partnership with various institutions, and prestigious industry leaders locally and internationally.

Fashion Focus is a collaboration between Heineken LFDW and British Council that is supported by international fashion school – Istituto Marangoni, with campuses in Italy and London, and Nigerian retail store, Grey Velvet. Heineken LFDW sponsors Maybelline and Fayrouz will lend their continued support to Heineken LFDW.

For details on LFDW Fashion Focus, please visit www.lagosfashionanddesignweek.com

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BellaNaija is a Media Partner with the Heineken Lagos Fashion & Design Week 2015.