A Fashion Heritage Woven Through Generations
From What We Wore To What The World Sees
ARCHIVE
Nigerian fashion has grown into one of the country’s most recognizable forms of creative expression. From the traditions and craftsmanship of generations past to its growing presence on the global stage, each generation has left something behind, shaping what it is today.
To understand how it got here, we begin with where it all started.
The Beginning of Modern Nigerian Fashion
Shadé Thomas-Fahm stands among the foundational figures of modern Nigerian fashion. After studying fashion at St Martin’s School of Art in London, she returned to Lagos in 1960 and established Maison Shadé, becoming the first Nigerian fashion designer and building a boutique that soon attracted Lagos’ stylish elite, diplomats, and royalty.
Her significance was not simply in making clothes, but in rethinking what Nigerian fashion could be. She brought professional fashion training into conversation with indigenous textiles and silhouettes, creating contemporary garments for the cosmopolitan Nigerian woman while keeping local materials and forms at their center.
“The concept of designing is an art. You can learn how to sketch, but you must have the feeling."
– Shade Thomas-Fahm, 2022
Aṣọ-òkè, àdìrẹ, akwete, and okene became part of that vocabulary. These were not new inventions, but traditions with their own histories and techniques: handwoven strips joined into aṣọ-òkè, resist-dyed patterns formed through àdìrẹ, and intricate supplementary-weft designs woven into Akwete cloth. Thomas-Fahm reimagined such materials and traditions through tailoring, embroidery, new silhouettes, and practical adaptations—including a pre-tied gèlè and a zippered ìró.
In doing so, she helped establish a design-led language for Nigerian fashion—one that could be distinctly Nigerian without being confined to the past. Her work continues to be preserved and studied internationally, including in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collections, where her designs form part of the story of Africa’s modern fashion pioneers.
When Fashion Became Identity
Colonial rule brought Western garments, tailoring, and new ideas of dress into Nigerian cities, particularly Lagos, reshaping how people dressed and presented themselves. Yet indigenous styles and traditions continued to endure beneath that influence.
Then came independence in 1960. With a new nation came a renewed desire to express Nigerian identity, and fashion became one of the ways people did it—through local fabrics, traditional forms, and new interpretations of both.
The result was not a return to the past, but a redefinition of it. Nigerian fashion began bringing tradition and modernity into the same wardrobe, laying the cultural foundation for the distinct fashion identity that would continue to evolve in the decades ahead.
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As Nigerian fashion found its own identity, it began to reach far beyond the clothes themselves. It became part of the rhythm of Lagos—seen in music, photography, magazines, boutiques, nightlife, and the gatherings where people dressed to be seen.
Fashion was no longer simply something to wear; it had become part of the culture around us.
How We Wore It
1960s
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1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
The Industry Finds Its Voice
1. 1988 — A New Confidence in Nigerian Fashion
1988 became a defining year for Nigerian style, as Adire entered the mainstream, local designers gained recognition, and indigenous materials pushed into new creative territory. It was a moment when Nigerian fashion began looking increasingly inward—and finding confidence in what it already had.
2. Deola Sagoe — Taking Nigerian Design Abroad
Beginning in 1988, Deola Sagoe brought contemporary design to African handwoven materials and traditional techniques. Her milestones in Rome and New York helped establish Nigerian fashion as something that could command attention on major international fashion stages.
3. Tiffany Amber — The Rise of the Nigerian Fashion Label
Founded by Folake Coker in 1998, Tiffany Amber became Nigeria’s first ready-to-wear label and helped move the industry toward recognizable fashion houses. In 2008, its two appearances at New York Fashion Week marked a major international breakthrough for an Africa-based label.
4. Lisa Folawiyo — Ankara, Reimagined
When Lisa Folawiyo launched Jewel by Lisa in 2005, she transformed familiar Ankara through intricate hand-applied embellishment and contemporary tailoring. The result helped reposition a widely worn fabric as a material capable of carrying luxury fashion.
5. Lagos Fashion Week — Building the Industry
Founded by Omoyemi Akerele in 2011, Lagos Fashion Week created a platform connecting Nigerian designers with buyers, media, retailers, investors, and a wider global audience. It helped shift fashion from individual creative practice toward a more connected and scalable industry.
The story did not end with the pioneers who brought Nigerian fashion into new spaces. Their work became a foundation for another generation—one now reinterpreting inherited traditions, challenging conventions, and adding its own ideas to an industry that continuously finds new ways to grow.
The Creative Minds Carrying It Forward
Adebayo Oke-Lawal
Brand
Orange Culture
Lasisi Olubunmi
Brand
Blackadudu
Ejiro Amos Tafiri
Brand
Ejiro Amos Tafiri
Kenneth Ize
Brand
Kenneth Ize
Ugo Monye
Brand
Ugo Monye
Amaka Osakwe
Brand
Maki Oh
What began with inherited craft and tradition has grown into a fashion industry with a voice of its own. Across generations, Nigerian designers have continued to reinterpret what came before, carrying its influence into new forms, ideas, and possibilities.
The story continues with those shaping what Nigerian fashion will become next.