Lagos Fashion Week’s Omoyemi Akinrele And KISUA Take African Fashion Online

Omoyemi Akinrele has joined forces with KISUA to bring African Designs to a global market. The founder of Lagos Fashion Week has joined forces with fashion influencers Ozwald Boateng and Joop van der Meij(the former CEO of Vlisco, a leading manufacturer of African wax-print fabric) to sit on an advisory board to help the KISUA management team.

The philosophy behind this project is to connect the beautiful African Designs with people around the world who’ve played a role in designing and producing that garment. Samuel Mensah and Danica Lepen the brains behind the project told style.com:

“Even though we have a focus on creating globally marketable and well-priced garments, we have gone to great lengths to retain authenticity in our collections. As we expand and grow, we will look further into incorporating more and more specialized traditional African methods such as beading, dyeing, weaving and hand-printing,”

This is a brill project and proves that African Fashion is not a one hit wonder!

There is also KISUA African Designer Fund, which will support and nurture emerging design talent to come out of the continent.

This e-commerce site is a great opportunity for African designers to showcase their wares and reach a global audience. Mensah is on point when he says

“The talent has always been here, we just lacked a platform like this to show it to consumers.”According to Women’s Wear Daily, prices will range from $60 for a top, $90 to $120 for a dress and around $300 for a coat, making it truly affordable.

The site is due to launch on October 3 and their Tumblr and its prints galore and fearlessness towards colour that’s so characteristic of African design. It is going to be a journey of contemporary African culture with stories ranging from fashion, music, art, and literature.

I can’t wait! Can you ?

Ciao Bellas xoxo