Everything You Need to Know About Accra Fashion Week
In the wake of local renown and the international appeal of Ghana’s fashion scene, Accra Fashion Week is stepping up its game to meet demand and impress the world of style and contemporary taste. Here’s everything you need to know.
Background
Globally speaking, Ghanaian fashion figures include the likes of Edward Enninful, Adwoa Aboah, Ozwald Boateng, the Casely-Hayford family, Kofi Ansah and Kanye West collaborator Virgil Abloh, who is the new artistic director for the menswear division of Louis Vuitton as contracted by LVMH Moët Hennessy. Also of interest at the fashion newsstand, Teen Vogue recently identified the “vibrant cultural force” that the fashion industry is yet to fully recognize when they covered Afrochella, while in and out of Ghana, award-winning fashion blogger Afua Rida’s influence is being felt.
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The aim of Accra Fashion Week
Accra Fashion Week is organized by popular fashion media and management outlet FashionGHANA which has links to over 1,500 boutiques across Africa and over 90 distribution chains both in and out of the continent. The goal is to bring together collections and brands from across the continent and diaspora and facilitate educative workshops and media promotion.
Designers at the event
The 2018 designer roll call at Accra Fashion Week lists Les Reines des Pearls from France; Senegal’s Outrage by Jida Blade; Katiti from the Seychelles; Tobams Colors and Mark Johnson from the UK; Sara the Dressmaker, Balkyz, Pearl Amoah, Mish Mega, Bri Wiredu, Akinko, Nallem Clothing, Figs Fashion, Gavachy, Iva Michael, Marhaw Fashion and Afre Anko from Ghana; Fatumah Asha from Uganda; FD Fashion house and House of Lil from Nigeria; Tidal Cool from the US; Romeo Paul from Qatar; and Thabied from Botswana, as well as Metys from Diana Gadie and Nackissa from the Ivory Coast.
What it means for Ghana
Accra Fashion Week fills the void as a prodigious fashion intermediary connecting the dots between exceptional creativity and culture. In the past, it was hard for thousands of local boutiques to support made in Ghana fashion because of lack of professionalism, mediocre quality of goods, dislike for common wax prints, improper branding, pricing issues, etc. The fashion week organizers bring to the fore many talented designers who defy the odds.
We have not yet forgotten the bright spotlight on Nina Sharae; the first plus size swimwear designer to do it in deluxe style, and the iconic Vica Michaels who received the Accra Fashion Week classic model of the year award.
The future
Aside the main shows which came off on March,31 and April, 1, Accra Fashion Week had designer-buyer workshops, showroom experiences, the Vvip welcome party, a fashion fair, a modeling in Ghana seminar and a business of fashion seminar. The seminars at this year’s fashion week were directed along the lines of core business understanding for mass production, man power, finance, networking, distribution and space for showcasing. Who knows? Fashion could be the next game changer for boosting Ghana‘s tourism ratings.
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