Ferdinand Ekechukwu
Lagos Fashion Festival returned this year, featuring performances from musicians, dancers, and models strutting down the runway. Set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island on the 2nd of March, it brought together a gathering of fashion enthusiasts, designers, product vendors, fashion bloggers, and fashion houses from across Nigeria and beyond.
This ‘Luxury Edition’ of the festival showcased clothes and fashion accessories from professionals, young, and aspiring designers. Iroko, a ready to wear female brand that produces exquisite handmade clothes and hand bags, made impressive debut at the show with the launch of its beautiful collection of African inspired pieces on the stands and the runway.
With minimalist designs, the founder and creative director, Precious Okoi, disclosed Iroko’s collections reflect a blend of art and fashion. “Why we say arts meets fashion is because most of our pieces have hand painted designs on them that speak to our African roots and we also have flowery collection and that also appeals to whatever aesthetic that we want.
“We also have our handmade bags of beautiful cowhide leather and it also has hand painted designs on them as well,” she added. She speaks further on the brand’s backstory. “I’m the daughter of a tailor (laughs). Yes, my mum. I grew up in the house of a tailor. But I didn’t toe the line until very recently. But I have always been fashion conscious.
“I have always loved putting things together and coming up with something unique. I believe so much in minimalism and simplicity. So, why I now decided to take this further is I saw a niche that I could fill. You know we have a beautiful story to tell in Africa. Our story is so vast. There’s a deeper depth…there is more depth to the story.
“So, I felt one way I can tell a part, because I cannot tell it all, a part of the African story is through expression in our designs, which is why I said our designs are artistic in nature. You will see the beauty and simplicity of it in the design. So, that is one thing that I just decided that ‘okay let me tell our story through our designs, through fashion.”
