Nook International Fashion Promotes Decency on Runways 

Mary Nnah

Worried about the immodesty often displayed on Nigerian fashion show runways, the organisers of the Nook International Fashion Weekend have advocated decency in dressing on the runways.

Speaking during a press briefing to announce preparation for the 2024 edition of Nook International Fashion Weekend, scheduled to take place in February 2024, the visioners, the directors and representatives of the Nook International Fashion Weekend, Mrs Odochi Parker, Dame Nneoma Ochuko Momoh and Mrs Barbara Manuel stressed the need to bringing decency to the runways and also to impact on the society by giving back.

One of the directors, Mrs Odochi Samson Parker, who said the Nook International Fashion Weekend is more of a charity,  lending a hand and giving back to them, noted that outside all of these, it was more of decency in the fashion industry.

She said, “Fashion goes beyond nakedness, which we all know is prominent in our society, and then who makes these naked dresses, the designers. And of course, who chooses to wear these naked dresses, our children?  Models have made the fashion industry look like a whorehouse. It seems as though if you do not conform you cannot be part of the fashion industry.” 

“You see young boys walking like women and you see young girls walking like a man, you no longer know who is who, we hear about transgender and all of that. We want to see how we can cub this. A lot of our young men and women who are in the fashion industry cannot say no because they do not understand themselves. They are intimidated because they do not understand their place and power in the fashion industry”, she noted further.

Speaking further, Parker said, “When they go for model cast what happens is they are forced to do things ordinarily they do not want to do. Because they want to belong, without realising that modelling is a door, it is not the end.  It is a means to an end. With modelling you develop yourself, the world is your own to access, you can be anything. So young people are intimidated into all sorts of immoralities, homosexualism and lesbianism.” 

She said therefore that in the quest to promote decency, Nook International Fashion Weekend will use every opportunity available to talk to the models to reorient them to give them a fresh understanding that they have power too and that they can say no, adding, “They have the will but it can only be properly utilised when they have the right knowledge.” 

Parker said further that Nook International Fashion Weekend is keen on training and developing Nigerian models in the likes of  Naomi Cambell, who would walk international runways with their hair raised up and without defying themselves or bending to the norms of the fashion industry.  

“Hence we need people to partner with so we can properly educate, orient, and rescue these young people, they need to be taught etiquette, morals and mannerisms and to assist some of them to further their education.  So if you are out there and your God has blessed you with the resources, you can lend a hand, let’s pay it forward for these younger generations, she noted.  

According to Dame Nneoma Ochuko Momoh, the mission of Nook International Fashion Weekend goes beyond just showcasing elegant and trendy fashion, it has become a way of giving back to the society which has done so much for them.

“The Nook International Fashion Weekend is a vision that was laid upon our spirits with the help of the Holy Spirit. It came from God but initially, it came as a passion, yes, we love dressing well and we love looking good. Beyond that, we wanted to give back to the society.

Momoh who revealed that the yearly show has been held twice since its inception in February 2022, added that the first edition achieved the set goals.

“We were very particular about the outfit on the runway because our theme is decency in dressing. I could boldly say we achieved 70% decency in the first show,”, she said.