Africa Fashion Week Nigeria | Nigeria, Africa
Africa Fashion Week Nigeria: Lagos’s Launchpad for Emerging African Designers
Africa Fashion Week Nigeria (AFWN) was established in 2014 by Ronke Ademiluyi — now known as Olori (Queen) Ronke Ademiluyi-Ogunwusi, following her marriage to the Ooni of Ife, one of Yorubaland’s most senior traditional rulers — as the Lagos-based sister platform to Africa Fashion Week London (AFWL), the fashion festival she had already founded in London in 2011. Where AFWL built its reputation as one of Europe’s largest showcases for African-inspired fashion, AFWN’s purpose from the start was more specific: giving talented but largely undiscovered Nigerian designers a professional runway platform at home, rather than only through the diaspora. By its 11th edition in December 2025, AFWN had grown into one of Lagos’s recurring cultural fixtures, with founder Ademiluyi-Ogunwusi describing the platform as a kind of “primary school” for designers — a first serious step before the international stage.
Origins and Founder
AFWN’s inaugural edition took place at the Eko Hotel in Lagos in May 2014, produced by Sola Oyebade of Mahogany Productions and showcasing more than 30 young and upcoming designers to a global audience. Veteran designer Abba Folawiyo joined established names Zizi Cardow and Ade Bakare on the runway to lend the debut credibility and inspire the newer talent around them, while patrons including Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, Senator Daisy Danjuma, Erelu Bisi Fayemi, Princess Fifi Ejindu and Chief Opral Benson lent their support to the launch. Ademiluyi-Ogunwusi has continued to lead both AFWN and AFWL ever since, alongside her Adire Oodua Textile & Training Hub, which teaches traditional Nigerian adire dyeing techniques as a sustainable livelihood skill — a project that regularly appears on the AFWN runway itself.
Mission and Growth
AFWN was built specifically around designers who had not yet been discovered, giving them commercial exposure, an audience, and — in later editions — dedicated education programming on brand management and retail, not only runway time. That mission has held steady even as the event’s format has grown: its 11th edition, staged 20–21 December 2025 at the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture & History under the theme “The Naija December Experience,” expanded well beyond a runway show into a two-day festival combining fashion, markets, music and masterclasses for Detty December, Lagos’s high season of year-end cultural events. ThisDay’s coverage of that edition captured the scale it has reached: more than 30 designers, alongside influencers and industry insiders, all drawn to what Ademiluyi-Ogunwusi has built into a genuine launchpad for Nigerian fashion talent.
Connection to Africa Fashion Week London
AFWN’s identity is closely tied to its older sibling event. AFWL, founded in London in 2011, has since grown into one of Europe’s largest annual celebrations of African fashion, marking its 16th edition in August 2026 and partnering with organisations including the British Council on its Creative DNA accelerator programme for early-career African designers. BusinessDay’s preview of AFWL 2026 describes AFWN as continuing to return to Lagos each December as part of that wider ecosystem, giving Nigerian designers a direct route between AFWN’s Lagos stage and AFWL’s international one.
Next Edition
AFWN is expected to return to Lagos in December 2026 as part of the city’s Detty December season, continuing its now-established pairing with AFWL’s international programme. FAB L’Style’s coverage of the 2025 edition gives a sense of what to expect, with full 2026 designer and exhibitor applications already open through the event’s official site.
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