Nigeria Fashion Week | Nigeria, Africa
Nigeria Fashion Week: Nigeria’s First Fashion Week, Running Since 2002
Nigeria Fashion Week (NFW) was Nigeria’s first fashion week, launched in 2002, and remains one of Africa’s pioneering fashion platforms today. It is organized by Legendary Gold Limited, founded by Lexy Mojo-Eyes, who is widely credited as a founding figure of the modern Nigerian and African fashion industry. Since its founding, NFW has built a reputation not just as a runway event but as a platform aimed squarely at economic development — connecting manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers around Nigerian-made fashion, textiles and craftsmanship.
Origins and Founder
Lexy Mojo-Eyes founded Legendary Gold Limited in the mid-1990s and introduced Nigeria’s first major fashion event, the Nigeria Fashion Show, in 1997. By 2000, he had taken ten of Nigeria’s top designers to the show’s first international edition in Paris — an early signal of his ambition to put Nigerian fashion in front of a global audience rather than a purely domestic one. That international outlook led directly to the 2002 launch of Nigeria Fashion Week itself, established as a dedicated, recurring platform distinct from the earlier Nigeria Fashion Show. Mojo-Eyes went on to serve on the World Fashion Organization’s Board of Governors from 2008/2009, a role that broadened his focus from Nigeria to the continent as a whole, and he has since acted as a fashion consultant to the African Union and UNESCO’s African Creative Industry programme.
Mission: Reorienting Nigerian Fashion Toward Local Craft
From the outset, Mojo-Eyes built NFW around a specific philosophy: that Nigerian and African designers needed to look inward, toward locally made fabrics, accessories and designs, rather than relying on imported materials. That reorientation is widely credited with shifting how Nigerian designers source and produce today. NFW’s organizers describe the event’s broader goals as promoting employment, strengthening local manufacturing, preserving cultural heritage, and empowering women and young entrepreneurs within the fashion industry — positioning the event as economic infrastructure for Nigeria’s creative sector, not only a seasonal showcase.
Global Reach and Recognition
NFW’s profile has extended well beyond Lagos over the years. The event and its founder were profiled in VICE’s “Fashion Week Internationale” documentary series, which followed Mojo-Eyes and Legendary Gold backstage and on the runway for an international audience. Mojo-Eyes has also taken Nigerian designers to fashion capitals including Paris, Milan, London, New York and Tokyo, and organized shows as far afield as Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg, Karachi, Shanghai, Dubai and Cape Town. In 2013 he launched the Africa Fashion Reception in Paris to extend that same model across the continent, and has been recognized internationally for this work — including an International Arts Award at Chicago Modest Fashion Week, presented alongside Maki Mandela, daughter of Nelson Mandela.
Recent Developments
NFW’s organizers describe the event today as having evolved beyond a runway showcase into a vehicle for economic development and international trade. A recent partnership with New York-based Bizness Group aims to help Nigerian designers move beyond runway recognition into retail, including working toward access for African fashion brands within Walmart’s global retail ecosystem — part of a broader push, according to Mojo-Eyes, to strengthen local manufacturing and position Nigeria as Africa’s fashion capital.
Next Edition Nigeria Fashion Week
The next edition of Nigeria Fashion Week is scheduled for 2–4 October 2026. Details on registration, designers and the show schedule are available through the event’s official site.
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