Lagos Fashion Week is set to happen in Kigali, under Fashion Focus Africa, a venture dedicated to the growth and promotion of emerging talent in the fashion industry. It will take place on Saturday, August 31, at Kigali Marriott Hotel. This year’s theme will be “Beyond Creativity” and is open to all members of the public, starting at 2 pm. Fashion Focus Talks are a series of carefully curated discussions that present unique opportunities for emerging talents to hone their skills through business development workshops, creative workshops, and mentorships. The panel will have distinguished creatives from different countries, such as Matthew “Tayo” Rugamba from House of Tayo, Pierra Ntayombya CEO of Haute (both from Rwanda), Rukky Ladoja Creative Director at GREY Projects, Omoyemi Akerele, founder of Style House Files and Lagos Fashion Week (both from Nigeria) and Sunny Dolat co-Founder of The Nest Collective (Kenya), all of which are some of the biggest fashion outlets in their particular countries. Rugamba, founder of House of Tayo, will be among the panelists of tomorrow’s Fashion Focus Talks. Fashion Focus Talks take place once a year in a number of cities across Africa, and the cities that will benefit from the 2019 series will include Lagos, Dakar, Kigali, and Abuja. These are targeted at bringing together clusters of creative people in these cities to benefit from the opportunity to connect with stakeholders in their local industry, with a continental focus of equipping attendees with key knowledge and experience sharing. “So far, we’ve been to Abuja and Dakar. It is great for young designers and people that work in the industry to engage and listen to the experiences of the key players in their industry as well as highlight how the fashion industry in Rwanda is taking shape. Attendance is free because we don’t believe in limiting access to knowledge sharing,” Debola, one of the organizers told The New Times. The intention, she added, of the annual talks is to promote extensive discussions on building an African industry that relies on facets beyond creativity during the event, as well as through social media. Fashion Focus Talks aim at providing a platform for creatives to share learning and access opportunities and information on career paths within the fashion industry. editorial@newtimesrwanda.com
