The organisers of Design Fashion Africa (DFA) on Friday announced that they’re now receiving entries from talented upcoming fashion designers in Nigeria for its maiden edition billed for October 3 – 5 in Lagos.
The DFA, according to the organisers, targets existing and upcoming designers and aims to help them commercialize their fashion styles and designs by showcasing them to a wider audience.
In a statement made available to newsmen in Lagos, they said the Design Fashion Africa initiative is expected to flow as a series of events and small initiatives through which the organisers will select the very best of the fashion designers as finalists.
“Fashion Designers looking to be part of the initiative will be expected to submit a design concept to join the online design challenge structured as the first phase of the initiative.
“Those who make it through this phase would join the Fashion Academy where they will get expert guidance from top fashion entrepreneurs like Mai Atafo, who is the Fashion Resource on the project.
“To round off the fashion academy, each fashion designer’s work will be ranked by a panel of celebrity judges and finalists selected for the runway show. The grand finale is expected to attract other top African designers.
“Asides joining these big names on the runway, finalists for the initiative also get to showcase at the DFA Marketplace where guests can purchase their outfits and fashion accessories.
“Applications for the design competition opened on September 3, and each designer is expected to submit a style concept video or sketch on the Design Fashion Africa web portal.
“Each video should feature a short description for their collection which could be targeted at any gender or both.
“Designers whose designs are selected will be notified of their finalist position within a month, after which they proceed to the intensive 3-day event covering the Fashion Academy, the DFA Marketplace and the live concert-like Fashion Show.
“Each applicant can expect to have their style concept video amplified by the DFA media partners, as well as other sponsors of the initiative.
“With the traction the announcement of the initiative has already gained, all eyes will be on Lagos to see how much creativity the upcoming fashion designers will bring, in the course of their boot camp and at the Fashion Show holding on October 5th,” the statement read.
