7. FUTURE LOOM: New Directions, New Possibilities
The future of Nigerian fashion is being imagined in many different ways.For some, the future lies in renewed engagement with traditional crafts, working alongside weavers, dyers and artisans to reconsider established materials and techniques. For others, it emerges through experimentation with unconventional materials, new technologies, unexpected silhouettes and alternative approaches to construction. Designers are questioning familiar conventions, exploring the relationships between clothing, identity and the body, and challenging assumptions about gender,beauty, sustainability and cultural expression. Innovation is not always a departure from the past. It can emerge through the recovery of overlooked knowledge, the renewal of endangered skills, or the discovery of unexpected possibilities within familiar materials. Equally, it can arise from the desire to create something entirely new. This is not a prediction of what Nigerian fashion will become, but an exploration of the possibilities already taking shape. Here, the many threads of the exhibition converge,revealing a future that remains open, inventive and continually in the making.
LIST OF WORKS
1. HUE BY IDERA
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary · Fringe of multicoloured bead strands
Courtesy of Hue by Idera
2. TURFAH
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary · Woven metallic Aso Oke wrap dress
Courtesy of Turfah
3. ONALAJA
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary · Intricate multicoloured hand beading
Courtesy of Onalaja
4. ASALEWA
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary · Indigo dyed Adire
Courtesy of Asalewa
5. EMMY KASBIT, AKWETE TAILORING
Lagos, Nigeria
2026 · Contemporary Akwete, tailored
Emmy Kasbit works with weavers in Akwete to produce cloth for tailoring. The vintage Akwete at the start of the exhibition and these garments are the same weave, a century apart.
Courtesy of Emmy Kasbit
6. ÉKI KÉRÉ, RAFFIA
Nigeria
Contemporary · Woven raffia, cotton
Raffia, the triangle, patchwork and the pom-pom: the four elements Éki Kéré names as its design language, drawn from the craft and adornment of the designer’s home community.
The tote is woven on a local loom by artisans the designer works with; the triangular headpiece carries a knotted apex and patchwork within the form.
Courtesy of Éki Kéré
7. NKWO, DENIM LATTICE DRESS AND RELOVED BLAZER
Abuja, Nigeria
Contemporary · Reworked second-hand denim and tailoring
The Denim Lattice Dress and the ReLOVED Blazer are made from clothing bought in Abuja’s second-hand markets. NKWO treats waste as a resource: discarded cloth reworked into new garments, keeping traditional textile craftsmanship in work while breaking the cycle of waste.
Courtesy of NKWO
8. RE LAGOS
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary · Created with Kotoku embroidery style
Courtesy of Re Lagos
9. DYE LAB
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary · Hand-dyed cotton
Courtesy of Mrs Funke Bucknor
10. IAMISIGO
Lagos, Nigeria
Plastic beads, brass discs
Courtesy of IAMISIGO
11. TIFFANY AMBER, DRESS
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary
Courtesy of Tiffany Amber
12. ENIOLA DAWODU, CLOAK
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary
Courtesy of Eniola Dawodu
13. THE EDO BRIDE, COUTURE BY TABIK, BEADED GOWN AND RED CAPE
Lagos, Nigeria
Contemporary · Burgundy gown, hand-beaded in a pale paisley pattern; deep red cape
Courtesy of Couture by Tabik
14. GUINEA BROCADE, BABANRIGA
Northern Nigeria
Dates unknown · Cotton brocade (shadda), hand-embroidered in colour
Guinea brocade, a stiff damask-weave cotton imported from Europe and later Asia, became the everyday and ceremonial cloth of Northern men’s dress. These babanriga carry dense, multicoloured hand embroidery across the chest and back in the Hausa manner.
Private collection of Reni Folawiyo
15. EMBROIDERED BABBANRIGA
Hausa, Northern Nigeria
Dates unknown · Cotton robes, hand-embroidered