By Yemisi Suleiman 

Nigeria’s vibrant fashion scene has gained worldwide recognition, thanks to the efforts of Olori Ronke Ogunwusi, wife of the Ooni of Ife and founder of Africa Fashion Week London (AFWL) and Nigeria.

As a lawyer and CEO of the Adire Oodua Textile Hub, she has empowered artisans, promoted African fashion, and created job opportunities through her platforms. With the 14th edition of AFWL approaching on October 11th and 12th at the Kensington and Chelsea Conference and Event Centre in London, Olori Ronke Ogunwusi shares her vision for AFWL, the importance of projecting our heritage and local fabric especially the Adire globally, and the need for government support in the fashion industry.

As you reflect on 14 years of championing Africa Fashion Week London, what have been the most significant milestones and achievements?  

 The mission behind Africa Fashion Week London and Nigeria is to promote the creative talents from Africa. Prior to us starting Africa Fashion Week London in 2011, there wasn’t a platform that showcased the greatness and talents of our creatives in Africa. If you look at the work that they do; the artisans, the designers, the creatives, if you see the wonderful things they do, there must be a platform that showcases them. For creativity to grow, there must be a platform that showcases and promotes its growth. If you create something and leave it in your house without exposing it to the world, it’s not going to grow. Nobody’s going to know about it. At some point, you’re going to get so frustrated because when you create something, you’re driven by passion, but to enable it to become sustainable, to enable it to outlive you, one must commercialise it. Even if you have billions somewhere, if one keeps taking from it, some day it will finish.

That was why we created Africa Fashion Week London and Nigeria, so that our creatives, our African designers would be able to have a platform to thrive that they call their own.  And we have been able to achieve that over the years, consistently creating a platform for African designers to get global awareness.

What is participation like in the AFWL with other countries over the years, or is it a Nigerian thing?

 It’s not a Nigerian thing, we get designers from every part of the continent and participation has been increasing over the years. We have always worked with designers from  Nigeria, Botswana, Jamaica, Ghana, and South Africa. The South Africans have been participating in Africa Fashion Week London for 10 years, as they recognize the value it brings to their economy and the exposure and awareness it provides to their designers.

Also, we all know that London is one of the fashion capitals of the world anyway. If you can showcase in London, then that means you are an international designer.

What factors have contributed to the enduring success and relevance of Africa Fashion Week London over the past 14 years?”

I would like to say is it’s the grace of God for giving me a very good team who are passionate about the brand because it’s not something that I can do alone.

It’s also about having people who support it, who see it as their own. Then I must give kudos my husband. He’s always been a firm supporter of the Africa Fashion Week, London and Nigeria. Even when we encounter problems getting sponsors, he was the one I would always go crying to.

He’s been a very consistent supporter. In terms of the brand being relevant, like I said, there aren’t so many platforms out there that support black creatives. So the African designers see this as their own. You know, the audience in the UK, whenever we’re doing Africa Fashion Week, we have a turnout of about close to 5,000 who come and see the best and latest trends out of Africa.

What new initiatives or features can we expect from Africa Fashion Week London this year?

Adire is trending globally at the moment so we are including an adire fiesta. There is going to be an Ojude Oba inspired catwalk as well. We saw the last Ojude Oba festival and how the world embraced it. By just looking at the colours, culture and vibrancy of the fashion, it has trended all over the world. We want to replicate that the the event this year. This is to create more awareness for the festival globally and to showcase African culture and fashion to a global market.

Also, we’re going to have a business forum at the Africa Fashion Week London, promoting the business out of fashion and textiles. We intend to have a talk at the parliament as well, you know, just so that people can see the trade side of it. It’s the trade that will keep the artisans going, producing designs. It is the trade that will also help us talk about things like the Asian fakes that are flooding the market and its dangers. We see these cheap Adires in the market but it’s rubber, dangerous to the skin. It causes cancer, but nobody educates anybody about it.

How do you differentiate the fake from the original? 

By touch, it’s rubber. Original Adire majorly is cotton. You use cotton and when you touch it, you know. Some use cotton-based fabric.

What measures do you propose to combat the proliferation of counterfeit Adire in the market?”

It’s essential to educate the public about the difference between original and fake Adire, and we need government support to address this issue and promote local artisans. 

This is the right time for the government to key into it and see it as a wealth creation, poverty alleviation and job creation project that can benefit Nigeria and help grow our GDP and create jobs for our young graduates who come out of school with no work. What we do at the Adire Oduduwa hub is to train women and young people in textile making; from the Adire Eleko, Adire Oniko, Adire Alabela, the different techniques of making Adire so they can generate an income for themselves. We’ve trained over 1,200 people at the moment, courtesy of my husband, who supports the training with funding. And right now, we’ve graduated to another programme of taking youths on national service so that they can come and do their youth service with us. We pay them and we train them. we give them accommodation. We pay them for training to learn in Ile-Ife.

What impact have your training programs had on Adire artisans, and are there any notable success stories you’d like to share?”

 Over the years, we have paired artisans with designers, and some have showcased their work at Africa Fashion Week. We also provide startup funds to help them establish their businesses.

Do you provide training for international participants?

Yes, we encourage international participants to come to Nigeria for training, promoting fashion tourism and cultural exchange.

What legacy do you hope to leave behind in the fashion industry 20 years from now? 

In 20 years time, when I look back, I want to be considered or regarded as one of the gatekeepers of the African or the Nigerian culture via what I do, promoting our textiles and our fabrics. And it is very, very important because it’s part of our identity. For us, our textiles, our fashion, our fabric goes beyond just a fashion statement. It is who we are.