The Birth Of New Fashion Talents At RUNWAY FADAN 2015

It was a parade of Nigeria’s most creative minds as the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (FADAN) hosted its midyear fashion exhibition tagged RUNWAY FADAN 2015. The event which was held at the prestigious Federal palace Hotel was sponsored by DaViva and Eleganza.

The class show attracted the crème of the industry and the high and mighty of the Lagos society. Leading the pack of the high-level guests was the former First lady of Lagos state, Dame Abimbola Fashola, Chief Mrs Abah Folawiyo, Florence ita giwa, Chief Razak Okoya and his beautiful wife Shade, Nike Okundaye of Nike art gallery just to name a few.

Another milestone at the event was the induction of new patrons into FADAN. Among the new inductees are notable stakeholders in the industry such as Maureen Onigbanjo, the creative director of House of Maufechi, Nike Ogunlesi the CEO of Ruff’n’tumble, Sade Okoya, MD Eleganza Industrial City, Gbemi Sasore CEO the Green Pack and Chief Steve Ojo the president of Galaxy TV to name just a few of the notable inductees who have been supportive of the associations development and growth.

The President of FADAN Mrs Funmi Ajila Ladipo a seasoned veteran designer herself and a key player in the Nigerian fashion industry, pledged her continued commitment to providing young designers a platform to showcase their budding talents in ensuring sustenance of a dynamic fashion industry for the next generation to come.

In line with FADAN’s determination to encourage formal fashion education and enlightenment, fashion Schools such as Zaris Fashion & Style Academy had the opportunity to showcase their students, who also had the rare privilege of runway presentations.

Zaris fashion And style academy is one of the few fashion institutions that aims to gradually but certainly change the face of fashion in Nigeria by impacting the knowledge and skills set needed to power the next generation of seasoned fashion designers.

Zaris leading profile was clearly on display as the Compere for the event, Nneka Victor Moses of Goge Africa was dressed up by Zaris Fashion and Style.

With the able sponsorship of DaViva, these young designers were able to showcase their creative skills and design inspiration with fabrics from the Daviva brand.

Zaris further laid claim to the night as eight of the 19 participants clinched the Talented Emerging Designers recognition. They were;

1. Mccoy Agada Okpa,
2. Elohor Sigbenu
3. Taiwo Ogunbiyi
4. Oyedokun John Pelumi
5. Onwah Favour
6. Jude Adeboye
7. Soyebo Abiola
8. Laura Abanum

These future designers had an array of beautiful ethnic inspired apparels ranging from casual wear, evening wear, retro and classic male and female styles in DaViva fabrics.

Zaris then stole the show with the awards for were best emerging designers going the way of its graduates Oyedokun John Pelumi, Elohor sigbenu and McCoy Agada Okpa. Zaris then crown its performance with overall best new designer went to none other than McCoy Agada Okpa, who since finishing his programme at Zaris has been working fervently as a young designer.

They were awarded based on their skill, creativity, originality and uniqueness of design. On a whole it was a well packaged and well attended event.

And as a token of appreciation, the Zaris Alumni presented a special but unexpected award to the FADAN President for her unwavering commitment to nurturing their dreams of becoming the next generation of designers.