So yeah, after all the rumours about shifting dates and scheduling issues, the official press material for the 2016 Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week have started trickling out. This year’s showcase is called ‘Connecting the Dots’.

Heineken Lagos Fashion and Design Week will return for its 6th edition from the 26th – 29th October 2016 with Heineken as the headline sponsor. The annual event will feature a four day line-up consisting of the Fashion Business Series, LFDW X Retail, the #HeinekenLFDW After Party and Africa’s finest fashion design talent.

#HeinekenLFDW this season kicks-off with the Fashion Focus X British Council Creative Hustle Seminars and LFDW Fashion Focus Scouting. Led by British Council, the LFDW Fashion Focus official partners, Fashion Focus will commence by hosting a series of informative seminars facilitated by established creatives across Lagos, Enugu, Calabar and Abuja. Targeted at aspiring and emerging fashion entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 – 35, with a vision to support the professional development of emerging fashion talent in Nigeria.

The talks will introduce attendees to the various areas of the fashion industry business, giving them an insight into how it works, and an idea of which area they might like to work in. The talks also aim to build young people’s awareness about job and career opportunities that are largely unexplored in the fashion sector in Nigeria mostly in the backend, relating to management and technical vocations. This year, LFDW Fashion Focus scouting will take the form of a competitive open process aimed at selecting 5 Fashion Focus candidates for #HeinekenLFDW 2016.

In line with LFDW’s role as catalysts on the scene, Fashion Business Series will host it’s 4th season tagged “Beyond Fashion” in partnership with FETS Wallet and Pal Pensions.

Here’s what all of this means.

It seems Lagos Fashion and Design Week is retiring the Fashion Focus series as an active competition introducing young designers to the larger fashion community. Considering the finalists from last year and how little impact they have had, this is unsurprising. They’re introducing entrepreneurial seminars instead, which will allow a lot more people benefit from the Fashion Focus initiative but will also mean everyone will only get cursory knowledge/experience. Pros, cons and what not.

LFDW X Retail is also back! This initiative will be pushed by the Style House Files #BuyNigerian campaign. Positioned as a commercial hub, guests can shop select African fashion retailers and designers.
To register for the LFDW Fashion Focus, X British Council Creative Hustle Seminars, please visit http://www.stylehousefiles.com/programs/
To book a stall in LFDW X Retail, please contact [email protected]
For press enquiries, kindly contact [email protected]

Mark your calendars guys, we’re in for a swell time.