Lagos Fashion Week: Kanyinsola Onalaja highlights bold African craftsmanship

Dresses embroidered with beads and multicolored sequins, featuring motifs that pay homage to traditional scarification practices found in parts of Nigeria, and sizes ranging from “extra-small to 4XL”: with a flourish, the show by Nigerian designer Kanyinsola Onalaja opened Lagos Fashion Week, which runs until Sunday in Nigeria’s cultural capital.

The 33-year-old Anglo-Nigerian designer, who studied in Rome and has a company based in London, is one of the rising stars of fashion in Africa’s most populous country. American celebrities such as Kandi Burruss, Chlöe Bailey, and Jennifer Hudson have been seen on red carpets in Onalaja’s designs, and her label even participated in New York Fashion Week earlier this year.

“For me, the Onalaja woman is someone strong and resilient, who appreciates craftsmanship, is daring and, I’d say, unique,” the designer told AFP, explaining that she wanted her Spring/Summer 2026 collection to be “a celebration.”

Half Yoruba, half Edo, she draws inspiration from her native culture — “100% present in her creations” — whose heritage she seeks to “reimagine.” The designer says she takes “the things we grew up with, the traditions,” to “give them a new dimension and modernize them.”

She reinvents adiré, the traditional indigo-dyed fabric of the Yoruba people, using materials she wants to feel “three-dimensional.”

On the catwalk, models walked in a shimmer of colors and rhinestones, their pearl-fringed outfits swaying to the rhythm of their hips, their sparkle amplified by the spotlights.

Inclusivity

Through her creations, Kanyinsola Onalaja is also championing a cause close to her heart: inclusivity. She admits she has “always struggled with her weight and couldn’t find clothes that flattered” her.

“We offer sizes from extra-small to 4XL, and our clothes have a little stretch, so you can always find a dress that fits, whatever your body shape,” she says proudly. She also advocates for “greater representation across ages.”

On Wednesday evening in Lagos, Onalaja’s glamorous, party-ready silhouettes enthralled the hand-picked guests, among them Nigerian actress Somkele Iyamah-Idhalama, luxury doyenne Reni Folawiyo, and American singer Ciara, whose presence drew particular attention.

Now in its 15th edition, Lagos Fashion Week has established itself as the continent’s largest fashion event.

African designers are riding high, and their creations are now gracing the world’s most prestigious red carpets.

Soul icon Diana Ross wore a sumptuous white gown by Nigerian designer Ugo Mozie to the ultra-exclusive Met Gala in New York in May, where Afrobeats superstars Tems, Burna Boy, and Ayra Starr were also present, all three of whom were dressed by British-Ghanaian designer Ozwald Boateng.

Although she sees this international recognition as an “endorsement” from the industry, Kanyinsola Onalaja, 10 years after launching her brand, asserts her own identity without trying to “fit into the mold” of Western fashion.

“I fully embrace my identity and my heritage, with all their chaos, beauty, color, and vitality, and I’m no longer ashamed of that,” she says with a smile.

— By Leslie Fauvel