London supplies the runway; the textile work happens elsewhere. Africa Fashion Week London returns to central London August 17 to 23 for its sixteenth year, founded by Ronke Ademiluyi-Ogunwusi and by now less a show than a trade floor: buyers, retailers, the British Council's Creative DNA program, the Adire Oodua Textile Hub. The names worth the trip are the ones treating heritage cloth as construction rather than print. Klassic Unisex Couture cuts handwoven aso oke and adire into unisex couture. Kente Uncut is a personalised kente developed by Aduhema, a third-year undergraduate. Add an Apron, founded in 2024 by the artist Adéọlá, hand-paints organic cotton and is arguing, in earnest, for the apron as an accessory. Check in December, when the Lagos sister platform runs, and see which of the three has stockists.
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BENCHMARK IN THE 50 · Derschutze — diasporic fashion with a thesis; AFWL is the trade floor underneath that lane, not a peer to it
THE MUSA FAMILY · HEIRWAVE
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