When it rains, it pours in Lagos. But heavy thunderstorms weren’t enough to keep the fashion crowd from the Emmy Kasbit show, which was the standout of day three at Lagos Fashion Week.
It’s been 10 years since Emmanuel Okoro founded the brand, and this collection, titled Recollection, was an ode to his evolution. “I didn’t want to put out something new; I wanted to reflect on the journey so far and what I have achieved,” he said backstage. That meant drawing inspiration from the archive. A yellow midi dress featuring a hand motif that was part of Okoro’s first Lagos Fashion Week collection in 2017 was revived as a digital print. “We decided to redesign what we’ve always done,” he said, adding that the goal was to make these prints more accessible to today’s audience by recreating them in new silhouettes and colorways. Take Look 26, where he blended Awkete (a traditional hand-woven textile of Igbo origins) with silk to create a hybrid trouser.
Elsewhere, Okoro introduced new digital prints, which were made by a small community of artisans in India. Standout looks included a white blazer with a navy-blue block print dress layered on top, and a men’s hand-dyed indigo shirt and shorts set. Other times he played around with different weaving and dyeing techniques, creating unique pieces that will speak to the fashion followers in Nigeria and abroad.
