Following a three-year hiatus, Lagos Space Programme returned to the Lagos Fashion Week schedule. Adeju Thompson, who won the International Woolmark Prize in 2023, has spent the past few years building his name abroad. That meant showcasing his collections in major fashion capitals including Paris, where he most recently presented spring 2025 in June. Now, though, he felt an urge to come home and pay homage to the city where it all began.
“I want this to feel like a nice homecoming,” Thompson said ahead of his show. “I take so much inspiration from Nigeria and Lagos, it’s only right that Lagos gets to enjoy my work too.”
He had two key objectives for this collection: to celebrate tailoring and Lagos fashion. For Thompson, it was an opportunity to take something traditional and put an experimental or unconventional spin on it. His signature baggy trousers are inspired by traditional Yoruba (an ethnic group in Nigeria) workwear, but in this collection some of them featured lace detailing on the hem, which added a touch of modernity and femininity to a garment associated with labor. “I’m mixing European codes with Yoruba design language, and turning things on their head,” he said. That also took form in a hoodie made by a 90-year-old master dyer and artist in the Southern region of Nigeria, who dedicated hours to hand drawing artwork on the garment. At first glance, it looked like your typical hoodie, but closer inspection revealed a level of detail that can’t be ignored. As in previous collections, Adire print––an ancient indigo-dyeing technique used by Yoruba women in southwest Nigeria––was present throughout.
“There’s a level of craftsmanship here that people don’t expect from the continent,” he said. Beyond that, Thompson was designing from a place of vulnerability and sensitivity, something that’s not easy to do in an ecosystem where commercial viability often outweighs creativity.
