Cool Details African Designers Brought To London Fashion Week

MAINS LONDON

Mains went back to the basics of 90s hip-hop and made everything feel bigger. Boxy shapes, dropped shoulders and oversized track-jacket details gave the collection that loose, heavy silhouette we know from the era. Skepta kept things simple, but simplicity didn’t mean subtle. Everything had weight.

MOWALOLA

Mowalola’s collection “Hunger “  was sexy, unapologetic and a little bit cunty. The clothes were made to feel good on the body, with the attitude of someone who knows exactly how they want to be seen. And then came that final dress. Made from smashed plastic plates, shaped into flat tiles and pieced together into a dress, it somehow turned something completely ordinary  into something beautiful , desirable and hot. 

TOLU COKER

Tolu Coker imagined women stepping into a new chapter of their lives while exploring the vulnerability of women who are constantly performing for the world.The collection was presented in a space that felt like a home, which made perfect sense. Because underneath all the roles we play outside, home is usually where the performance can finally stop.

LABRUM LONDON

For LABRUM, family was stitched into the collection, literally. His grandmother became part of the story behind Hands of Osmosis, alongside craft traditions from different places. Mende-inspired raffia trousers were made in India, while the “Mamie Bakie” hand-embroidered pieces drew from his grandmother and market vendors in Sierra Leone.

Then there were Olokun flower graphics inspired by West African Adire indigo textiles, reworked onto sportswear with adidas. Somehow, the collection made heritage, family and sportswear feel like they had always belonged together.

ONALAJA

Onalaja turned devastation into a story about starting again. After losing her studio and more than a decade of work in a fire, she drew from her Yoruba and Edo roots to create a collection about rebuilding. The colours tell the story too, moving from burnt, ash-like shades into brighter, more hopeful tones. It was a collection about what happens after everything burns down: you build again.

KOFFI MAAKO

Koffi Maako let colour do the talking.His collection “TEKNICOLOR”  moved through eight different colours, with each one bringing its own mood and energy. Rather than sticking to one visual language, the collection kept changing the temperature; one look could feel completely different from the next. Basically, if your wardrobe needs a little more personality, this was your sign.

SELASI

Ronan McKenzie’s “Going Places” was inspired by something pretty ordinary but beautiful: being in a car. The collection explored the freedom of life on the road, the conversations that happen in the passenger seat, the quiet moments behind the wheel and the constantly changing views outside the window. It took something as familiar as a road trip and turned it into clothes. Because sometimes inspiration is literally just looking out the window.