On the 20th and 21st of September, 2024, Uyo, the capital city of Akwa Ibom State will come alive, as fashion enthusiast, critiques, and aficionados will gather for the 3rd edition of southern Nigeria’s biggest fashion converge – the Uyo Fashion Week 2024 (UFW24).
This will mark for us the culmination of months of planning, preparation and interpreting the UFW vision.
What many now see as the pristine fashion festival that the Uyo Fashion Week has become, was borne out of the genuine desire to create a fashion and lifestyle event that will compete favourably with similar events across the country, and properly situate Uyo, nay Akwa Ibom State on the fashion events map of the country.
The vision also aimed at growing the creative sector in the state, helping young talents in the fashion and allied industries gain exposure and experience, while making deliberate contributions to the knowledge economy as well.
In the past three years, the task before us has been daunting and onerous. We have powered two fashion week events solely on individual efforts, forging ahead against all odds, challenging the status quo, and helping to define new normals for the creative sector in the state and region.
Some of our gains include (but not limited to)-
* Training and exposing young models in the state to the fashion runway experience.
*Giving opportunities to designers in the state and region to exhibit on the runway.
*Contribution to the knowledge economy through masterclasses and workshops.
*Empowerment of young creatives and designers through pitch deck events and other empowerment programmes.
*Direct and indirect contribution to the tourism sector and economy of the state and region.
*Situating the state, nay region in the country’s fashion, events and lifestyle map.
The 2024 edition of the Uyo fashion week (Creativity, Commercialization, Scale), is slated for 20th and 21st September, 2024, with the Theme: Empower Creativity, Shape the Future.
This Year’s Edition of the Uyo Fashion Week is organized in partnership with the Akwa Ibom State Government, and is being organized as part of activities marking the 37th Anniversary of the State’s creation.
Accordingly, we have infused enormous local content, including an entire runway show tagged “Arise Fashion Runway Show” dedicated to showcasing home-grown, up and coming young fashion Designers.
Uyo Fashion Week 2024 will be a dynamic showcase of the best of fashion, lifestyle, innovation, talent and cultural heritage, perfectly aligning with our tagline – “Creativity, Commercialization, and Scale”.
The UFW24 looks to showcase all the paraphernalia of a pristine fashion festival, comprising masterclasses and workshops, designed to contribute to the knowledge economy of our host state and region, a mini-retail mart for fashion items and accessories as well as our premium runway shows, which will include two shows named “Ayaya” and “Asiaan”, and the “ARISE Runway show”.
The UFW24 will play host to top-notch celebrities and icons of the entertainment industry, such as Nollywood actors – Nancy Isime, Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD), Ini Edo, Eve Esin, Ebenezer Eno, as well as Emmanuel Umoh of the Big Brother Naija fame.
Speakers at the masterclasses and workshops will include Mr Udeme Ufot of SO&U, Farouk Khailan, Dare Lawal, Fal Funmi Ladipo, Joy Aggrey, Annie Essienette, Clemas Efanga, Enoabasi Emah, and Joseph Edgar.
All UFW24 events are free to attend, open to fashion aficionados, the creative community, budding designers and models, as well as members of the general public.
Beyond the UFW24, we have also concluded plans to establish a modelling academy in Uyo, to further bolster the runway culture in the region while training and equipping future runway stars amongst our youngsters.
Indeed, for us at the Uyo Fashion Week Vision team, we are not just concerned about the next event, but we are about forging new paths and creating new narratives for the creative sector in our communities.
Mae Edmonds
Convener, UFW24
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