AFRICA FASHION WEEK MIDDLE EAST DEBUTS ELECTRIFYING TALENT FROM AFRICA

Africa Fashion Week Middle East (AFWME) was recently held at Gate Avenue in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), one of Dubai’s most sought-after lifestyle destinations. AFWME featured established African fashion designers, such as Ade Bakare, the Nigerian-British fashion designer; Palesa Mokubung (Mantsho), the first African designer to collaborate with global fashion retailer H&M in 2019; Papy Kaluw’s (Urban Zulu), a Congolese-South African designer; Kiza Bespoke, an authentic signature brand based in Dubai by Joe Osawaye; and Zimbabwean Thando Magumise (Ntombi Couture), one of Dubai’s first African designers and a founding partner of AFWME

At the event, AFWME also officially announced its entry into the metaverse through the virtual platform, Semblance World, making it the first-ever African Fashion Week to own a virtual and digital space in the metaverse. The metaverse collaboration will play a pivotal role in supporting the upcoming AFWME’s first Fashion Week edition in February 2023, as it will open the path for African and Middle Eastern brands to access advanced technologies and claim its place alongside other iconic fashion brands.

The event was followed by a fashion soiree held under the beautifully lit canopy of lights along the open-air stretch at Gate Avenue’s podium, overlooking the iconic DIFC skyline, where luxury brands, such as Urban Zulu, Kiza Bespoke, Ade Bakare, Mantsho and Ntombi Couture showcased their fabulous creations, illustrating what African luxury could look like.