After a much needed two-year break, Nkwo Onwuka returned to the Lagos schedule. Whether it’s producing large collections multiple times a year or traveling hundreds of miles around Nigeria searching for raw materials, the fashion cycle is demanding. Onwuka’s presence on the calendar confirms that slow fashion does have a place in the industry.
Her new collection is a nostalgic one, drawing inspiration from her time at school in Nigeria. “For me, it was really about rekindling that feeling of wanting to be home, wanting to be around the things I grew up with,” she said. As she described it, this collection was “like an African Hogwarts.” At times it felt studious and refined, but as it progressed, looks became more wizardly and eccentric, with models wearing red and cream striped tops and bottoms, with brown berets.
Onwuka believes there are too many conversations around sustainability, and not enough being done on a systemic level to elicit change. Her signature Dakala print, a cloth made using a technique invented by Onwuka to recycle textile waste, featured heavily. Each item was made using upcycled material—Onwuka even recycled old bedding from a hotel in Abuja, which she used to create the white pieces in the lineup. Women from her social innovation project Nkwo Transform Initiative wove some pieces in the collection by hand.