Frozen Dreams… where fashion meets art

BY BIMPE ADEBAMBO
ON Sunday, November 1, Fashion Designers Association Of Nigeria (FADAN), in conjunction with Vlisco, makers of the ‘Hollandais’ Real Dutch wax, staged the first ever FADAN Talent Hunt show.
Held at the Civic Centre in Victoria Island, it was the first time in the association’s 20 years history and is the brainchild of FADAN’s president, Prince Akanni Oyefusi, who is popularly known for his label and training school, Nobel Afrik.
With the show, Oyefusi confirmed his interest in young, emerging designers, who, he said, “are the future of the profession.” He points out that Jason Wu, who made Michelle Obama’s Inaugural Ball dress, is just 26 years and has just two years practice.
Two of his former students made it to the top five of the Vlisco Urban Beat competition, which held in February.

THE FADAN show had three parts to it. First was the grand finale of the talent hunt where the 10 finalists wowed the audience with their creativity.
The 10 were picked from over 100 entries across the federation and displayed outfits in three categories namely casual, corporate/cocktail and red carpet.
Vlisco provided all textiles used for the competition from their Java collection and new Frozen Dreams Collection.
The second part of the event was the announcement of the winner of the African Art Foundation art competition also initiated by Vlisco themed Fashion design and fabric. This competition was supported by the Embassy of the Netherlands.
The winner, Richardson Oviebo, smiled home with 500 euros presented by the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Nigeria.
Richardson’s artwork was highly creative. He produced a ‘ginormous’ pair of red and black fantasy platforms from pieces of metal.
The third part was the unveiling of the mesmerising new collection of Vlisco tagged Frozen Dreams. The prints were really breathtaking and were equally shown on beautiful models. People kept wowing and screaming.
The judges for the competition were Adesuwa Oyenokwe TW magazine editor; Funmi Ajila, a designer; Stella Awoh a fashion designer and Talent Hunt project coordinator and lastly Frank Osodi a designer of international stature (remember Agbani Darego in his dress at Miss World)
The winner of the hunt was Elvis Ejimadu, who went home with equipment to set up a mini dressmaking factory, three months scholarship training at Nobel Afrik, an entrepreneurship training programme and an expense paid trip to Paris to show his collection.
The first runner up got the same package but without the trip to Paris while the 2nd runner up got the same package excluding the trip. All the other seven finalists are entitled to the three months scholarship training at Nobel Afrik.
The anchor for the evening was delectable Iretiola Doyle and the event was attended by fashion aficionados and cognoscenti, and also, patrons such as Chief Molade Okoya Thomas, the deputy governor of Lagos State, Princess Sarah Sosan; and the first lady of Lagos, Mrs Abimbola Fashola. Other dignitaries at the event include Yeye Oge of Lagos, Chief Mrs Oprah Benson, Erelu Dosunmu, Senator Florence Ita-Giwa and many others.
beampeh2000@yahoo.com