Nigeria & Zimbabwe Fashion Week Go Green

Our Event Nigerian Fashion Week 2011 was featured on www.thisisafrica.me and we have it reblogged below

Story by Augustina Austin

Africa is most affected by the environmental pollution of the western world. As the world has been taking more action to prevent environmental pollution in recent years, so have two African fashion events raised awareness around the cause. Both the Nigeria Fashion Week (NFW) 2011 and the Zimbabwe Fashion Week (ZFW) 2011 added a green theme to their latest edition with a goal to create awareness about environmental issues and the importance of a sustainable environment.
We wondered whether these events will challenge Africans to contribute to a more eco-friendly world? We asked both organizing teams to which extent their event went green and what impact the events have made.

The Nigerian Fashion week took place between 16 and 19 November. The theme for its 2011 edition was Nigeria goes green. Participating designers included Ama Glow, Amaks Designs, Frankoo designs Modela Couture and others. Each of them was asked to create a collection with clothing made of recycled materials and accessories. Bayo Adegbe, founder of Modela Couture, used sack cloth and fish scales for his collection.
One of the issues Nigeria fashion week addressed was waste management. Across Nigeria, many communities flush garbage, resulting in clogging and water pollution. The top five major waste products in Nigeria are plastic sachets, paper, scrap metals, glass and plastic bottles. Fashion designer Boma-Inko Tariah incorporated recycled paper and tin cans to bring the under the attention of the public.
We interviewed the organizers of Nigeria Fashion week about the event and its impact.
How were the reactions of the participating designers to the environmental angle?
Participating designers were very excited about the Going Green theme of the NFW 2011. Although the concept was very new to them, they rose up to the challenge.
What impact do you think that the Nigeria going green theme has made to the public?
Nigerians have not been active in environmental sustainability because of lack of enlightenment and information. The Nigeria Fashion Week has drawn a lot of awareness to environmental sustainability among designers and the general public like never before. Going Green has been the most influential theme so far because it attracted attention from all over the world.
Which other themes are you planning to organize Nigeria Fashion Week the coming years?Our themes for now will remain at environmental issues. This year's theme is Going Green 2. It is to continue from where we ended last year. For 2011, it was only the Going Green Collection that executed the environmental issue. But this year, there will be the collection, awareness walk and tree planting exercises. And we expect designers to be environmentally friendly in the process of producing their collection.
The organizers of Nigeria fashion week are also behind the Nigeria Fashion Show, Nigeria Fashion Awards and Nigeria Model Awards.
Watch this short interview from CNN with fashion designer Bayo Adegbe:

The Zimbabwe Fashion week took place from the 31^st of August until 3 September in Harare using the theme of ‘Think & Live green’. Participating designers were mainly Zimbabwean and included Sindiso Sibanda, Yvonne Watazda, Alpharose, Colin Ratisai and others. International designers included Thula Sindi, Nadege Cezette and Christine Wolf. All participants were asked to use local fabrics and products.

We spoke to Darry Dzapasi, one of the organizers of the Zimbabwe Fashion Week.
What did the green theme entail?
Everything we did from the logo to the tickets fliers: everything was decked out in green. Some of our designers designed their clothes in that light as well.
What impact do you believe the event has had?
It has helped people realize that the fashion world is also trying to save the world and it has also given awareness to most Zimbabweans about it. In the future I am sure we will see more eco-friendly clothes being manufactured. Fabrics like linen and silk: those are the kind of fabrics of the future.
What do you think about the development of African fashion over the last couple of years?
Over the past years fashion has indeed evolved but we still need to break barriers, hence our theme this year. We are truly grateful to God for how far we have come.
The Nigeria Fashion week also had a green theme. What do you think about their event?I loved the Nigerian fashion week. They did a splendid job on that. I really do look forward to it next year!
Official websites
Nigeria Fashion week
Zimbabwe Fashion week