Photo: AfricaNewsAnalysis/Niels Bartels
“When Africans Believe in ourselves, We Will Solve Our Own Problems “: The New Voice of African Fashion
Africa Fashion Week London (AFWL) returned for its 16th edition from 17–23 August, bringing African and African-inspired fashion, emerging designers, established labels and creative entrepreneurs together in the British capital.
Held under the theme “Design Beyond Borders”, the 2026 edition placed particular emphasis on the international commercial potential of African fashion. The main catwalk and exhibition programme took place on 22 and 23 August at 8 Northumberland Avenue, close to Trafalgar Square.
Ghanaian fashion designer Awura Abena Agyeman/ Photo: AfricaNewsAnalysis/Niels Bartels
Among the designers and brands showcased were StyleByNerd, The Main Play, Bibi Christophers, Diana Magesa, H. Mor, Joachim Garments, Thethana, Xufan, Joan Jade and Republic of Africa.
One of the year’s notable developments was the first-ever Lesotho delegation to Africa Fashion Week London. Supported by GIZ, four brands — H. Mor, Joachim Garments, Iconics Clothing and TheThana — presented their work, highlighting the growing international ambitions of Lesotho’s fashion industry.
The British Council’s Creative DNA programme also featured prominently, supporting emerging African designers including Xufan, Joan Jade and Republic of Africa.
Celebrity participation added further visibility. Nigerian singer and entrepreneur Yemi Alade was represented through her beauty brand, YEM Beauty, which exhibited at the event. Musician and DJ Cuppy was also part of the programme, while singer Seyi Shay was among the performers associated with the VIP showcase.
Perhaps the most significant commercial innovation was “Shop the Runway”, allowing visitors to move directly from seeing collections on the catwalk to purchasing from participating designers. The initiative underlined AFWL’s increasingly explicit focus on connecting African creativity with consumers, buyers and international markets.
With its combination of fashion, music, business development, technology and cultural exchange, AFWL 2026 demonstrated that African fashion is increasingly being presented in London not simply as a cultural showcase, but as a serious and diverse international creative industry.
AfricaNewsAnalysis’ reporter, Niels Bartels, met up with Awura Abena Agyeman who is the founder of “Wear Ghana“ and “Republic of Africa“ for a short interview about her inspiring project against illegal mining in Ghana.
“When Africans Believe in Africa, We Will Solve Our Own Problems “: The New Voice of African Fashion
AfricaNewsAnalysis/Niels Bartels: Tell us something about the story behind your label – what inspired you to start it?
Awura Abena Agyeman: Many years ago, I realized that I didn’t have any clothes made in Ghana. I asked myself the question: Why are we not wearing our own clothing when the rest of the world is so interested in it? I quit my job and started the “Wear Ghana“ label with my co-founder. We have done “Wear Ghana“ for 12 years. For us “ Wear Ghana“ was always Phase one. If we could interest the world in “Wear Ghana“, then maybe we could do it across the continent. So last year we published the “Republic of Africa“ brand and that’s how the two brands are related. Inspiration has been the economic power of fashion to transform lives. Especially with “Republic of Africa“ we are very keen on using fashion as a force to reinstall belief in Africa, in Africans.
The biggest problem we see on the continent is a lack of belief. There’s a lack of belief because of corruption. People don’t believe that there’s enough for everyone.
When people don’t believe they can thrive on the continent, there is irregular migration. When Africans believe in Africa, we will solve our own problems, and we will turn it into the paradise that we all know is possible. We are using the “Republic of Africa“ brand to build a real movement with people who believe in Africa and who are actively working to solve problems on the continent.
ANA/Niels Bartels: What are your next projects and the highlights which you presented here at the Africa Fashion Week London?
Awura Abena Agyeman: I want to talk about the collection that we put on the runway yesterday. It was a protest piece. The first outfit that we opened with, the fabric was hand printed by artists in Ghana in protest against illegal mining which in Ghana we call “galamsey“. It has destroyed our water bodies. It is ongoing. Many of our rivers have turned brown, they are not drinkable. We have stopped taking care of the earth. This collection we call it “Re-imagining the future” but the first piece was a protest piece, so the model had plastic sleeves talking about how we have to rethink how we take care of the environment.
And then from there on the rest of the pieces were talking about what will happen if we reset, if we make changes. So, we started to show a piece about leadership showing how we wear clothes in Ghana. Some of the pieces also showed the richness of our continent: our gold, our vegetation, our water, The whole collection was a story that we were telling. It was a call to action that we have a beautiful continent to protect and all of us need to start rethinking the choices we make whether it is from how we mine, how we fish, what we wear and everything that we do to protect the environment
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