Fashion week season continues, and as designers and fashionistas jet set from all over the globe to occupy their spots on front rows, AMAKA gets ready to bring you the best of CANEX Presents Africa @Portugal Fashion Week. 

A continuation from the inaugural SS/22 edition, this season we bring you the inside scoop with exclusive interviews from the forces behind the event; Chief Creativity Champion of Lulubell Group, Lulu Shabell, and Director of Portugal Fashion, Monica Neto .They talk to us about their extensive journeys with Fashion, the importance of working with African designers, as well as what’s in store for the future.

In the coming week, you can expect to hear from the queen of cowries, Lafalaise Dion, contemporary fashion brand repurposing waste, sustainable Kenyan brand, Kiko Romeo and Judy Sanderson. “I am thrilled to have my runway debut in Europe and in Portugal Fashion,” says Sanderson. “To be part of the weaving of the most exciting African narrative; to tell my African story through the art of fashion.” Her collection, inspired by the South African saying ‘Whathintint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo’ which means ‘you strike a woman, you strike a rock’, symbolises strength and courage that women had during the apartheid era. As if on cue, the brand’s collection amplifies and aligns with International Women’s Month and AMAKA’s editorial calendar theme – Women and Power.

The events are set to kick off from March 16 to 19, where you can keep an eye on our social media platforms for live feeds from backstage, the runway, in workshops, as well as the streets of Porto, brought to you by our Junior Associate Editor, Hannah Uguru. 

Other brands you can expect to see include, April & Alex, Peta Odini and Kreyann’. “We have 20 designers from 14 different countries from Africa, the diaspora and the Carribean, and many of them don’t know each other,” says Shabell. “So, they also have a chance to meet and create synergies within themselves and through the platform - gain exposure, benefit from capacity development via our accelerator programme and industry linkages, as well as gain access to international distribution channels which ultimately improve their businesses and the economic development of Africa as a whole”.

Brought to you by the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX), an initiative of the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), this programme seeks to support and promote African designers and the continent’s Fashion, Apparel and Textile Manufacturing Industry throughout Portugal and across Europe.