Fashion Camp comes to Nigeria

You would have to be under a rock not to be aware of the drama surrounding the newly appointed fashion director of Essence magazine. The outcry is that Essence which is aimed at Black women has decided to hire a white lady to head up the fashion department. A huge number of African Americans feel that it is hard enough for people of colour to break into the mainstream fashion/magazine industry so publications like Essence offered an alternative route. I can see both sides of the argument but my opinion is that if she is the best person for the job then she should be left to get on with it.  Of course this is an idealistic stance and we all know that the world we live in is far from ideal, so in order to combat this some people have created their own initiatives in order for us to get to an even platform.

Take Arieta Mujay who has founded Fashion Camp which is an event based in Nigeria that sets out to nurture budding fashionistas. It takes place in Lagos over a week and will be full of seminars on styling, photography, the art of design, fashion PR, blogging, visuals and graphics. The aim is to equip teenagers with information on the ins and outs of the fashion industry. Arieta who is a well respected stylist has enrolled the help of successful fashionistas such as Biki John who is a stylist and fashion writer, Deola Sagoe who is one of Nigeria's celebrated fashion designers and Bella Naija which is one of Nigeria's most popular blogs.

Fashion Camp takes place from 2nd to 8th August.