Lagos Fashion Week begins its “Woven Threads II: Moving Circles” today. The virtual activations will explore distinct textile craftsmanship and its use of embroidery, weaving, spinning, and customization.
Lagos Fashion Week and Style House Files will present Iamisigo, Awa Meité, Nkwo, Emmy Kasbit, Pepper Row, Bloke among others at Woven Threads. These designers’ works highlight the link between the future of fashion and the preservation of textile craftsmanship across the continent as a foundation for cultural and socio-economic sustainability.
Moving Masks is a social impact project by KikoRomeo which serves to generate a form of art therapy and financial relief to women impacted by the adverse social and economic effects of Covid19—a continuation of the Peace Patch project that began after Kenya’s post-election violence in 2008. The two projects have at the core an objective to use creativity to bring beauty and grounding amidst a sea of uncertainty.
This short docu-film serves to further understand the project by hearing the women’s stories of who the project has impacted. Many of them picked up the skill of sewing through home-science classes when they were at school; however, they never had the chance to put these skills into practice.
Each mask created is individual, with the women having free reign to create whatever they choose to express at the moment. The result is a beautiful hand-embroidered mask that serves to add a more inspired touch to our now everyday reality of mask-wearing.