With its display of richly styled mannequins to archival runway photographs, sculptural installations, and handcrafted pieces, the GTCO Fashion Weekend gallery exhibition told a vivid story of how far African fashion has come, revealing how heritage, craft, and imagination continue to shape its future, and reminding us that style is always a good idea.
There was nothing ordinary about walking into the GTCO Fashion Weekend Gallery on October 31. The moment you stepped into the converted banking hall, you immediately understood this wasn’t just an exhibition. It was a memory vault, a quiet celebration of the hands, histories, and imaginations that have shaped African fashion over the past eight years.
For nearly a decade, the GTCO Fashion Weekend has stood as a meeting point of creativity, innovation, and enterprise. More than a runway event, it has grown into a platform that connects small businesses in fashion to wider markets, amplifying talent and possibility. This year, as the event marks its eighth edition, the gallery exhibition felt like both a tribute and a bridge, honouring where African fashion has been while pointing towards where it is going.
The experience began the moment you walked through the doors. A full photo wall of magazine pages on hangers featured cover pages, editorial portraits, and striking images, with old sewing machines and waist-high reels of thread on the floor, grounding the space in craft. Before moving anywhere else, the room had already started whispering its message: that style, truly, is always a good idea.
From the mezzanine above, mannequins watched quietly, draped in pieces that once dominated timelines and dinner-table conversations. A server stood nearby, offering guests refreshing drinkg from a tray. Going up the orange-painted stairs, the familiar GTBank hue, the staircase became its own runway. A few mannequins stood midpose, wearing elaborate, theatrical designs that could sit comfortably on any Met Gala red carpet, including the viral, fully hand-beaded House of Marvee dress. Walking past them created a sense of anticipation: everything upstairs would only get richer.
By the time you reached the top, the atmosphere shifted. At the doorway to another room, a single mannequin crouched on a stool, framed by a wall of layered fabric. It felt like walking into a designer’s quiet moment of inspiration. Then the gallery opened into a wider hall, and everything changed.
Two violinists played at the entrance of the room, and suddenly the space felt slower, more intimate, as though Lagos had paused long enough for you to breathe. Rows of mannequins stood in formation, wearing garments from Mai Atafo, Emmy Kasbit, Ituen Basi, Ejiro Amos Tafiri, Fruche, Orire, The Ladymaker, Deola Sagoe, and other designers whose works have defined the GTCO runway. A glass booth displayed shoes; another showcased a flowing agbada by Deji and Kola. Along one wall, a gallery of hairstyles, from intricate patewo patterns to sculptural braid crowns, paid homage to beauty traditions that have shaped generations.
Further inside, a photo wall of designers’ portraits stood beside a banner with their names. In the centre of the room, a circular installation filled with images from past exhibitions had photographs attached with ropes leading into a central cage housing a butterfly sewing machine, past and present literally tethered together.
Every corner held something worth lingering on: silhouettes that told cultural stories, fabrics that moved like sculptures, installations that merged heritage with technology. And in between, guests moved from point to point, taking in cocktails, mocktails, small bites, conversations, and laughter. Models mingled. Stylists posed. Editors reflected. It felt like a large family revisiting an album of shared memories.
The exhibition reaffirmed something GTCO has emphasised from the start: African creativity is vast, layered, and global. By bringing emerging and established voices into one space, the gallery showcased how diverse the continent’s fashion vocabulary truly is. More importantly, it reinforced a commitment to promoting enterprise, supporting the designers, artisans, and entrepreneurs whose work enriches lives and drives culture forward.
