GTCO Fashion Weekend 2026 Opens in Lagos With a Textile Directory and 12 Designers

The ninth GTCO Fashion Weekend opens in Lagos today, with Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) hosting 12 runway designers and 140 retail stores at the GTCentre, Plot 1, Water Corporation Drive, Oniru.

This year’s theme is “Fashion Is Timeless”. GTCO calls the event a consumer-focused fair and business platform and frames the theme as the staying power of style as an expression of culture and identity. It is also launching the GTCO Fashion Collective, an online hub that links designers with the wider industry and stays live after the weekend ends. GTCO says nine years of the event have made it a place where talent gets found, and businesses reach new markets.

Twelve designers show across the two days, six on each. Imane Ayissi and Tongoro Studio were on last year’s runway too, and both return on Saturday. Ayissi, a former dancer born in Cameroon, moved to Paris and launched his own label there in 2004. Marie Claire Nigeria’s review of his 2025 collection placed it where African craftsmanship meets global fashion codes. Ibrahim Fernandez and Sara Chraibi also show up on Saturday, with FIA Factory and Washington Roberts.

Tongoro is ten this year. Sarah Diouf, a former magazine editor, started the Dakar label in 2016 with Senegalese tailors and fabric from local markets, and the sculptural, print-heavy clothes are still made in Senegal. Beyoncé wore a custom Tongoro piece at her Houston show on the Cowboy Carter tour: chaps hung with 444 golden cowries.

Sukeina takes its turn on Sunday. Omar Salam, the Senegalese designer behind it, trained at Parsons and spent seven years at Sonia Rykiel before joining Christian Lacroix in 2010. Salam founded the label in 2012 and named it for his late mother, the word meaning bright light. Origami folds are its signature, and the label is also known for elaborate detailing. Production is in the United States. In 2019, Essence nominated Salam for Designer of the Year at its Best in Black Fashion Awards, the same year the Council of Fashion Designers of America invited him to join. The Kent State University Museum gave the label to the first US museum exhibition devoted to it in 2024.

Two New York designers also show that day. Kim Shui, raised in Rome by Chinese parents, studied economics at Duke and also attended Parsons and Central Saint Martins. Merchandising jobs at Rick Owens and Helmut Lang came along the way, and in 2016 she founded her label, the year a VFILES Runway win took her to New York Fashion Week for the first time. Dua Lipa favours her sheer qipaos and corset tops, as does SZA. LaQuan Smith learned to sew from his grandmother in Queens and made his New York Fashion Week debut at 21, in 2010. He still manufactures in the city. House of Marvee and Selam Fessahaye show on Sunday too, and Ohlanna Bu Zikora completes the bill.

The Collective’s first big feature, a Manufacturer and Textile Directory, was unveiled on Thursday. Oyinade Adegite, GTCO’s Group Head of Corporate Communications, said makers tend to get less attention than designers and brands, and she called them “the foundation on which African fashion stands”. The textile section covers Aso-oke weavers and Adire dyers among other fabric makers. A separate catalogue covers Nigerian businesses that make fashion.

Masterclasses range from content creation to brand-building and skincare. On Saturday, Ihsan Bilal of Buttah Skin leads a skincare session, “The Melanin Method”, at 4.15 pm, and Sherlina Nym, a fashion entrepreneur and digital creator, follows. On Sunday, Renee Morris, who founded the natural hair brand Uncle Funky’s Daughter, speaks at 3.00 pm, Olamide Olowe, founder of the skincare brand Topicals, presents “Building Brand Worlds” at 4.15 pm, and Rachel Ojuromi closes at 5.30 pm. A Presentation Stage runs alongside the main shows, with Spectrum by Aisha on Saturday and Sheye Oladejo on Sunday. Last year’s edition, held on 8 and 9 November 2025 at the GTCentre, was billed with 12 runway shows and six masterclasses, and Bianca Saunders led a session on the first day and Maria Borges on the second.

Visitors can browse 140 curated fashion retailers selling at accessible prices, and stalls are free for the vendors who take them. A Streetwear Hub covers contemporary fashion. The weekend began in 2016 and returned in 2022, after a two-year break, as its fifth edition, when organisers billed more than 120 small and medium businesses. The newly added craft and fabric market gives textile makers and artisans space to exhibit beside the runway.