If you want to understand Lagos, start with Balogun market.

A city within a city, it spills out onto the many streets of Lagos Island, as one of the biggest street markets in Africa. Beaded fabrics and woven mats in orange, green and blue hues explode off the pavements. Earthenware pots and baskets form teetering pyramids as thousands of shoppers dip and dive between them. The breeze carries the sweet aroma of suya – grilled, spiced meat on sticks – and rustles fabrics that drape down 15 feet from their hangings high above stalls. Every conceivable space is filled with people and products. Traditional carved sculptures jostle with Chinese imports – buckets, trinkets, costume jewellery. The rev of the okadas – the motorbike taxis that are the best for dodging through traffic – is never far away. Balogun market has all the hustle and the energy you’d expect in the centre of a global megacity. But there’s a new creative revolution going on. Because Lagos is currently the most exciting place in the fashion world.

Interest in Nigerian and Nigerian-influenced fashion has been building for a while. Michelle Obama is a long-term fan of Nigerian-born, British-based designer Duro Olowu. Lagos’ Maki Oh is another Obama favourite. Amaka Osakwe founded the label just nine years ago, but she’s secured commissions from Lupita Nyong’o, Kerry Washington and both Solange and Beyoncé. Lady Gaga wore a Maki Oh top in A Star Is Born. Stylist cover star Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie launched her Wear Nigerian campaign in 2017 and is now only seen in designers from her home country, garnering of thousands of Instagram likes in the process.

How Lagos became the new fashion capital of the world