Image: UsWeekly.com

ACCRA, GHANA – This October 5 through 7, Vogue Italia is co-sponsoring the first ever Ghana Fashion and Design Week. Timed right after the Paris shows, fashion’s most important season will close in West Africa, daring fashion editors to pack their Prada for the extended month of international fashion show fun. Expected to be a major coup in terms of exposure for Continent-based labels, the Vogue-anointed event will also open the African market to international fashion labels eager to find new takers even as the recession and general saturation of the American and European markets have resulted in eroding bottom lines.

“There are growing numbers of moneyed, stylish, well-travelled consumers living on the Continent,” noted Helen Jennings, editor-in-chief of lush African style glossy Arise Magazine and author of coffee table tome New African Fashion. “Thanks to improved infrastructure and political stability, retail environments are expanding fast with international and African brands alike taking advantage… all fashion eyes are on Africa as the next creative and lucrative frontier.”

UK-based label Morts and More hopes to expand their client base by showing at Ghana Fashion and Design Week

ACCRA, GHANA – Facing saturated, recession-strapped American and European markets that favor established high-fashion designers and mass market retailers like H&M and Target, some black designers are taking their business to Africa in hopes of finding success. London-based partners Sena Dale Mortoo and Joshua Umoren are among this wave. Taking advantage of the upcoming Ghana Fashion and Design Week (GFDW) sponsored by Vogue Italia, the duo will officially launch their new label Morts and More on the Continent.

“I was in Ghana over the New Year to really assess what the market was like,” Mortoo explained over email. “Within a couple of days I met a number of parties who wanted our products or knew of people who would be more than interested.” The duo hopes their GFDW show will go a long way in helping them gain name recognition and new clientele.

Morts and More is just one of eight foreign-based black labels showing at GFDW. Prospecting for new customers, designers will be flying in from Texas, Montreal, Milan and other international cities to present their wares to press and potential consumers in Accra’s tony Movenpick Hotel.

Though Africa is a continent with some of the weakest purchasing power and lowest incomes in the world, Arise Magazine editor-in-chief Helen Jennings believes it’s smart business for fashion designers to put a stake in the ground. “It’s a small but significant market that will grow at a rapid rate over the coming years,” Jennings told us. “Getting your foot in the door early is the canny thing to do.”

ARISE magazine editor Helen Jennings has long followed the global trends of the fashion industry, but in her new book “New African Fashion,” the veteran journalist sets her focus on the history and contemporary leaders in the realms of style and beauty on the continent.

She writes about her project:

Whereas previously Africa was only seen as a source of anthropological inspiration for international brands, now its homegrown talents are standing up and being counted too and riding the wave of interest in Africa’s broader cultural and economic ascension.

‘New African Fashion’ is a celebration of this moment. The coffee table book charts the long history and reverence of adornment on the continent, heralds African fashion’s early pioneers and profiles the best designers, models and street style photographers prospering today.

Sounds wonderful! Click through below to see images from five of Jennings’ favorite designers and brands, Gloria Wavamunno, Stiaan Louw,  Black Coffee, Maki Oh, and Christie Brown, and tell us what you think of their looks.

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It’s not often that you see black models on the runway period but a runway full of them is truly a sight to see. This was the case in one of the fashion shows hosted by Arise Magazine during their fashion week in Lagos, Nigeria.

Some of Africa’s top designers showcased their styles during the week and a handful of the designers will present in New York in September.

Check out some photos of the designs and the models over at Black Voices.