Omonigho Aito-Imonah is a Nigerian fashion illustrator and designer of repute. She believes in the abundance of creativity of her people. «There is so much talent out there», she opines while talking with us about her project.

The Fashion Collective NAJIA, formerly known as Fashion Illustration Naija, was founded during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, one of the most trying times in human history. The online platform aids its members by giving them a place to express themselves and the chance to connect with the fashion system. The fashion collective, which originally counted 45 fashion illustrators in 2020, has expanded to over 900 members and now includes fashion designers from all across Africa, Europe, and the United States. With Omonigho, we talked about her aims and objectives for the group. And we discover that she is right when affirming that «Nigerians do their things by themselves».

Necessity is the mother of invention. Would you say this was your reason for starting The Fashion Collective Naija?

I run an illustration agency called Naija Fashionista Illustrations and one of our services was providing qualitative training in fashion illustration through physical workshops and seminars. Because of the pandemic, I could longer do this. So I had to switch to training online. That’s how I met this group of enthusiastic students who were excited to learn new skills. I decided to create a platform for them to share their work and learn new things: I chose the name Fashion Illustration Naija. I was one of the first persons in Nigeria to pursue a career as a fashion illustrator, and when I first began in 2020, my team consisted of 45 people. Now we count more than 900 people, representing a variety of paths and backgrounds, and we go by the name The Fashion Collective Naija. People from many walks of life began to join the collective, including pattern makers, makeup artists, and other people working in the creative industry, because we all wanted to find a place to express ourselves. I began as a fashion illustrator, but as I've developed, I've also realized that what I really want is a platform that can link its users to resources and opportunities that would help them advance their separate businesses and professions. It doesn’t matter their origins, we have students from Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal, as well as North-Americans and European followers. We are open to anyone. We started The Fashion Collective NAJIA because people in Nigeria just needed a platform where express themselves, their creativity, and freely develop their ideas.

 Connecting people is the core of your activity, to make them learn new things about fashion system and let their inner talent emerge. What is a typical week like at the fashion collective? How do you engage members of your community?

My main goal has always been to expand so that I can link members with influential people in the fashion industry. This is crucial to fostering and developing employment prospects in fashion. This is all to help them to succeed. We have a specific timetable to organize our activities, and my assistant administrator Oluwasina Oluyomi and I follow in creating content on our social media platform. On Mondays, we have man-crush Mondays (MCM) where we celebrate male group members or fashion creatives doing well for themselves. On Tuesdays, we have Trivia Tuesdays, where we ask fashion-related questions in exchange for a prize. On Wednesdays, we have woman-crush-Wednesday (WCW) where we celebrate female fashion creatives. On Thursday, we have Tutorial Thursdays, where we share tutorials on various fashion-related subjects. Fridays are dedicated to Feature-Friday, where we feature a successful fashion creative/executive. Saturdays are for SME SATURDAYS, where group members advertise their goods and services on the platform. Sunday simply serves as a recap of the week’s events.

Besides these daily activities, we also organize other initiatives, such as Industry Giants Talks where we interview every month important fashion figures. We were honored and delighted to host such giants as Simone Cipriani, head of Ethical Fashion Initiative, Sara Maino, of Vogue Italia, and Leslie Holden from The Digital Fashion Group Academy . We are all glad they could find their time to connect and mentor our members.I just left a comment on social media to get in touch with them. In today's world, you connect more if you use comments. The benefit of these platforms is their speed. Instagram performs admirably when it comes to building connections. We are completely based on Telegram, we work remotely, and we connect through social media. It’s a very important tool to put yourself out there.

To find new talent in Nigeria and West Africa, we have created a fashion competition called The Design Project Naija. Our inaugural event took place this year, inspired by my concerns about how African design is perceived worldwide. While we wish to highlight the true face of African fashion, there is, in my opinion, a sort of stereotype on the international scene. The African fashion narrative was out of date, disrespectful, and needed to be retold. I, therefore, made the decision to take action.

The power of The Fashion Collective belongs to people. The pillars of the platform are its members. We would like to deepen a bit more into your initiative at The Design Project Naija, which seems to attract many individuals around the world.

I decided to hold this big fashion competition to showcase the brilliance of African fashion. But the magnitude leads to a sponsorship’s need. We didn’t have much funding, so I didn’t get many positive responses. I need someone to make the money worth it. I got in contact with Sara Maino from Vogue who previously worked with us, and she agreed to provide publicity for the competition and also judge the finals, which completely changed the dynamics of the competition. It took a month to organize everything but in the end, it attracted many people: we had 107 entries. It ran for 4 weeks with two winners in the womenswear and accessories category each week. The brief was simple: promote circular fashion and innovation by taking archived pieces from houses such as Balmain, Balenciaga, Gucci, and Bottega Veneta and combining them with Indigenous African fashion elements such as cowries, coral beads, and Indigenous African prints to create unique, cutting-edge designs. The first week - the Bottega Veneta challenge - was won by 24-year-old Michelle Martins, from Nigeria, in the womenswear Category, and Mouskeba Touré, a 26-year-old Senegalese in the accessories category.

What was the highlight of the competition and have you fulfilled your aim for organizing the competition?

The highlight for me was when I discovered the accessories category of the competition Mouskeba Touré. She was a burn victim at the tender age of four, in her native country of Senegal. However, she had to move to Milan for surgery and to continue her education. She graduated this summer from The Fashion Academy IUAD, in Naples, Italy. She has gone on to be a successful designer, who did not allow her injuries to stop her from achieving her goals.

The Fashion Collective is expanding quickly because to its hard work and network-building efforts. What are your future ambitions, and how do you feel about the new technologies that are influencing the fashion industry?

We were originally founded as an online platform for designers, but today our members have demands, thus we need to have a physical site. Technology will be a key component of this transition. As a designer, I never use pencils or paper, instead, I only use digital programs. My tools are social media and 3D technologies. My entire design process is digital. One of my last Giants Talk was with Leslie Holden, co-founder of Digital Fashion Group, a company that provide trainee in 3D. She promised to come back to mentor our members. I love to engage people to teach them how to create with those systems. We have more potential with 3D spaces, but for that we also need funds. We have talent; the competition shows it. I hope to find fashion collaboration as soon as possible with brands and an important figure in the system. I have been able to show the incredible talent available on this continent and I am open to any meaningful collaborations that will empower these talents.

Who is Omonigho Aito-Imonah?

Omonigho Aito-Imonah is a Nigerian fashion illustrator and designer of repute. As a result of a collaborative partnership with fashion and lifestyle magazine giant, Genevieve magazine back in 2009, to produce a column dedicated to fashion illustrations, she is regarded as the first, documented professional fashion illustrator in Nigeria. She has worked with several designers of repute, including Lisa Folawiyo of Jewel by Lisa and Mai Atafo and has had her works displayed in several leading fashion and lifestyle magazines and blogs, some of which include Genevieve magazine, TW magazine, Vanguard Allure, Bella Naija, Style Vitae, amongst others. She is also credited with writing Nigeria's first text on fashion illustration " Fashion drawing and design for the Naijafashionista. She started an online platform for creatives to network in 2020 called The Fashion Collective Naija and has grown it from a 45- member group to nearly a thousand. Most recently, she was appointed as co-founder of DCAP LABS, a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) based in Sheffield, England. She regularly holds trainings on fashion illustration and provides fashion illustration services for both individuals and organisations.

Who is Touré Mouskeba, the talented winner of the first contest edition?

She’s 24 old and she’s from Senegal, but lived in Italy since 2007. She studied fashion design for women’s wear in high school, at the Professional Institute in Santa Maria C.V. In 2018 she studied ITS Campania Moda- Shoes and Bags in collaboration with Accademia della Moda in Naples, then she studied fashion design again at Fashion Academy IUAD in Naples. Now she’s waiting to graduate in September. “My biggest dream is to be a fashion designer of total looks and inspire people from it through my culture. I’m very excited to be part of this competition and it’s helping me to be confident about myself as an anxious person to show myself, I hope you can accept the way I’m. Really thank you”. You can follow her journey on her Instagram or Twitter spaces.