NAOMI CAMPBELL
She is called the Queen of Catwalk for a reason and this is clear when she graces the Catwalk with her powerful strides! That she captivates the audience with her ageless beauty is also not debatable. The ARISE Fashion Week brand has had a long relationship with the famous model as far back as over a decade ago when she modeled in some of its shows abroad. But in the last four years, this relationship has blossomed to a partnership where Naomi has been the Producer of its last couple of shows. With her involvement, she has pushed the AFW brand to another level giving it global prominence.
She has since launched the careers of many designers with the singular act of adorning their creations and not just that, last year at AFW 2019, the CEO of Gucci, Marco Bizzari, aside from his congratulatory message to AFW 2019, Naomi made him introduce a Fashion Development program in four African countries including Nigeria where the lucky recipients would learn a Fashion Course in this program after which they will intern for a year with the Gucci brand.
Arise Fashion Week has strived to showcase Africa fashion, African designers, and Africa style bringing them to the global stage, shinning a bright light on their creativity and excellence. In the progress creating some of the up-and-coming brands in global fashion. This year for the first time we reveal the future fashion designers with our 30 under 30 the new stars competition.
Over the last two days 30 designers have showcased their collections powered by my favourite genre of music afro-beats. They are young, they are innovative driven and daring, they are the future and the time is now. Judged by their Mentors’ critics and fashion enthusiasts. These 30 remarkable designers have put together some of the most inspiring designs and I would like to use this time and opportunity to thank all the judges for their time, we are so grateful. Also, I would like to thank the models themselves who have been so patient and walking so beautifully. I thank the ARISE team that have made this show possible during this challenging time. I thank my bestie Desiree Ejoh for championing this cause and always coming through. And last but not the least, l thank Nduka Obaigbena for bringing us all together and making this happen when most countries in the world are not able to put something like this together. I am so grateful to be here and I am honoured to work with all of you young future models and new stars. The time for Africa is now, we will stay on the global fashion circuit.