Nigerian fashion industry provides safe haven for country’s LGBTQ community
For their SS/24 collection titled Mea Culpa, Emerie Udiaghebi, a young Nigerian androgynous fashion label, ventures into the world of religion, and how conflicted they used to feel growing up as queer and Christian.
The collection, built by Udiaghebi, who is a nonbinary designer, is a way for them to add colors to the lackluster they’d felt growing up with a religious background, translating their many experiences into garments they’d have loved to be in while growing up. “[It] tackles every single feeling, and every single thing it means to be human,” Udiaghebi told the Washington Blade. “There’s love, there’s lust, there’s sadness and they are all open to a range of interpretations.
This collection was my interpretation, but with garments.” Nigeria’s fashion industry has a vibrant tapestry and cultural landscape, and it stands as a bold and expressive thread that weaves together the nation’s rich heritage and contemporary trends.
Beyond aesthetics, it serves as a powerful form of empowerment, particularly for the queer community that often faces unique challenges in this diverse and dynamic country.
