International experiences in Lagos to choose the "face of the future"

Nigeria complements international fashion shows with “Pearls of African Beauty”

• Nigeria plays a leading role in the selection of models for the global fashion scene.

  AFP

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In a festive atmosphere, international experiments for models to choose the "face of the future" were launched in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria, while Elizabeth Ellohor seemed confident that he would be African.

This former model founded the first modeling agency in Nigeria in 2004. There was no "fashion week" on the African continent at the time, and designers from her sons were few if not non-existent, as were local fashion houses.

More importantly, before the 2000s, women's or fashion magazines were devoid of any brunette faces, with the exception of a rare handful of notable figures such as Donial Luna, Beverly Johnson and Naomi Campbell.

In Nigeria, which is the country with the largest population in Africa, with a population of 200 million, those who risked entering the profession in that era were few, and they entered it independently, and therefore weak and in a fragile situation, and they were satisfied with providing advertising companies and organizing presentations with folders or cylinders. Embedded images.

When Elizabeth Elohor returned from London in 2004, she founded the Beat Model Agency, and most of the locally known models were affiliated with her agency.

Her collaborator, Marius Ezecalo, who is barely 30 and himself an exhibitor at her agency, said she was a "pioneer" in this field.

And the young man explained on the red carpet that leads to the party venue held on the occasion of the start of the experiments, that Elizabeth Elohor "set rules, standards and a salary scale, I set the pulse" in the profession.

The real turning point came in 2010 when South Africa and Nigeria organized fashion weeks, which became an approved station for choosing models in the international fashion scene.

Recent movements to combat racism, such as "Black Lives Matter" and those defending the beauty of black women, have changed attitudes around the world.

But the reason for the “boom” in black models is also economic. “Designers and big brands like Louis Vuitton, Dolce et Gabbana and Balmain, have realized that a large part of their customers are Africans,” explains Elohor, sitting on a designer-signature mustard yellow bench. Nigerian.

"Africa is the future"

Elohor proudly noted that “the number of African models was then limited to five, perhaps at most, distributed among 50 international agencies.

Today, each agency contracts 10 or 15.”

Toby Momoh, 19, is one of those models.

This smiling and lively young woman goes from table to table during the party in her long black dress, here to salute the stars of "Nollywood" (Nigerian film industry), and there to welcome reality TV celebrities or African popular music "Afropop".

"I thought I would just be a girl struggling to find a job when I finished my studies (...), then Elizabeth spotted me walking down the street and asked my mother for permission to join me in her agency," she laughed.

And here I am as you see me!

It was actually easy!”

Toby was only fifteen when she won the Elite Model Look Africa competition, which was her starting point for the catwalks in Milan and Paris, and to work with a number of international agencies.

"We (in Africa and Nigeria) have the talent and beauty to shine on the catwalks!" she said.

Elizabeth Elohor knows this, and even if she no longer has time to walk the streets or markets of Lagos, her passion is always to discover the pearls of African beauty.

Through “Future Face Africa,” a gigantic selection process that will take place first through social networks, and then in a “traditional” face-to-face manner, Elohor intends to expand its aesthetic treasure hunt to the entire continent and galvanize the fashion sector in Africa.

The structuring of the sector has already allowed the emergence of many players in it, from designers to makeup artists and photographers. The work of the famous Nigerian fashion photographer Kula Ochalosi has also benefited from the huge increase in demand and the predominance of professionalism over the modeling profession in Africa in the last ten years.

Despite the severe economic and security crisis in the giant African country, the photographer, who wore an elegant hat and a cotton jacket, expressed her conviction that "Africa is the future, and Africa is Nigeria."

She noted that "the self-confidence of Nigerian girls makes them attract attention as soon as they walk on the stage," adding that "a brilliant future awaits them."

Famous fashion photographer: “The self-confidence of Nigerian girls makes them stand out just by walking on the catwalk.”

• Women's and fashion magazines were devoid of the faces of brunettes before the first decade of the twenty-first century.

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