The lush green premises of the United States Consulate General Lagos played host to 20 lucky emerging and mid-career Nigerian fashion designers who recently participated in the prestigious U.S. State Department’s International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP).
Through the IVLP project titled, “Promoting Economic Growth and Trade in the Fashion Industry” the participants had the unique opportunity to connect with their U.S. counterparts and enriched their knowledge of entrepreneurship, business development, and innovation in the U.S. fashion industry.
The event staged on Tuesday September 28, 2021, took the shape of a networking event with leading Nigerian fashion designers, creative industry leaders and investors present at the occasion.
One of the highlights of the event was the presentation of certificates of participation handed to each of the 20 Nigerian fashion designers who recently participated in the IVLP) initiative.
Speaking at the event after the presentation of certificate of participation to the lucky fashion designers, the U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Kathleen FitzGibbon revealed the U.S. government’s commitment to promoting economic growth and trade in the fashion industry by empowering local fashion designers.
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She said; “The IVLP initiative is the US Department of State professional exchange programme where participants (current and emerging leaders from a variety of fields) are offered a short term visit to the United State of America where they are afforded useful relationships with their counterparts in America.
“This is a programme that has been doing for a lot of years and we are so pleased to be hosting it here in Nigeria. This year, our IVPL participants couldn’t travel due to COVID-19 restrictions but they experienced it virtually.
“So this year has been an amazing year for Nigeria in the creative industry and Lagos is the melting pot for creativity as we followed how two Nigerians (Burna Boy and Wizkid) won Grammy Awards and I recently had the opportunity of meeting these two talented musicians and they both talked extensively about the culture and music industry in Nigeria.
“Nigerian filmmakers are not left out of the focus as a good number of them have signed global movie distribution deals with Amazon Prime and Netflix to provide content for the continent of Africa.
“Also, a record number of NBA players hail from Nigeria and that fact has forced the NBA to make moves to set up its first office in Lagos. The goal of the IVPL project is to prepare Nigerian fashion designers to learn skills and knowledge by empowering local fashion designers to not only thrive in Nigeria’s fashion industry but also to prepare them for the global fashion marketplace,” she added.
In her welcoming remarks, U.S. Consul General Claire Pierangelo explained that the U.S. Mission created this IVLP program focused on the fashion industry to strengthen economic and commercial ties between the United States and Nigeria through sustained engagement with creative industries that are centred in Lagos.
“In the last few years, Nigeria and the United States have witnessed growing cultural ties,” Pierangelo said. “This fashion IVLP project is a fantastic example of our strategic economic outreach to Nigeria’s creative industries to further strengthen economic ties through culture and fashion.”
At the event, the 20 participants exhibited some of their top-quality designs and fashion accessories. Consul General Pierangelo toured each of their exhibits and learned about their experiences during the IVLP project.
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