Lanre DaSilva Ajayi (LDA) founder of eponymous self-named design label in seven years has grown tremendously passionate for fashion. This has made the LDA brand stronger and the label a fashion favourite among the media, celebrities and fashion lovers.
On the 4th of may 2012, Vogue Italia and yoox.com‘s project (Discovered in Africa by Vogue Italia exclusively on yoox.com) came live and opened for everyone to shop from the beautiful collections by going online directly to yoox.com.
Franca Sozzani, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia and the Fashion for Development Goodwill Ambassador has the task to promote the development in emerging countries through fashion. The Fashion for Development initiative started in 1996 thanks to the work of Bibi Russel, the former Bangladeshi model who launched a development campaign in the textile sector ? with the help of Unesco ? specifically to help female workers free themselves from poverty.
In January this year, Sozzani visited Nigeria to create a network of small and medium-size businesses which would have not been feasible without the input and assistance of Mr Kola Karim, CEO of Shoreline Energy International a well meaning business man who facilitated for LDA be part of the Discovered in Africa by Vogue Italia project.
Italian online fashion retail store yoox.com and Vogue Italia have managed to raise awareness of young talents such as LDA, who might otherwise have remained unknown to the international retail market by providing this unique business opportunity.
Thanks to Fashion for Development, LDA?s designs has a real opportunity to be seen and appreciated globally.
LDA as you already know creates pieces that are unique in style and combines pattern, print, exquisite and even traditional fabrics to produce day wear, evening wear, gowns and cocktail dresses that bridge time and make the label successful. The brand has been featured in various African and international media including Vogue Black, ARISE Magazine, Daily Mail, Essence.com, WWD.com, ITN News, NTN24.com, ABCNews.com, Reuters UK and Centric/BET.
Every year, LDA produces six major collections and has showcased locally in Nigeria and internationally including the Thisday Africa Rising Festival, London (October 2008), ARISE Africa Fashion Festival, South Africa (June 2009) and the New York Couture Fashion Week (September 2009), Arise Magazine Fashion Week, Lagos (March 2011) and the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Spring 2012 Made in Africa by Arise magazine, (September 2011) and Arise magazine Fashion Week, Lagos March 2012.
The Vogue Italia and yoox.com project will be featured in the May edition of Vogue. According to Federico Marchetti ? Founder, CEO of Yoox Group: “It’s a great project, because we have a great person supervising it (Franca Sozzani, Ed.). Our costumers will be very much in love with some of the designers’ creations, because they are fantastic, simply fantastic.”
For more information on LDA, visit: www.lanredasilvaajayi.com