Shoppers ready to spend lavishly on clothes by elite designers sipped champagne in a discreetly located store that only those in-the-know know exists.
Perhaps it’s not an unusual scene in Manhattan or Milan, but in Lagos, sub-Saharan Africa’s largest city, shops like Temple Muse are a novelty. A growing number of boutique owners and fashion designers however, are working to change that.
Most of Nigeria’s roughly 160 million people live in extreme poverty, but the upper class here number among the wealthiest in Africa, including those who have profited from the continent’s largest oil industry.
Nigerians’ sense of style is also well-known, and the country boasts several fashion designers who have made their mark internationally.
Just ask Michelle Obama, who wore a blouse by Nigeria’s Maki Oh on a recent trip to South Africa.
Or take the Wadhwani brothers, who are Indian but were raised in Lagos. They saw there was a gap in the city’s luxury market.
The brothers opened a store that aims to serve Nigeria’s ultra high-end shoppers who typically hop on planes to Europe when their wardrobes need an upgrade.
“I found a niche in the market,” said Avinash Wadhwani, co-owner of Temple Muse boutique in the posh Victoria Island neighborhood of Lagos.
He previously worked as a buyer for the London department store Selfridges, learning first-hand the appeal of Europe’s top fashion lines. But he insisted Nigeria’s rich are also seeking a local look.
Some Nigerians “travel by plane every other week and shop in the best boutiques around the globe, but they still have that sense of pride and everyone wants something from (their) own heritage,” he said.
‘Where did you get that from?’
Temple Muse, which opened five years ago, is protected from the hectic mega-city outside by a thick metal door and is equipped with a champagne bar and a cafe. Some garments come with pricetags of $3,000 (2,300 euros), and there are fashion mavens ready to snap up several of them.
Odun Ogunbiyi, a customer who claims plenty of foreign shopping experience, told AFP the outfits she buys in Nigeria are admired wherever she goes.
“I travel a lot. I go to Miami, I go to London to visit friends and family. and they ask me ‘where did you get that from?'” said Ogunbiyi, a TV host.
When she tells people the outfit is Nigerian, they say they can’t believe it, she said. “It’s gotten to the point where we are on standard with international brands, which is great!”
Read more at Monitor.co.ug
