Lagos Closes, America Dresses Up: Print, Leather and Party Night

Saturday is the final full day of runway shows at Lagos Fashion Week, and the evening builds deliberately toward its heaviest names. After a day that opens with a business conversation on scaling African fashion for global demand, the tents close with Fruché, Ejiro Amos Tafiri and Ugo Monye sharing the 9 p.m. slot, followed by the Heineken after party.

Sunday changes pace entirely, which is the point. Iamisigo, Orire, Gozel Green, Andrea Iyamah's open studio, Emmy Kasbit and Lisa Folawiyo present offsite, away from the main tents. Seen up close, in a studio or a cultural space, the handwork that the week's CRAFTED theme promised becomes the show itself.

The takeaway for a wardrobe, not just a week, is print worn with confidence. Lisa Folawiyo's recent Vlisco VIBE capsule, five designs made from Vlisco's heritage prints, argues that bold pattern belongs in daily dressing, mixed, tailored and personalised rather than saved for celebrations.

On Monday November 2, hosted by Keke Palmer at the American Museum of Natural History, American fashion hands out its biggest prizes. The womenswear shortlist is a study in contrasts that still holds together: Catherine Holstein for Khaite, Michael Kors, Rachel Scott for Diotima, Tory Burch and Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera.

What links them is not a single silhouette but a shared seriousness about making clothes. Holstein's polished American sportswear, Scott's hand-crafted Jamaican crochet and tailoring, Burch's accessible polish and Gordon's Herrera elegance all reward a closer look at construction rather than a quick photo.

For shopping, the lesson is to buy the nominee's signature, not the trophy. A sharp leather jacket, a piece of real handwork, or a bag with staying power will outlast Monday night's headlines, whichever name is read out.

Forget the trench for a moment. This fall's most repeated street-style formula is simpler: a cropped leather jacket, closed just above the waist, worn with straight-leg jeans. A burgundy version spotted during Paris Fashion Week set the tone, and the crowd quickly followed.

The cut is what makes it work. Cropped means the jeans, the shoe and the proportion stay visible, so the outfit reads tailored rather than heavy. Minimalists keep it clean and zipped; maximalists go for a puffed bomber or a shearling trim.

When the temperature drops, the same jacket keeps working. Add loafers and pretty socks on a crisp day, sturdy boots when winter bites, and let the collar do the talking. It is a small purchase with an outsized return, because it upgrades the jeans you already live in.

Halloween arrives tonight, and the early celebrity looks already tell a story about how to dress for it without dressing up. The most memorable ideas so far are references, not replicas: Paris Hilton revisiting Britney Spears at the 2001 VMAs, Chloe Bailey as a cartoon pin-up, Lizzo borrowing an anime heroine.

Translated to a real night out, each one breaks down into pieces you can actually wear. A green top and glittering shorts, a tiny denim skirt with a pink top and silver boots, or a playful anime-inflected silhouette all read instantly, and none of them needs a prop, a wig fitting or an explanation.

If a full costume is not your plan, take the reference and leave the rest. One unmistakable colour, one silhouette cue and one confident shoe are enough. The party will get it, and you will still want to wear everything again on Monday.