Daily trends

Lagos Fashion Week does not end with a last walk down a tent runway. Today is slower and closer up, with offsite presentations and an open studio spread across the city, which suits this year's theme of craft far better than a finale bow.

The closing order tells its own story. Iamsigo presents at noon, Orire at 4 p.m., Gozel Green at 5 p.m., Andrea Iyamah opens its studio at 6 p.m., Emmy Kasbit presents at 7 p.m., and Lisa Folawiyo closes the day at 8 p.m. It is a day for looking at how things are made, not just how they photograph.

The week around it kept returning to the same materials and ideas: handwoven Aso-Oke and Akwete, indigo-dyed Adire, live weaving and beadwork, and tailored shapes cut from heritage cloth. The wearable version is not a costume version of tradition. It is a tailored suit, a co-ord set or a corset in a cloth with a real origin, worn with plain modern pieces.

Lagos Fashion Week closes today, 1 November, with offsite presentations after main runway shows from 29 to 31 October at the LagosFW Tents, Federal Palace Hotel, Victoria Island. The season theme is CRAFTED: Heritage. Innovation. Circular Futures, and the menswear that landed hardest was not decorative. It was cloth with a history, cut into shapes a man can actually wear on a city street.

Orange Culture's The In-Between, shown 28 October, is the clearest example. A black double-breasted jacket with an asymmetric, layered front was paired with voluminous trousers, using construction rather than colour to make the point. Sheer layering, uneven proportions, hand-stitched embellishment and looped-yarn surfaces ran through the collection, which is a useful reminder that expressive menswear does not need a loud print to be expressive.

On day one, Emmy Kasbit with ALARA presented Akwete Reimagined, reworking Akwete textile through a contemporary lens, while Sisiano's Some Birds Fly South offered sheer pieces, fringe and relaxed menswear silhouettes in hand-printed fabrics. Together they argue for the same wardrobe move: buy the texture, keep the silhouette calm, and let the making show.

If November has one colour, it is the deep end of red. Wine, oxblood, burgundy and merlot have moved from accent to anchor, and the easiest way to wear them is to stop treating them as a statement at all.

The street version is deliberately small at first: a wine shoe, a blood-red bag, a pair of burgundy gloves, or a single leather piece against black, grey, cream or denim. Once that feels natural, the tonal version follows, with satin, knit, leather and suede in related shades doing the work that print used to do.

Folu Storms' Lagos look shows why the shade works right now. Her berry-toned pleated dress sits somewhere between burgundy and raspberry, sculptural on top and fluid below, and it reads as glamour without needing a print or a logo to explain itself. Pair the colour with silver jewellery rather than gold for a cooler, more current finish.

The 2026 CFDA Fashion Awards take place tomorrow, Monday 2 November, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, hosted by Keke Palmer. The American Menswear Designer of the Year nominees are Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne for Public School New York, Ralph Lauren, Thom Browne, Todd Snyder and Willy Chavarria, with Matt Damon presenting the menswear award.

That shortlist reads like a map of where American menswear is right now. It is not a return to stiff boardroom suiting. Fall 2026 reporting describes tailoring with softer shoulders, pleated and roomier trousers, jackets that nip at the waist, and a slimmer tie worn with a relaxed suit, a crisp shirt or even a knit. The attitude is old Hollywood nonchalance rather than corporate rigidity.

For a reader getting dressed on Monday, the usable version is simple: one strong tailored piece, worn loosely, with everything else quiet. A checked or tonal suit, a suede or tweed sport coat, or a long coat over wide trousers will read as awards-week polish without looking like a costume for the ceremony itself.

This is the season the coat stopped being a wrapper. Cape coats in wool, leather and boucle, shearling with a shaped waist, belted leather trenches and plain coats in royal purple are all doing the same job: they are the first thing anyone sees, so they are allowed to be the loudest thing you own.

The practical rule still holds. Buy the silhouette first and the fabric second, and keep everything underneath slim and plain. A brocade or jacquard coat, a printed car coat or a faux-fur coat only works when the rest of the outfit steps back.

For a November purchase that lasts past this winter, the safest bets are a long wool coat in camel, chocolate or charcoal, a shearling-lined coat in cream or chocolate, or a belted leather coat with a real waist. Colour is the cheapest trend to buy: a saturated purple coat over black, grey or denim does the whole job without a new wardrobe underneath.

Outside the recent autumn shows, Flannels' street report from 27 October names the move plainly: back to black, but with proportion, structure and leather doing the work. Longline outerwear that falls to just below the knee or lower was worn over relaxed looks as well as three-piece suits, which is why this trend survives the move from fashion week to a real November commute.

Esquire Middle East's autumn/winter 2026-2027 edit makes the same case from the runway side: leather returns with a polished attitude, in matte and chalky finishes as well as high shine, often paired with looser trousers, while belted trenches, hooded macs and statement coats take on weather and drama at once. The point is not to look armoured. It is to let one long, dark layer carry the whole outfit.

Lagos day two adds a streetwear translation worth noting: Street Souk presented bomber jackets, metallic finishes, experimental headwear, detachable hoodies and leather interpretations of the traditional agbada. That is the same long, dark idea, cut through a different cultural reference, and it is why blackout does not read as uniform this season.

Underneath the big coats, November street style in New York and Paris is noticeably softer. Oversized blazers, fluid trousers and softly structured jackets have replaced stiff suiting, and the point is comfort that still looks deliberate.

Wide-leg denim is the base that makes it work. Dark indigo or black wide-leg jeans with a fitted knit, a long coat and a pointed shoe give the relaxed shape its structure back, without forcing anyone into a full suit.

Knee-high boots finish the formula. Flat riding boots read Parisian and relaxed, heeled leather versions read New York and sharper, and both work with mini skirts, long coats and oversized sweaters. The shared rule is simple: one relaxed piece, one fitted piece, one polished shoe.

Flannels' autumn street report is blunt on trousers: whoever said skinny jeans were back was mistaken outside the shows, and the verdict for cargos, denim and tailoring alike is maximum volume. That is not a new silhouette anymore. It is the default, and the interesting choice now is what sits on top of it.

The answer this season is knitwear with presence. Esquire Middle East notes old-school cable knits, Fair Isle, quarter-zips and plush cardigans returning with retro stripes and oversized rollnecks, while COS's current men's knitwear list is headed by chunky cashmere funnel-neck jumpers, cable-knit jumpers and boiled merino crew-necks. A chunky knit over a wide trouser gives the outfit weight without needing a coat indoors.

Lagos day two's Maliko collection points the same way from a quieter direction: relaxed, minimalist, loose-fitting silhouettes in understated tones, built for everyday wear rather than occasion wear. Pair that calm with the volume and the look stays grown up instead of sloppy.

Halloween has had a quiet rebrand. The looks that lasted past the party were not the synthetic kits, but real pieces chosen well: a little black slip dress, a velvet dress, a metallic mini, a satin slip, a corset top and a pair of lace-up boots.

The witch version is the clearest example. Skip the broom and the hat-as-joke, and keep the black slip dress, the lace-up boots and a wide-brimmed hat. Add a satin duster and it is a November evening outfit, not a one-night reference.

The same logic covers the film and pop references. A puffball skirt with a corset top, a sequinned or lurex cocktail dress with kitten heels, or a metallic bandage top with a distressed denim mini all work because every piece can be split up and worn again. If a Halloween piece cannot survive a normal Tuesday, it was not a fashion choice, it was a prop.

Halloween was yesterday, and the useful carryover is not a costume. It is the mood that was already in the air: high collars, long dark layers, velvet and satin textures, and a scarf worn like a statement rather than an afterthought. Flannels names scarves as the accessory of the season, voluminous and chunky or sleek and streamlined, able to take a cold-weather look from plain to finished in seconds.

The wearable translation is to keep one romantic element and ground the rest. A long black coat over wool trousers, a dark scarf with a clean knit, or a suede jacket with a simple shirt will read as intentional on 1 November. A full cape, fangs, ruffled cravat and patent shoes together will read as last night.

Monocle's November 2026 winter menswear picks, published 28 October, give the same advice in quieter form: a Moon wool-cashmere scarf in navy, grey or orange, a Cableami wool watch cap, and Spanish merino crewnecks and cardigans. Small, well-made, dark or rust-toned pieces are what make the post-Halloween look last past the weekend.