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Mowalola at GTCO Fashion Weekend via GTCO

Racist, thief, and dating Ian Connor; there’s an endless list of allegations against the Nigerian-British designer, Mowalola. Despite this infamy, Mowalola is an integral part of the modern zeitgeist, and her keen approach to fashion is constantly attempted but never truly replicated. So on the 6th of November, when she took to X to announce that her first show of the year would be in Lagos, there was a significant amount of traction. The announcement had an accompanying photo, and the photo had the date, location, and Lagos Fashion Week written on it. A solid flyer it was, the only problem is that Lagos Fashion Week had ended 4 days before this announcement. So what show was she talking about? It was GTCO Fashion Weekend, and this fatal accident in branding might not be so accidental, but it is definitely fatal.

Mowalola Fashion show announcement via @mowalola via X

The Mary Magdalene effect:

In 2019, British singer FKA Twigs released an album that some would refer to as her magnum opus, Magdalene. The album saw Twigs draw parallels between her experience as a woman favoured by a man who casts a large shadow as a result of his public image.

Twigs had been previously engaged to the then-heartthrob, Robert Pattinson, and Mary Magdalene was, without a doubt, a dear friend of Jesus Christ. While the feats between Jesus and Pattinson are incomparable, both women did face baseless scrutiny for the crime of being beloved.

Magdalene’s came in the non-canonical claims of her being a prostitute. It is not in the Bible, but Pope Gregory I started this doctrine in a homily delivered in Rome in 591 AD, and by the medieval period, it had become a staple in churches. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church officially corrected the historical error, but the damage had been done, and now there are generations of people who pass on this preaching.

While the album showcases a raw and vulnerable side, it also created a term for the position between the halo and horn effect, where you are neither unfairly praised nor demonised, yet your persona is heavily shaped by unjust bias—the Magdalene effect. GTCO Fashion Weekend has been Magdalene-d due to its proximity to Lagos Fashion Week.

The eternal mix-up of GTCO Fashion Weekend and Lagos Fashion Week:

Look from Tia Adeola SS26 via @tiaadeola via Instagram

For context, the official (Heaven knows, there were so many unofficial shows that ran past the schedule) calendar of Lagos Fashion Week was set for October 29th to November 2nd. Only a weekend later, the date for GTCO Fashion Weekend (November 8th and 9th) was also set.

This is not confusing for Nigerians, as it is typical to have multiple similar but not exact events run within the span of a month. After all, that’s the best part about the Detty December season. But it does end up having a cannibalistic effect in terms of marketing when people begin to mix up the events.

A perfect example of this is the Hertitude – Femme Fest situation that happens every Easter season since the latter moved its concert from December. Data shows that Femme Fest was the first all-women musical act lineup event between the two. However, that’s all Femme Fest has ever marketed itself as— an all-women musical act lineup event. HERtitude, on the other hand, set itself apart from Femme Fest, marketing as a women-only event. These are two different things, and there was no problem with Femme Fest’s initial marketing, as people hadn’t considered that maybe it could be a women-only festival, at least they didn’t until HERtitude.

Since the existence of HERtitude, and Femme Fest moving from its December slot, the festival has been annually attacked for its admittance of men into the premises… an act they’ve always done.

GTCO Fashion Weekend faces a similar crisis. Due to its structure, being free to attend and display, it is bound to draw in a larger audience than the ticketed Lagos Fashion Week. However, Lagos Fashion Week ends up getting the glory because, for one, it has a better name.

Look from Tia Adeola SS26 via @tiaadeola via GTCO

We’ve had fashion weeks, months, and seasons, but something about a weekend feels like a mouthful. The next blunder is that people are accustomed to saying “a city” and then Fashion Week. London Fashion Week, New York Fashion Week, Copenhagen Fashion Week, Tokyo Fashion Week, and more. The process of saying something as an acronym, which feels lengthier and unfamiliar, is not as fun. There’s a reason New York was quick to stop calling it Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and why anyone not on Heineken’s payroll says Lagos Fashion Week instead of Heineken-Lagos Fashion Week.

It is obvious marketing, and everyone hates an industry plant. So, the renowned publication, 032c, is going to have a photographer recap his experience at a fashion event in Lagos, and while the article itself will specify which one he covered, the title will read “Lagos Fashion Week”. Photos from Mazelle Studio’s SS24 collection, “Marie in the City,” go viral on Twitter because picturing Marie Antoinette as a Lagosian is poetic on so many levels. But every caption will read Mazelle Studio from Lagos Fashion Week. Like a modern-day Voldemort, no one seems to say its name.

That’s show business, baby!

But there’s the underground speculation, a conspiracy if you must. The timing and framing do make it impossible for GTCO Fashion Weekend to get a fair shot at media amplification and internet fanfare. However, it does provide it a sense of credibility and some coverage. Nigeria has had an array of bank-created fashion shows, but none have had a sustainable run like GTCO. Being constantly mistaken for Lagos Fashion Week might be bad for name branding; however, it is an amazing way to garner publicity.

Less than 10 years old, repeatedly called Lagos Fashion Week, difficult to catch on moniker, open to people beyond the industry insiders, and yet guarantees 5000 plus attendees, media impact value, and world-class designers. It is a success by any measure, but if Mowalola had changed her text to “GTCO Fashion Week”, the general public’s question would be, “What’s even a GTCO Fashion Weekend?”