AMAKA OSAKWE

Nigerian designer Amaka Osakwe's eye for detail has earned her an international fan base, which includes the likes of Lupita Nyong’o, Alek Wek, Beyoncé, Kerry Washington, Solange and the former first lady, Michelle Obama.

Her label, Maki Oh, is a fashion favorite which Vogue, Glamour, The New York Times, Forbes and other prestigious publications have featured. Osakwe has also shown her designs at New York Fashion Week and Lagos Fashion and Design Week.

The Lagos-based designer is repping hard for her country and continuing to reach new heights in fashion, by using traditional African textile processes, including the Adire method which requires dying fabrics by hand and painting the pattern with a cassava paste.

Osakwe studied at the Arts University Bournemouth where she received a BA in fashion, and founded Maki Oh in 2010. She is the first and only African fashion designer to receive an invitation to the White House.

For demonstrating that fashion doesn’t have to omit African methods and fabrics to make waves globally, Osakwe had to make it on this list.

-JO