10 Top moments that shaped African fashion in 2025

As the end of 2025 draws closer, we have compiled a list of our top 10 fashion moments of the year. It was a year of many great firsts for African creatives, including an Earthshot Prize win and several debuts at international fashion weeks. Here is our list of 10 favourite moments.

Wanda Lephoto features large in 2025. After being named Sustainability Designer of the Year at the 2024 GQ Awards, Wanda kept the momentum going: His exhibition Fashion Accounts, curated with Erica de Greef and Alison Moloney at Museum Africa, was extended by several months before closing in September this year. He went on to release his AW 2025 collection, Spirits, with a campaign featuring his community, friends, and family.

Wanda also collaborated with Hannelie Bekker of Wrapt Knitwear on a capsule of knitted pieces incorporating his iconic sunsum (spirit) stripes, marked with a window installation at exclusive stockist AKJP Studio. He rounded off the year on a high, winning both the Trans-seasonal Award and the prestigious Changemaker Award at the Twyg Sustainable Fashion Awards in November. View Wanda Lephoto’s Spirit campaign here.

At this year’s Met Gala, themed Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, several African designers featured on one of the world’s most talked-about fashion stages. Known for its impeccable tailoring, Johannesburg-based MMUSOMAXWELL made its Met debut, dressing actress Nomzamo Mbatha in a red Merino wool ensemble featuring the label’s signature keyholes. Thebe Magugu was also present, showcasing his debut couture looks on Aurora James and Ivy Getty, each of which took 120 hours to complete.

Former Miss South Africa Zozibini Tunzi returned to her home, the Eastern Cape village of eSidwadweni in Tsolo, for her traditional wedding. She was styled by last year’s Changemaker Award winner, Thobeka Mbane, who dressed her in a traditional dress, custom-made by designer Oyama Gonintebe.

In January, IAMISIGO was announced as the winner of the 2025 Zalando Visionary Award. Founded by Nigerian designer Bubu Ogisi, the label earned the award for its dedication to ethical sourcing, involvement with local communities, and its distinct, ‘magical’ aesthetic. As the winner, Bubu presented IAMISIGO’s SS26 collection at Copenhagen Fashion Week in August. She also received a €50,000 prize, business support, and production assistance for the runway show. See IAMISIGO’s Copenhagen Fashion Week debut here.

In March, Ghanaian label Boyedoe was spotlighted as a semi-finalist for the 2025 LVMH Prize for Young Designers. Later in the year, creative director and founder David Boye-Doe was invited to present Boyedoe at the TRANOÏ/CANEX showcase during Paris Fashion Week, gaining international visibility to his blend of traditional African aesthetics and contemporary streetwear. The collection, Paradise Regained, saw patch-worked denim and repurposed textiles on the runway, a comment on Ghana being used as a dumping ground for secondhand clothing from the Global North.

Founded by Prince William in 2020, The Earthshot Prize recognises innovators and leaders working to repair our planet. This year, Lagos Fashion Week founded by Omoyemi Akerele was named one of five winners, receiving a £1 million (more than R22 million) prize. The funding will go towards the establishment of a fully functional circular fashion hub, first in Lagos and then in other African cities. The win makes Omoyemi the first Nigerian to receive the prize, as well as the first platform within the fashion and textile sector. Read Ufrieda Ho’s interview with Omoyemi here.

MMUSOMAXWELL has been producing sharply tailored womenswear since its launch in 2016. This year, co-founders Mmuso Potsane and Maxwell Boko entered a new chapter with their debut menswear collection. The range features their signature details, like bishop sleeves and keyhole accents, reimagined as the label’s vision of masculinity and brotherhood: honouring both tradition and self-expression.

The collection was produced in collaboration with Cape Wools SA, championing Merino wool processed at Gerber & Co and knitted by Vuya Knitwear.

This year, the designers were also named to the BOF500 class of 2025 and received the Design Trailblazer Award at the GQ Awards.

One of the standout art–fashion moments of 2025 was Sophie’s Closet, a collaboration between Mary Sibande and Mantsho designer Palesa Mokubung. Mary’s alter ego, Sophie, is one of the most noted figures in contemporary South African art. Over the years, the character has been used to explore themes of identity, race, and gender, largely represented by her dress – most famously, a blue Victorian-style domestic worker’s uniform.

The collaboration with Mantsho showed a reimagined future for Sophie, with the installation featuring a grand red dress titled Sophie at the Opera. This also marked the beginning of Sophie’s Social Calendar, which will see Sophie moving through cultural events and spaces with a new energy and purpose.

This year, for the first time, we opened a Twyg Sustainable Fashion Award category up to designers from across the continent. The Merchants on Long Pan-African Artisanal Award recognises a designer using craft techniques such as weaving, embroidery, botanical dyeing or another artisanal practice to make fashion that foregrounds, celebrates and values the culture and skills of the people who make the garments.

The first winner of this award was WOTE K.I Design, a Ghana-based fashion collective founded by Renée Neblett and Esi Ellen Otoo. WOTE transforms textile waste, from post-consumer garments to factory offcuts, using circular design, natural dyes and decentralised production. This award is presented by Merchants on Long, long-time champions of craftsmanship on the African continent.