It’s Time Nollywood Stopped Treating Costume Like an Afterthought

AFRIFF 2025: When Fashion Meets Film Latasha Ngwube, Folake Folarin-Coker, Ugo Mozie, Qing Madi, and Jennifer Oseh Redefine Nollywood Style

At this year’s Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), the panel on Fashion × Film × Afrobeats hosted by Latasha Ngwube became much more than a technical discussion. It turned into a manifesto.

Gathering powerhouse voices Folake Folarin-Coker (founder of Tiffany Amber), Ugo Mozie (LA-based creative director), Jennifer Oseh (style visionary behind The Lady Vhodka), and Qing Madi (genre-bending pop-culture voice) the conversation revealed one shared conviction:Nigerian fashion isn’t just decoration. It’s storytelling. And Nollywood can no longer treat costume as an afterthought.

Fashion × Film × Afrobeats: The Cultural Engine

Afrobeats has become a global mood and its visuals, from Nollywood films to streaming series and music videos, are the images powering that mood. Costumes and street style do the heavy lifting: they announce character, define era, and export identity.

Latasha Ngwube opened with a simple but powerful point: “When fashion and film collaborate well, the work travels.” The right wardrobe makes a film understandable across languages it translates emotion.

Authenticity Sells Ugo Mozie’s Thesis

For Ugo Mozie, the bridge between Lagos and Los Angeles is authenticity.

“Use visuals to tell an African story that translates without having to understand the language. When you are authentic in your art expression, the world can receive it,” he said.

His advice was part creative, part strategic: filmmakers who imitate Western aesthetics risk losing their unique voice. The most iconic African films, Ugo argued, resonate precisely because they are rooted in local texture language, music, fabrics, ritual, rhythm.

He urged production teams to trust local designers to build looks that feel native, not imported and even offered to collaborate with emerging creatives looking to bridge continents through fashion and storytelling.

Folake Folarin-Coker: “My Designs Are My Babies”

The Tiffany Amber founder, a veteran of 25 years in Nigerian fashion, reminded the audience that couture isn’t costume — it’s craftsmanship.

She recalled lending garments to a production, only to receive them “rough and dirty.”

“My designs and clothes are my babies,” she said. “I stopped doing that.”

Her message was clear: collaboration demands respect. Designers and filmmakers must agree on care, planning, and responsibility before a single outfit goes to set.

Folake also emphasized that costume must serve character, not ego. Her film work including the acclaimed biopic Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti illustrates how historical authenticity and fashion storytelling require deep creative partnership.

Qing Madi & Jennifer Oseh: Style as Declaration

For Qing Madi, fashion is identity.

“Fashion should be a statement. Your dress sense should announce you,” she said.

Her tomboy-streetwear aesthetic — a fusion of baggy silhouettes and designer details mirrors her music: unapologetically individual.

Jennifer Oseh, known for her theatrical use of color, volume, and print, called for greater collaboration between stylists, designers, and costume heads. Authenticity, she argued, means aligning an artist’s real-life style with their on-screen image.

“Self-expression belongs to the artist. Everything worn should speak.”

The Economics of Style: Care, Durability, and Credit

Behind the glamour lies logistics. Folake’s cautionary tale underscored a business truth every designer on set deserves a care plan and insurance coverage.

Key takeaways for producers and costume departments:

• Create garment briefs. Designers should see script pages and mood boards early.

• Budget for care and duplicates. Include cleaning, repairs, and insurance in production costs.

• Respect couture. Commission production-grade copies for stunts or high-wear scenes.

• Credit visibly. Designers deserve screen recognition; it builds cultural capital.

Cultural Ownership and Access

The panel also tackled global equity. When Western productions borrow African aesthetics without credit, who benefits?

Jennifer and Qing challenged producers to build fairer pipelines budgets that include local designers, credits that name them, and collaborations that prioritize representation over reference.

As Folake put it, imitation may be flattery, but investment and care sustain creativity.

A Playbook for Filmmakers and Designers

The panel distilled into a simple production checklist:

1. Invite designers early. Costume is part of storytelling, not post-production.

2. Pair stylists with costume designers. Merge pop culture with narrative continuity.

3. Budget for respect. Allocate funds for garment care, duplicates, and insurance.

4. Use rising designers intentionally. They bring freshness and flexibility.

5. Maintain mutual respect. Treat garments as art, not props.

A Call to Production: Fashion Is Storytelling

If Nollywood wants to compete globally, it must professionalize the costume chain with budgets, insurance, fittings, and credits that respect design as a storytelling craft.

As Folake put it, “Nigerians carry themselves beautifully we should never trade that elegance for anything else.”

Qing closed the session with a rallying cry: “What you wear should say who you are.”And Ugo’s reminder echoed through the hall: “Authenticity is our best export.”

Fashion and film intersect every day on set. The AFRIFF panel didn’t just explore how it demanded better. Because Afrobeats gave the world a sound.

Now, Nollywood with designers like Folake and creatives like Ugo, Jennifer, and Qing is showing the world what that sound looks like.