‘About That Curvy Life’ — an empowerment platform dedicated to curvy women — took to the runway at this year’s Lagos Fashion & Design Week (LFDW) to showcase plus-size fashion. Pictured: Models backstage at LFDW. Photo: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images.“I’ve always been plus size and it’s always bothered me that there were never images of people who looked like me in the media,” founder of empowerment platform ‘About That Curvy Life’ Latasha Ngwube tells CNN. Pictured: A man photographs plus-size models at LFDW in October 2016. Photo: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images“Lagos is the fashion capital of the continent, as well as being the country of bigger-boned women and men,” explains Ngwube. Pictured: Plus-size models pose for a picture prior to LFDW. Photo: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty ImagesThe fashion and lifestyle journalist lobbied her heart out to feature a plus-size collective at Africa’s biggest fashion event of the year. Pictured: Models at LFDW display clothes by designer Osa Aisien from MaBello Clothier, the first solely Nigerian brand catering for women with curves. Photo: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty ImagesAll the designers Ngwube chose for her collective were first timers on the runway. “For them to be making their first outings on such a platform was beyond belief,” she says. Pictured: A model wears a creation by designer Makioba Olugbile.Ngwube chose a classic black and white theme for her collective in order to present the “timeless colors of fashion”. Pictured: A plus-size model shows off a creation by designer Aisha Abubakr from Aisha Abu-Bakr Luxury Design. Photo: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images“We’ve already got curvy bodies, there’s no need for us to come out there and try to be overtly sexy,” says Ngwube. Pictured: Models get made up backstage at LFDW. Photo: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images“We’re trying to start a conversation, we’re getting a foot in the door. People have to see plus fashion in a way they never have before.” Pictured: A male model shows off some of the new collection from ÀSSIÀN by fashion designer Matiu Gordun. Photo: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty ImagesNgwube hired a veteran model to train her models four times a week, as some had never modeled before. “The training was so they would be ready to face whatever kind of energy they would be meeting, because we didn’t know what to expect.” Pictured: Male models display creations from ÀSSIÀN.According to Ngwube the plus-size models really owned the runway. “This was a mission of firsts and they walked like their lives depended on it.” Pictured: Models sport creations by designer Tobi Ogundipe of Tosfa.
