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Nigeria’s fashion industry is shifting into second gear to become a more serious contender in Africa’s leadership race. LAGOS, Nigeria — Five years have passed since Nigerian designers first strode onto the global fashion stage at Lagos Fashion and Design Week (LFDW). At the time, the world was just waking up to the important role that Nigeria plays alongside South Africa. Both shoulder the weight of talent streaming out of the African continent, but the fashion industry of the latter is still the more developed and diversified of the two. Yet it is now the strength of Nigeria’s industry that has the world watching — a fact that was highlighted by the latest edition of the country’s cosmopolitan fashion week. Having originally focused entirely on homegrown talent, last month’s Heineken LFDW attracted some of the best designers from neighbouring West African countries such as Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire, as well as diaspora talents li...