ADEJU THOMPSON

Born and raised in Lagos Nigeria, Adeju Thompson studied fashion in the United Kingdom. He returned to Nigeria in 2013 where he presented capsule collections at concept store Stranger Lagos before launching Lagos Space Programme in 2018. He is the winner of the 2023 International Woolmark Prize and the 2023 Fashion Trust Arabia Emerge Prize. He is a 2021 semi-finalist of the LVMH Prize for Young Designers. He is a member of the Vogue 100 and the BoF 500.

Lagos Space Programme is Adeju’s journey of reconnection to his heritage and the use of his understanding of it to re-shape the present: dispelling myths and misconceptions, while divining the future.

Guided by the cultural and spiritual philosophies of the Yoruba people viewed through a queer lens, Lagos Space Programme places the heritage craft and sartorial expressions of the Yoruba in dialogue with resonant cultural heritages from around the world. In doing so, the label creates a future culture that can be shared by a global audience.

From its founding to its (re)naming by Portuguese explorers, to its emergence as the epicenter of a new global youth culture, Lagos has always been the physical manifestation of Yoruba culture in dialogue with the rest of the world. The name of the label then reflects the ethos behind Thompson’s creative process: grounded in his roots but deliberately looking outwards and to the future. Lagos Space Programme invokes both an experimental design exploration and a physical and metaphorical portal into a future with no blueprints, no limitations, only endless possibilities.