Shade Thomas-Fahm

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Shade Thomas-Fahm, born Victoria Omọ́rọ́níkẹ Àdùkẹ́ Fọlashadé Thomas (but known colloquially and professionally as "Shadé Thomas"), is regarded as "Nigeria's first modern fashion designer”^[1][2] and "one of Africa's most important designers, and a pioneering figure in Nigerian fashion"^[3] She was the first fashion designer to open a fashion boutique in Nigeria^[4][5] and subsequently opened a number of boutiques at various locations. Shade Thomas Fahm brought attention to the Nigerian fashion industry.^[6] Her influence on Nigerian fashion has endured since the 60s to date, within Nigeria and abroad.^[7] "Her fervor and creativity laid the foundation for the fashion industry, while she also inspired a plethora of designers to pursue their passion."^[8]

Her enduring impact will be celebrated at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London in 2022.^[9][10][11]

Life Story[]

Thomas-Fahm was born, on September 22, 1933, to the family of Mr. Bankole Ayorinde Thomas and Mrs. Elizabeth Olaniwun Thomas. She attended St. Peter's School, Faaji, Baptist Girl's School Araromi, and later New Era Girls' College, both in Lagos.

At nineteen, while in class four and waiting for the Cambridge Junior Certificate exam result to enter High School or Technical College, she found herself pregnant. The boy she gave birth to, in 1952, was named Joachim Kofi Branco. After his birth, she relocated to Kano in Northern Nigeria to be close to the son's father. She returned home shortly after, when she realized that the man had another woman he was involved with.

In the 1950s, as was the practice at the time, she applied to go to England to study as a nurse. She left in the summer of 1953. But on getting to England, she was captivated by the well-fitted shops of the West End of London and took to fashion.^[12] She obtained the General Certificate of Education at Barret College, and duly applied for admission at the prestigious St. Martins College of Art and Design, where she qualified as a fashion designer in 1959,^[13] becoming the first Nigerian woman to acquire professional qualification in fashion design.

As a student, she took petty jobs in different places including at the Lion Corner House, but she later worked at Stenoff & Sons where she was introduced to modelling. Her modelling career got her working for big brands in England, including Lux Beauty Soap. Her photos and commercials were shown as far as South Africa. In London, she acquired some fame as a black model, which was a rare feat at the time.

In July 1960, she returned to Nigeria, and started her first fashion shop first at a boutique shop in Yaba called "Maison Shadé", which later became "Shadé's Boutique." It stocked Nigerian designs and was the first to make use of mannequins like she had seen in the UK. Later, she opened a clothing factory on Broad Street which had embroidery equipment. Eventually, she rented a shop at the newly built Federal Palace Hotel in Lagos.

She said part of her interest in returning to Nigeria then, right before the nation got its independence, was "to provide jobs for people and tackle unemployment" ^[14]

At the beginning, she had a hard time convincing Nigerians to buy local fabrics and design, because people felt that British culture was better.^[15] But little by little, she became an influential designer and dressmaker in the Lagos fashion scene. Her work also started to get international recognition. One of her designs, for instance, was featured in the Singer International Fashion Catalogue on paper pattern cutting and easy sewing. Her work was featured in the exhibition and one of her designs won the Singer Award.

Throughout the sixties, her Shadé's Boutique, and clothing shops in Lagos became the go-to place for Nigerian-made outfits of different styles. They contrasted with other shops which sold only foreign designs. Her clientele, over the years, included both the high society (from politicians to military families, to influential foreigners, to foreign dignitaries like Nicéphore Soglo, the former president of Benin Republic).

In 1977, during the government of Olusegun Obasanjo, and following the Indigenization Decree of the military government, Thomas-Fahm's shop was seized, taken over, and run by government soldiers for a few weeks. After a lot of furore and public outcry, the shop was returned to her.

Thomas-Fahm influenced a lot of her contemporaries, from the 70s to date. Some of them include Abah Folawiyo, Betti O, Folorunsho Alakija, and Nike Okundaye, who all have had great impact on Nigerian fashion.^[16]

Shadé's Work and Influence[]

Thomas-Fahm specialized in the use of locally woven and dyed textiles to make modern contemporary styles that became known in Nigeria and around the world.^[17] In four years, she raised the value of her business to a net-worth of £10,000.

She created several modern designs out of traditional styles. These include:

• the transformation of iro and buba into a wrapper skirt;^[18][19]
• the adaptation of men's kaftan into women's kaftan;
• the adaptation of the gele into pre-tied head-dress;
• the creation of accessories such as handbags, belts, and shoes, using African fabrics; and
• the creation of the 'ajuba' now popularly known as the 'boubou' form men's agbada. ^[20]

Her work revolutionized women's way of dressing in Nigeria, because her work—seen on many influential elite women, gradually influenced how Nigerian women dressed.

She also made costumes for art and culture, especially for Wole Soyinka's 1960 Masks theatre group. He mentioned her in his prison memoirs titled The Man Died.

Thomas-Fahm is also one of Nigeria's first women industrialists, establishing her clothing factory at Block E, Industrial Estate, Yaba. It was at this factory where her designs were turned into exclusive pieces.

Later in life, she took keen interest in the training of fashion designers at the Yaba College of Technology where she has been an academic visitor for decades, and has endowed a prize for the most outstanding student in fashion.

Roles and Awards[]

• President of the Fashion Designers Association of Nigeria (year)
• Lifetime achievement award at Arise Magazine's Fashion Week in Lagos (2011).
• President of the Rotary Club of Victoria Island from 2009-2010^[21]

References[]