“I have Nigerian sensibilities, so we dress up,” Eva Omaghomi said on a recent Friday in October. “We are not, in my experience, known for being shy.”
Omaghomi, 48, was moving regally when I spotted her outside the newly opened St. Clement hotel in London. She was draped in a dress from the Cloth, a brand from Trinidad and Tobago, and a coat by Marrakshi Life. The ensemble was a cascading spectrum of coordinating hues — magenta, burgundy, greens — perhaps an indication of someone who aims for high precision in all things.
Omaghomi is the creator of Brand63Africa, a new platform showcasing designers from Africa and its diaspora. She said that she started the platform, which recently opened a pop-up at the Harrods department store, partly because the experience of shopping for African brands in London was “harder than I felt it should be.”
The project got a lift when a debut event held during London Fashion Week drew a turnout that included Omaghomi’s rather illustrious former boss: King Charles III. (Omaghomi was once the king’s director of community engagement. “People might know me as the lady that wore the pink African outfit at the coronation,” she said.)
Asked when she began wearing full African looks, Omaghomi, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria, said that after the death of her mother, in 2021, she made a concerted effort to “always look my best, if I could.” She also pointed to a 2022 trip during which she accompanied the king to Rwanda. “I felt more comfortable,” she said of her decision to wear African designers on the visit. “We were going to Africa, and that was a huge turning point for me. But really, I think it was trying to be closer to my mom.”
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