Lexy Mojo-Eyes: The Man Who Changed The Face Of African Fashion

Oftentimes people who engineer groundbreaking achievements do not cut the picture of whom we expect, just ordinary folks who inspire change for a better world.

Nothing could be more inspiring than learning from people who manifest their dreams and inspire others, people who have found ways of turning obstacles into opportunities and fathomed means of being resourceful when resources become scarce, people with focus, persistence, and dedication.

Africa’s foremost fashion promoter, mentor, and entrepreneur, Lexy Mojo-Eyes is a man cut in this mold.
Best known for advancing the essence of the African fashion industry by inspiring African designers to look inwards to the rich peculiarities embedded in African culture in projecting African fashion towards global recognition, inclusion, and economic viability, Mojo-Eyes can well be described as the unsung hero behind the revolution that has characterized the African fashion for almost 3 decades.
With unswerving faith in the commercial prospects of African fashion and how it can be transformed into a vehicle to combat poverty in the continent, Mojo-Eyes has recorded groundbreaking achievements in the African fashion industry, making him an authority and a revered name in the industry.

As President and CEO of Legendary Gold Limited, a leading African Fashion and creatives promoting organization, Mojo Eyes has been at the vanguard of the continent’s fashion industry since the ’90s, introducing the first major fashion event in Nigeria known as “The Nigeria Fashion Show” in 1997, ostensibly as a vehicle to build awareness on the rich prospects imbued in African fashion; sustained by its annual editions ever since.

In stimulating this awareness, the show which gave Nigerian designers the first national platform to express their creative talents compelled participating designers to use only local fabrics and accessories in producing their collection.

Debuting on the international stage in the year 2000, Mojo-Eyes took 10 top designers from Nigeria to the first international edition of the Nigeria Fashion Show in Paris, from where it proceeded to Milan, London, New York, Atlanta, Houston, Washington DC, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Shanghai, and the list is endless.
Determined to push even further the frontiers of Nigeria’s fashion possibilities, Mojo-Eyes got the ears of the wife of former president Obasanjo, late Chief (Mrs) Stella Obasanjo who lauded the objective of the show and supported the initiative of which she ultimately became Grand Patron and regularly attended.
Understanding the Unique connection between fashion and modeling, Mojo-Eyes has also been creating opportunities for African youths to make meaningful careers in modeling. As a result, Mojo-Eyes in December 2003, signed a franchise contract in Paris with the International fashion television, Fashion TV, a union that birthed The Nigeria Model Awards, with the goal to create opportunities for young Nigerian girls seeking to build careers in International Modelling.

The insatiable quest of the fashion titan to create new opportunities for young Nigerian girls led to his signing of a new contract with New York-based Ford Models in 2004, which secures a Nigerian representative at the annual Ford Supermodel of the World contest in New York where these girls stand the opportunity to win modeling contracts worth $500,000 and above. It is instructive to note that the lives of many young girls have been transformed through these channels, with positive ripple effects resonating with global sustainable development goals.
In recognition of the value he has brought to the fashion space, Mojo-Eyes was appointed by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Information and Communications in 2005 to produce fashion shows as part of the Heart of Africa Project, which he satisfactorily executed in Washington DC, Atlanta, Houston, Paris, and London.

Furthering his enduring exploits and positive influence on African fashion, Mojo- Eyes in 2009 was appointed the only African on the Board of Governors of the World Fashion Organization due to his invaluable contributions to the growth and development of the Fashion industry in Africa.

In 2010, Mojo-Eyes was commissioned by the office of the President of Nigeria to produce and direct Nigeria/South African 10th Bi-National Commission event which was held at the banquet hall of the presidential villa in Abuja, attended by the Presidents of both countries and broadcast live by MTV Base.

The remarkable strides of Mojo-Eyes in the African Fashion Industry weave from bringing recognition and attention to the African textile, garment, and fashion industry to the very core of its commercial nerve, stimulating investment and economic opportunities that give the continent’s fashion business viable impetus.

In 2011, Mojo-Eyes was invited to Perth Australia to address the International Fashion Incubators Conference on how to create wealth in Africa through the fashion and garment industry, and in 2012, he addressed the United Nations Assembly in New York on the theme; ‘Empowering African Rural Creative Women through Enterprise Development & Global Fashion Opportunities’
He spoke on ‘Africa, the Next Emerging Marketplace’ in a forum at the Department of International Trade, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York State University in October 2012.
Mojo Eyes was 2015 invited to address the 4th Pan African Congress in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he spoke on the topic ‘infrastructural investment in the garment and textile industry in Africa as the most important vehicle towards job creation and poverty alleviation
Today, everyone appreciates the glowing global encomiums showered by the African Fashion industry for its very rich peculiarities, yet few really know the man bestriding Africa’s fashion square like a colossus, inspiring innovations that continue to spark further opportunities.
In 2016 he was received and recognized in the Elysee Palace by French President, Francois Hollande as one of those that have promoted the bi-lateral relationship between France and Africa through his annual event, the Africa Fashion Reception project where he annually presents designers from all over Africa.

At the instance of AFREXIM Bank through Folio Communication, Mojo-Eyes was appointed to organize an event that included, fashion, music, films, and the Arts for the African creative industry at the 1st Intra African Trade Fair in Cairo, Egypt. He consulted in the creative industry sector for the African Union’s participation in Expo 2020 Dubai and presently consults for the United Nations on the African creative economy.
Legendary Gold Limited has been at the forefront in promoting African designers and creatives in the African fashion industry, with quite an impressive number of influential designers having been influenced by the brain behind Africa’s foremost fashion promoting firm sustainably inspiring creativity and economic opportunities with its annual events; The Nigeria Fashion Show, the Nigeria Fashion Week, the Nigeria Fashion Awards, the Nigeria Model Awards, Africa Fashion Reception and its novel initiative, Agogo Africa – an eCommerce marketplace for African fashion designers and creatives.

Characteristically unassuming, always adorned in African attires and buzzing with lofty development ideas, Mojo-Eyes’ ‘going green’ fashion initiative, the first-ever in Africa, through the Nigeria Fashion Week attracted international media coverage from CNN, BBC, Aljazeera, REUTERS, etc.
In collaboration with the African Union and UNESCO, Mojo – Eyes through The African Fashion Reception, has globally projected Africa Fashion designers and entrepreneurs since 2013 bringing immense success to the continent.
With the aim of using fashion as of tool to fight poverty in Africa by creating wealth through the empowerment of women and youths in the various fashion vocations, the Africa Fashion Reception also creates free trade and partnerships among fashion practitioners throughout the African continent, thus taking advantage of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), while attracting global attention to Africa’s very rich and diversified dress culture, exploring it as a catalyst for the growth of the continent’s garment/textile industry and overall economic development.

The objective of the Africa Fashion Reception initiative has over the years been advancing the essence of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union Agenda 2063 by building bridges to stimulate economic growth in the continent.
Apparently, with tall antecedents in the African fashion industry, spilling the borders, the fashion innovator must be a fulfilled man, except that he is not yet fulfilled.

Not one to rest on his oars, it can be expected or wisely assumed that the muse knew as Mojo-Eyes still has some more fashion aces up his sleeves waiting to be rolled out in due time.
Mojo-Eyes may be the unsung hero of African fashion, yet when its history is told whether today or in the generations ahead, one name that will always stand out clearly like the northern star, is non-other than the very pioneer and champion of contemporary African fashion, Lexy Mojo-Eyes.