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  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Welcome to Fashion Week International, a

  • new show that reports on the most fabulous fashion weeks in

  • the world, and the culture and politics behind them.

  • We've saved the best until last, a fashion week in the

  • capital city of chaos.

  • This is Lagos, Nigeria.

  • It's home to 8 or 15 or 18 million people, depending

  • which census figure you believe.

  • And like anywhere with a large population density, it's not

  • without its troubles.

  • Civil, state-sponsored homophobia, religious tension,

  • and widespread corruption are among the many factors that

  • have led to calls for the resignation of longstanding

  • president, Goodluck Jonathan.

  • MALE SPEAKER: Actually, such elements of

  • society should be killed.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: With that in mind, we prepared ourselves

  • for Nigeria Fashion Week with not a little trepidation.

  • But like all the fabulous placed we've visited so far

  • this series, we were sure we'd find something beautiful

  • behind the depressing headlines.

  • There are many different fashion weeks held throughout

  • the year in Lagos.

  • But we were here for what we were assured was the official

  • Nigeria Fashion Week.

  • First stop was the headquarters of the

  • organizers, Legendary Gold.

  • We've arrived at the Legendary Gold offices.

  • And this is the hub of the fashion week.

  • We're going to inside and get legendary

  • services valuable as gold.

  • The fantastically named Lexy Mojo-Eyes

  • is the man in charge.

  • He also looks like Don King, if Don King

  • had gone into fashion.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: What does fashion mean to you?

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: The models are assembled

  • for a fitting session.

  • And things were getting very naked.

  • And so I went in search of the boys.

  • MALE SPEAKER: (SINGING) Before you choose to use, before you

  • choose to use, use your device so you don't have rain drops

  • falling from your eyes.

  • [INAUDIBLE].

  • Gonna have to pay the price, pay the price.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: In what way are you quirky?

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: That's girly?

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: I thought this was more serious.

  • MALE SPEAKER: Becuase I love Africa.

  • Africa is the best place to be.

  • And when you come closer, you find out that we are friendly

  • people, good people.

  • For example, in Nigeria right now, are we not friendly?

  • FEMALE SPEAKERS (IN UNISON): Welcome to Nigeria Fashion

  • Week, [INAUDIBLE].

  • [CHEERING]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: The fashion itself was being held at a

  • slightly rundown looking government building where

  • Prince Charles himself had laid the first stone.

  • It's quarter past 12:00.

  • Which is a bit worrying, because the show is supposed

  • to start at 12:00.

  • And so far, there's no show.

  • There's about six models backstage who still haven't

  • had their hair and makeup done.

  • And there's no audience.

  • We went to check out the backstage progress.

  • Tempers were already rising.

  • FRED EBOKA: I told you, you sit here.

  • Isn't it?

  • You are going back this way.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: This way.

  • FRED EBOKA: Yes, exactly.

  • So you go now.

  • And you follow.

  • Come back.

  • [INAUDIBLE]

  • just stand here.

  • That's what I tell you.

  • I do not want drama.

  • I don't want drama, because I'm full of drama.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • FRED EBOKA: My standards mustn't go down

  • because I'm in Nigeria.

  • Standards should be the same to you all over the world.

  • But for some reason--

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: It's not very good.

  • FRED EBOKA: --I have to adapt myself to a certain degree.

  • People can wait.

  • And they have such patience.

  • I don't have that kind of patience.

  • Don't deny me attention.

  • Otherwise I go very crazy and a drama, drama queen.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: However, Lexy didn't quite see the problem.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: If you want something to start at 12:00,

  • you tell people to get there at 8:00 AM.

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: And sure enough, two hours after the

  • first show was scheduled to begin, the glamorous crowds

  • started to roll in, each one making sure to take a turn on

  • the red carpet.

  • MALE SPEAKER: Whoa!

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: [INAUDIBLE].

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Whoa!

  • The thing just collapsed on me.

  • Oh my God.

  • It's going to fall off.

  • So if I move, it's all over.

  • But then they kill this beautiful lady.

  • Go, let's go.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Anyone got matches?

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: This year's theme was going green.

  • This is understandable given Lagos's

  • critical pollution issues.

  • Energy efficient light bulb hats and dresses made out of

  • leaves ere made to look surprising elegant by the

  • gorgeous girls.

  • And the boy's helped out by donning what looked to be

  • lederhosen made of hay.

  • One designer who stood out was self-taught Dabo, who

  • specialized in pairing recycled plastic and

  • traditional fabrics with sexy results.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: I love this.

  • Quite sexual.

  • Do people say to you, oh my God, Dabo?

  • DABO: Yeah, Dabo [INAUDIBLE].

  • [LAUGHTER]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: I'm trying it.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Look, they're all going to laugh at us.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Whilst the girls maintained a

  • professional front, the boys just seemed to be having a

  • great time admiring their own beauty and other attributes.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: So the more hard you work, the bigger

  • penis you have?

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Guys are more vain than girls.

  • MALE SPEAKER: Yeah.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: I'll give it to you.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: If men wore makeup in the street, what

  • would happen to them?

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: It wasn't just social discrimination the gay

  • community had to worry about.

  • Homophobic sentiment had recently been

  • enshrined in law.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: We'd met Datari, a fellow Englishman

  • backstage, former stylist to UK boy bands such as Boyzone.

  • He'd come to Lagos to pursue business opportunities.

  • However, the recent developments meant he was

  • considering going back to the UK.

  • DATARI: If you're really camp, then trust me, you can't

  • survive in Nigeria.

  • Why do you think I wear shirts and hats all the time?

  • I'm the butch, you know what I me?

  • I wish I could train my voice.

  • Because that's, like, a giveaway,

  • you know what I mean?

  • If you're gay, you either get killed, or you go to prison,

  • you get disowned by your family.

  • That's why most Nigerian celebs, or Nigerian guys go

  • abroad to end up staying there and claiming asylum.

  • Someone calls the police.

  • And all of you get humiliated, put you on TV.

  • No only are you out to the government.

  • You're out to your family, to your friends.

  • I mean, you've lived a lie all your life.

  • And then all of a sudden, you're on TV for what?

  • For being gay.

  • Eventually, if you come out of prison, you can't even go back

  • to your home town anymore because

  • everyone knows about it.

  • [INAUDIBLE]

  • stoning you, calling you names.

  • Trust me, you'll get caught.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: After meeting Datari and having him tell us

  • how the majority of gay people in Niger have to conceal their

  • sexuality for fear of going to prison, we started to wonder

  • how many other people at this fashion event were hiding

  • their true identity.

  • BLESSED: Your face, you make it ugly.

  • Yeah, you don't do it with your fine face.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: This is our friend Blessed, the

  • hairdresser.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: From the moment we arrived, wherever we

  • went, Blessed went too.

  • To the extent that we could barely talk to anyone else.

  • Off camera, he told us some surprising things about the

  • gay community.

  • He invited us to come visit his neighborhood so that he

  • could talk a bit more freely.

  • First, we met his mother and his nephew.

  • And then he took us to some of his friends' houses.

  • BLESSED: This is [INAUDIBLE]

  • apartment.

  • Yes.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: After that, he took us to the biggest street

  • market in Lagos.

  • BLESSED: We are in [INAUDIBLE]

  • Market.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: This is one of the most hectic, overcrowded

  • markets in the world, with thousands of people passing

  • through it at all times.

  • And then, Blessed too us somewhere he could confess a

  • few things about his relationship

  • with the fashion world.

  • We're at a salon where Blessed used to work.

  • And they're going to do my nails,

  • because they need doing.

  • Why did you become a hairdresser?

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: But you are not gay, obviously.

  • BLESSED: Don't say it.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: I won't say it.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: In the fashion industry?

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Lagos is a deeply God-fearing city, with

  • the church having a firm hold over the population.

  • Even some of the fashion photographers haven't quite

  • reconciled their faith with the decadent display of flesh

  • at the fashion week.

  • All the models were, like, running around naked.

  • How did it feel?

  • Despite Justice's revelation that we're all going to hell,

  • we return for the finale and caught up with some fellow

  • sinners on the red carpet.

  • Including my favorite, the stylish

  • queen mother of Nigeria.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: I can tell.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: And then, Mr. Nigeria, Deji Bakare, who

  • describes himself as a rapper and a singer.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: [LAUGHS].

  • What I love the most about Nigeria Fashion Week was how

  • the designers and models celebrated

  • traditional African beauty.

  • There were no blonde hair weaves, no plastic surgery,

  • limited influence by Western design.

  • This was truly a celebration of pure Nigerian beauty.

  • And backstage, it was a celebration of

  • pure Nigerian chaos.

  • This guy is the winner of Nigerian Big Brother 2011.

  • His arrival backstage caused further chaos, with the

  • models, their friends and hangers on all clamoring to

  • get a private audience with their idol.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: But because this was the final show and so

  • much was at state, the head of security was called to come

  • and eject him from backstage.

  • But instead, the security guy let him off in

  • exchange for an autograph.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: And here he is thinking about it.

  • Hm, maybe in a minute.

  • Nah, I'll just get his autograph and let him stay.

  • Despite the general madness, Nigeria Fashion

  • Week ended on a high.

  • But just as we thought our Nigerian fashion adventure was

  • over, we were invited to this.

  • Nigeria's Next Supermodel is a tribute to Tyra Banks's

  • America's Next Top Model.

  • Although we're not really sure if Tyra's ever

  • actually seen it.

  • It's run by Joan, former Miss Nigeria.

  • JOAN: This is my house here on the left.

  • And of course, the small bungalow is where we do a lot

  • of our stuff for the girls.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: And they've been living there, have they?

  • JOAN: Yeah, yeah.

  • The girls have been here.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: That's [INAUDIBLE].

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: The dozen or so finalists in the contest

  • had been living in her garage in Lagos, undergoing a sort of

  • modeling boot camp.

  • Along with her nephew, David.

  • DAVID: Three, two, one, let's go.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: The finale of Nigeria's Next Supermodel was

  • being help in a luxurious hotel on the [INAUDIBLE] of

  • the lagoon.

  • Here we are.

  • We were here to witness the dreams of one

  • young girl come true.

  • So already this is very different from

  • Nigeria Fashion Week.

  • This is really kind of slick.

  • It's a bit swanky.

  • [INAUDIBLE].

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: The crowd promptly arrived

  • dressed to be seen.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: After four hours of dress rehearsals,

  • yelling, people being kicked out then let back in--

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: --the audience were finally allowed to take

  • their seats.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: They waited another hour.

  • The models finally emerged, only to exit the room

  • immediately.

  • We had no idea what was going on.

  • But we figured it was best to follow the talent.

  • Where are you going?

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: We were in the venue.

  • The audience arrived all in their glad rags.

  • The models walk out, pile into this tiny van.

  • And now they're going on a yacht.

  • I don't know what the audience were thinking

  • about the whole thing.

  • Yeah, but we're all right.

  • We've got the models.

  • We've got them.

  • We're going into this weird building, which looks like--

  • don't know.

  • It's a very unusual situation.

  • MR. PERFECT: One, two, three, four.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Upon reaching the docks, Mr. Perfect, the

  • choreographer, promptly engaged the models in a kind

  • of military style marching [INAUDIBLE], all whilst

  • wearing six inch heels.

  • [INTERPOSING VOICES]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: How many times have you rehearsed?

  • MR. PERFECT: Three times.

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Just three?

  • MR. PERFECT: Yeah.

  • We'll make it.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Out on the deck of the yacht, looking

  • around at these wonderful girls dancing under the

  • enormous African sky, all worries we had about what the

  • hell was going on disappeared.

  • [CHEERING]

  • [SINGING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Of all the moments I've experienced on

  • this first season of Fashion Week Internationale, from

  • blackouts and bomb shelters in Islamabad, being eaten alive

  • by mosquitoes on a cattle truck in Cambodia, and who can

  • forgetting witnessing live ass surgery in Colombia?

  • I think that being there on that yacht in Lagos was

  • something that will stay with me forever.

  • And that's why I momentarily lost control of my senses.

  • [SINGING]

  • Every night in my dreams--

  • FEMALE SPEAKERS (IN UNISON): [SINGING]

  • I see you, I feel you.

  • That is how I know you go on.

  • All across the distance and spaces between us, you

  • [INAUDIBLE]

  • to show you go on.

  • Near, far, wherever you are, I will believe that my heart

  • will go on.

  • Once more, you open the door.

  • And you're here--

  • [AIR HORN]

  • FEMALE SPEAKERS (IN UNISON): [SINGING]

  • My heart will go on and on.

  • [CHEERING]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: After all that time on the yacht, I'd almost

  • forgotten what we were there for, until the contestants

  • sprung into action.

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • FEMALE SPEAKER: Before the final results were announced,

  • Joan's nephew David took to the floor to performance a

  • song he'd prepared specially for the occasion.

  • [APPLAUSE]

  • DAVID: [SINGING]

  • [INAUDIBLE] can't you see?

  • You were made to fly far above the clouds.

  • You were made to fly.

  • JOAN: These three girls are the ones that [INAUDIBLE].

  • [CHEERING]

  • JOAN: Second runner up is [INAUDIBLE].

  • Ladies and gentlemen, the first runner up, [INAUDIBLE]!

  • [CHEERING]

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

FEMALE SPEAKER: Welcome to Fashion Week International, a

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