Dakar
Fashion Week

Dakar Fashion Week was founded in 2002 by Adama Ndiaye, a Senegalese designer who works under the name Adama Paris. Ndiaye, who was born in Kinshasa and raised in Europe by diplomat parents, returned to Senegal in 2002 shortly after launching her own eponymous label. Finding no existing platform in the country to showcase her designs, she launched Dakar Fashion Week herself, initially to give her own brand visibility before expanding it into a showcase for the wider Senegalese and African design community.

Over more than two decades, the event has grown into what is widely described as Africa’s longest-running fashion week, known in particular for staging shows in public space — including outdoor and street settings — rather than confining the program to conventional trade venues. That choice has become one of the week’s defining characteristics, distinguishing it from the enclosed-venue format of most Western fashion weeks.

Dakar Fashion Week marks its 25th edition in 2026, continuing its focus on designers from Senegal and across the African continent alongside its long-standing emphasis on sustainable fashion, ethical production and local craftsmanship — themes Ndiaye has built into the event’s identity since its earliest seasons.