Popular Ghanaian rapper, Black Sherif, was on the runway of the London Fashion Week held on February 17, 2024 at London’s renowned Tate Britain Art Museum.

Black Sherif, who is also the reigning Vodafone Ghana Awards (VGMA) Artiste of the Year, was  styled by Labrum, a fashion designer based in the UK.

Labrum is a British African heritage brand telling the untold story of West Africa to help bridge the gap between western and West African cultures.

This year’s edition of London Fashion Week marks 40 years since it was first staged by the British Fashion Council, rising to become one of the biggest catwalk fixtures in the world.

The award-winning Ghanaian rapper showcased classic looks and demonstrated his runway prowess with a steady walk in his dazzling outfit.

Black Sherif was in an overall masculine jacket adorned with matching trousers, simple boots, and a leather bag.

His outfit was certainly outstanding among the various collaborations of Labrum Fashion, which takes inspiration from West African clothing lines combined with Western heritage.

He has over the years demonstrated his strong sense of fashion in the music industry, with his outfits often sparking conversations on social media.

Black Sherif gained popularity with his song ‘First Sermon’ in May 2021.

This was followed up with ‘Second Sermon’ in July 2021 which featured Burna Boy.

His breakthrough came with his March 2022 single ‘Kwaku the Traveller’, which reached number 1 on the Ghanaian and Nigerian Apple music charts.

The young artiste’s unique blend of hip hop and Afrobeats has won him fans across the country and beyond.

Credited with a number of awards, he made history when he won the Artiste of the Year award last year at the Vodafone Ghana Awards (VGMA).

Fashion mogul Peter Nygård used his power and status to lure five women separately into a private bedroom suite attached to his company headquarters where he sexually assaulted them, a court in Toronto has heard.

In opening arguments on Tuesday, prosecutors said that Nygård met the women in social settings and invited them to the headquarters of his clothing empire in Toronto.

All of the “tours” ended in his bedroom suite. The room had a bed, televisions, and a jacuzzi. Prosecutors say the doors did not have handles and the locks were controlled by Nygård.

Nygård has pleaded not guilty to five counts of sexual assault and one count of forcible confinement. All complainants’ names are covered by a publication banby the Canadian courts.

Most of the women were in their 20s at the time of the alleged incidents, which occurred over a 25-year period, beginning in the 1980s.

One of the women was 16 years old at the time of her alleged attack.

In one case, Nygård, who was in his 40s, met a woman in her 20s on a flight to the Bahamas, where he owned a sprawling estate, said Ana Serban, a crown lawyer.

Nygård later invited her for a job interview at his Toronto office. When they ended up in the bedroom, she tried to leave.

He “tackles the woman onto the bed, puts his whole body into it, pins her down on her back and tries to undress her” against her will, said Serban. “She’s terrified.”

Nygård is alleged to have given her a new blouse and skirt to replace those he tore during the attack.

“She runs out of the building,” Serban said. “This was supposed to be a job interview at an office building.”

Born in Finland, Nygård grew up in Manitoba, eventually running his own namesake clothing companies and becoming one of Canada’s wealthiest people.

In 2020, US authorities charged him with racketeering and sex trafficking, alleging decades of crimes with dozens of victims in the United States, the Bahamas, and Canada.

57 women – including 18 Canadians – have joined that lawsuit, which alleges that Nygård used violence, intimidation, bribery, and company employees to lure victims and avoid accountability for decades. Nygård has denied all allegations.

Nygård also faces sex-related charges in Manitoba and Quebec and is set to be extradited to the US to face sex-related charges there once his criminal cases in Canada are completed.

The patriarchy is so last season. Dior opened Paris Fashion Week with a diatribe against sexism spelled out in Barbie pink and McDonald’s yellow, illustrated by a loose-fitting summer wardrobe which designer Maria Grazia Chiuri said was “a rejection of the fashion industrial system which dictates women must conform to an hourglass idea of perfection”.

Giant video screens splashed images of housewives in makeup and Marigold gloves and of curvy models bending obligingly over cars, while feminist placard slogans flashed with neon urgency behind the catwalk.

The words: “Take your hands off when I say no, take your eyes off when I say no” were spelled out on video screens as the first model marched past in loose black layers, a punky choker, and black shoes.

The second model was defiantly un-pristine in unbuttoned shirt cuffs and tails.

However, how the glossy, logo-stamped designer handbag she carried gelled with the words: “Capitalism won’t take her where she really wants to go” on the screen behind her was left notably unresolved at this show.

“Monsieur Dior always emphasised the waist, but I don’t want to do that anymore,” said Chiuri before the show.

“The idea that we have of Dior comes from the famous images of the New Look, where what you see is always a silhouette, a body. I want to see instead the woman’s face and think about her personality.”

The video installation was created for the occasion by artist Elena Bellantoni, and was commissioned to support the message of a collection which celebrated the ease of unwaisted silhouettes, simple workwear styling, and practical kitten heels.

There was a pop art spirit to the 7ft screens, with their billboard-sized letters in cheerful newsstand colours.

“Women in fashion don’t have to be passive – we can be critics too,” said Chiuri.

Women will be in the spotlight throughout this Paris fashion week, where 67 shows are planned over eight days, as Sarah Burton and Gabriela Hearst present farewell collections for Alexander McQueen and Chloé respectively.

But while the goodbyes will be emotional, fashion is hardwired to focus on the future, and the real story of the week is intrigue over the round of designer musical chairs which these two departures will prompt.

Burton and Hearst are both central figures in the industry. Burton took the reins of the McQueen brand following the untimely death of its founder.

Hearst departs Chloé after only two years but has had a significant impact by her determination to put sustainability at the heart of mainstream fashion at Chloé.

Both women leave high-profile vacancies which could catapult a new name to industry fame.

The rumour mill is also abuzz with chat that Alessandro Michele, who parted with Gucci last year, is to make a return to the fashion frontline.

Fashion shows in New York, London, and Milan this month have so far followed in the groove of the consumer appetite for wearable, simple classic pieces and “quiet luxury” over trend.

Trend-watchers believe there is a vacancy in the system for a designer with a bold new aesthetic vision of the calibre Michele provided during his flamboyant reign at Gucci.