Adeju Thompson: Taking fashion label Lagos Space Programme to the world

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Adeju Thompson, the founder and creative director behind the Nigerian fashion label Lagos Space Programme, attempts to establish the label on the global fashion scene. Lagos Space Programme blends Yoruba heritage (notably Adire dyeing) with queer and futurist aesthetics, taking inspiration from Lou Reed, traditional Ife sculptures, and the photography of Rotimi Fani-Kayode and Robert Mapplethorpe. Thompson talks about his dedication to slow fashion, gender-fluid creations, and detailed artisan craftsmanship, blending traditional techniques with contemporary designs. Tayo Popoola follows Thompson to Paris where he unveils his collection, based on the idea of "rock'n'roll consciousness". We then join him at his studio in Surulere, Lagos where he discusses his new designs for 25/26.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to In the Studio.
0:08.2	My name's Tio Papula and in this episode I'll be following fashion designer at Deju Thompson,
0:14.5	creator of the Lagos Space Program label from Paris to Lagos and back to Paris
0:19.7	as he prepares his exciting new line of clothing
0:22.6	to show the world.
0:26.3	I fell in love with his vision and his essence.
0:30.4	He picks from the best of all and then makes a mix.
0:34.5	So what he presented is like received by all culture.
0:38.2	He's very talented.
0:39.2	He has a lot of things going on.
0:41.5	I always look forward to what he has to offer every time.
0:44.7	Adéju Thompson won the 2023 Walmart Prize,
0:48.6	the first African designer to do so.
0:51.5	To the excitement of this British Nigerian specifically, he gained a claim for his unique
0:56.8	collaboration with Nike when he designed the 2022 official jersey for Nigeria's national football team.
1:06.0	Lagos Space Program is very much a label on the rise.
1:10.3	Adejou is also an emerging African designer trying to make a mark creatively and commercially
1:16.5	in the fashion world but on his terms.
1:20.2	Not always easy in an industry which has its own ideas of what African fashion should be.
1:28.7	I went to meet him in Paris in January.
1:31.4	My train was alive and full of colour, enormous suitcases, and immaculately dressed people
1:36.9	as London and the rest of the world travelled to Paris for the first fashion week of the year.
	...

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