Cameroon Fashion Week 2025 was the most ambitious edition the event has ever staged — five days, 38 designers, and a runway that stretched from established couture houses like Imane Ayissi to a new wave of Douala-based independents barely two years out of design school.
The throughline this year was unmistakable: local material, global silhouette. Every house, regardless of scale, leaned heavily on Cameroonian textiles — handwoven raffia from the West region, Toghu from the North-West, and obom bark cloth treated in techniques that go back generations.
The Five Looks That Defined The Week
- Imane Ayissi's closing gown — a sculpted raffia bustier paired with floor-length silk in cream, finished with Toghu detailing at the hem.
- Anggy Haïf's tailoring run — broad-shouldered men's suits in obom bark cloth, the most photographed menswear moment of the week.
- A new label out of Douala — whose debut collection of streetwear-inflected agbada sold out before the show ended.
- The collaborative finale between three Yaoundé designers and a Bafoussam weavers' cooperative.
- Beauty and braid art — every model walked with a custom braid sculpture by stylists from Bonanjo.
Who Was In The Front Row
Daphne, Locko, Stanley Enow, Charlotte Dipanda, two members of the Indomitable Lions squad, and a delegation of buyers from Lagos, Paris and Johannesburg. Style CMRN had cameras on every row — full episode drops next week.
The Bigger Picture
"Cameroon does not need to copy Lagos or Paris. We have the materials, the techniques and the bodies. We just need the runways."
That was the week's unofficial slogan, attributed to one of the youngest designers on the lineup. By Sunday night, with international buyers placing orders in five-figure euro amounts, the runway was finally answering.