Hertunba’s latest ready-to-wear collection, Akaoru, meaning Handwork, focuses on craftsmanship and cultural identity. Known for blending tradition with modern design, the brand refines its direction through heritage-led everyday wear that expresses strength. ‘Akaoru’ are expressed not through bold statements but through careful construction and refined tailoring.

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The collection focuses on purposeful design. Each piece shows attention to stitching, texture, and finishing. Rather than following trend cycles, Hertunba focuses on creating garments that are breathable, and lasting.

Photo: Instagram

Silhouettes across Akaoru balance structure and tailoring. Tailored tops, relaxed trousers, structured skirts, wooden bags, and flowing dresses. Some designs feature clean, sharp lines, while others use softer draping. This contrast adds variety while maintaining the collection’s direction.

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Fabric selection also plays an important role. Textured materials like cotton, Akwete fabric, Adire and layered elements define the garments’ finish. As the name suggests, the collection is crafted by hand with intention. These pieces were designed with durability in mind, moving beyond seasonal trends to offer lasting wearability. The focus remains on quality construction.

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Colour choices are based in earth tones, neutrals, and muted shades. This restrained palette emphasises construction details and makes the pieces versatile for styling. The collection is practical, offering clothing that can fit easily into different wardrobes without requiring complex styling.

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Cultural influence is present in the collection. Hertunba integrates heritage into structure and design rather than using it as surface decoration. This gives Akaoru authenticity.

Akaoru presents a clearer take on ready-to-wear shaped by handwork.

From Lagos to London, Grace Ladoja isn’t just building a brand; she’s building a cultural bridge. Through her collaboration with Nike, the creative entrepreneur is translating identity, heritage, and storytelling into wearable design. The Homecoming Festival lasted from 2nd to 6th April, with a lineup of activities from Hi-fi to concert store.  As the first African woman to design a signature silhouette for Nike, this collaboration focuses on blending the two cultures and empowering a new generation of creatives to shape African culture on world stages. The Nike Air Max Plus blends London and Nigeria, each representing Model and craftsmanship. Every detail of the shoe tells a story inspired by Nigeria: the texture, materials, and everyday life.

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Cultural Uniformity: London Model and Lagos Craftsmanship.

The Air Max Plus (TN) was chosen to blend both cultural communities. Grace honours both her British and Nigerian roots in her silhouette design. The traditional Western bathing sponge inspires the mesh upper, hence its rugged tactile texture. Unlike the normal sneakers, which are smooth.

The lacemaxxing movement features a complex, multi-coloured, and extra laces. This mirrors the artistry in the Nigerian marketplaces, often for decoration and “vibes.” The sneakers appear to be made by hand, just like the woven basket, textiles, and Nigerian authentic textures. And it reminds one of their heritage. This blends into the Nigerian streetwear community.

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The Colourways Blend

The shoes come in two distinct colours: safety orange & bright mandarin, inspired by Africa’s sunrise and Lagos high-hustling spirit. Designed for those who want to stand out in the festival and the city. The second colour symbolises identity. The colours are sleek Black base with university Red and court Green accents. It represents the Pan-African flag, symbolising the unity of the global Black diaspora.

The Homecoming Festival focused on connecting Africa to the rest of the world and bringing culture together. Collaborating with Nike has helped in this empowerment. However, What seemed to have started with the love trainers and street culture for Grace evolved into a partnership that has not only emphasised cultural authenticity,   but underlines the value of the connection of music, fashion, sports, and art. 

Tracee Ellis Ross just entered into the designer space, she released a limited-edition eyewear collaboration with the historic French brand Emmanuelle Khanh on April 7, 2026. The collection focused on bold, oversized shapes that mirror her style. The debut included two signature frames which are “Freedom”, an exaggerated mask-style sunglass designed for full coverage, and “Truth”, a vibrant, aviator-inspired optical frame available in colours like bright green, cherry red, and yellow.

The “Freedom” frame is a mask-style design with full coverage. It comes in five colourways, from inky black and classic tortoiseshell, to deep red, keeping the colours within a neutral range to offset the bold design. “To me, this is a perfectly practical pair of sunglasses. They give you full coverage. We stayed in the natural range of color because the frame is so exaggerated,” Ross explained.

Photo Credit: Erik Melvin

The “Truth” is a pilot-shaped optical frame drawn from the Emmanuelle Khanh archive. It functions as a prescription glasses and offers maximum vision, available in bold colours within bright green, cherry red, and lemon yellow. “I love an aviator because I think they look good on everybody. For the color, we went vibrant and joyful, just like me,” she said.

Photo Credit: Erik Melvin

If you are a fan of Tracee Ellis Ross, you should know she consistently embraces bold choices. Her styling choices are intentional, the collection follows the same approach. She has been wearing Emmanuelle Khanh in public for years, long before the collaboration was announced. At the 54th NAACP Image Awards in 2023, she showed up in bright purple Emmanuelle Khanh frames. The relationship between her and the label had been building for a long time.

Glasses have been part of her life since she was six, so entering this category felt natural. Emmanuelle Khanh’s creative director Eva Gaumé described the collaboration as a celebration of bold femininity. Founder Emmanuelle Khanh, a pioneer of French ready-to-wear in the 1960s who passed away in 2017, was best known for her signature oversize eyewear, and Ross fits right into that story.

The frames were handcrafted in France and Italy in limited quantities and are available at The Webster stores and online at EK.FR. She remains a prominent figure in fashion and this collection is further showing her influence in fashion.