By Ojukwu Mervyn

Veteran fashion buyer “Rebecca Osei – Baidoo” master class is an eye opener on “getting your clothes in to the right stores” and it was in the form of an interview with popular Aisha Shedu, she started by giving a fashion experience introduction, in her words; ” I did a lot of internship cause I knew I wanted to do fashion alongside my studies, I started by selling clothes in the top floor in self fridges (a chain of high end department stores) and it was very exciting because I found passion selling to costumers” She backed up her introduction by giving an advice to upcoming fashion buyers by stating that one has to be into fashion , passionate about fashion, always bring something new to the table, know about the entails of fashion , the exhibitions , art and lastly start from the bottom Osei – Baidoo, as a top fashion buyer mostly influenced and sold for fashion brands such as Chloe , Alaia , Stella McCartney , Missoni and many more, she disclosed that her major accomplishment throughout her 20 year experience was having drake launch his collection and watch the collection sell out within few hours. She also stated that personal tastes shouldn’t influence the cloth being bought because the cloths depends on the costumers taste, while differentiating between the fashion taste and influences in London , Moscow and Russia according to their color tastes and weather differences, she pointed out that fashion buyers in Lagos should be determined , make deals with fashion designers and utilize opportunities. She also gave insights on how fashion designers can get their cloths into the international market, by saying that one needs to be unique, commercial, consistent and have a clear message. In terms of commercialization, finances, and African mentality, one of the spectators disapproved to fashion buying in Nigeria, stating that the lack of interest in African prints make the fashion buyers look for international brands. However, Rebecca explained commercialization in fashion buying and designing as a simplified design of a particular piece of collection that is cheaper and easier to wears.