Harrods gives its fifth floor to Brand63Africa's African and diasporic designers
The pop-up's curator, Lulu Shabell, says many of the five labels are well known at home but rarely seen on a UK shop floor.
Harrods has handed the fifth floor of its Knightsbridge flagship to Brand63Africa, a social enterprise championing African and diasporic designers. The pop-up runs from Monday to 27 October and features five labels: Christie Brown from Ghana, Studio Namnyak from Kenya, Abiola Olusola from Nigeria, Sukeina from Senegal and The Cloth from Trinidad and Tobago.
The Cloth is marking its 40th anniversary with the placement. Founded by Robert Young, the label works in rare West Indian Sea Island cotton with extensive patchwork and appliqué, and this is only its second London outing after an earlier partnership with Simon Burstein's retail concept The Place.
Who is behind Brand63Africa
Brand63Africa was founded in 2025 by Eva Omaghomi, and its name refers to the year the African Union was founded. Omaghomi previously served as director of community engagement for the British royal household before leaving to launch her own consultancy, Forster Jones & Associates.
She has said the idea took shape in 2023, when she struggled to find a store in London selling an African designer piece to wear to the king's coronation and had to order one from Ghana directly. That gap, she said, is what got her researching accessibility in the sector.
Omaghomi describes the platform's mission as connecting designers with the networks and visibility to grow globally while staying true to their heritage, craftsmanship and creative vision. The Harrods pop-up shows that African and diasporic designers have always belonged within the global luxury conversation, she has said.
Curator Lulu Shabell has assembled a mix of evening pieces, daywear and gender-fluid silhouettes across the five brands, choosing the range so shoppers of different styles and age groups can find something. She has noted that many of the labels are widely known in their home markets but far less visible on UK shop floors.
Clemmie Harris, Harrods' head of buying for contemporary, sport and essentials, framed the partnership as a chance for customers to shop the collections and engage with the designers' stories directly.
She called it part of the store's commitment to champion emerging talent and give customers access to the voices shaping the future of luxury, and said the pop-up contributes to the global dialogue shaping fashion today.
What Harrods gets from backing new names
Harrods has used its floors before to test newer names and geographies, including a Chinese New Year pop-up with the Shanghai retailer Labelhood and a showcase for the winning designers of Fashion Trust Arabia. The Brand63Africa placement extends that approach to African and diasporic fashion specifically.
The placement follows a period in which the store returned to profit but stayed cautious on its outlook, after a prior year hit by significant one-off costs.
Omaghomi has already confirmed a sequel. Brand63Africa will begin selecting its next cohort for Harrods once this pop-up ends, with an ambition to scale the model to other luxury retailers in the United States, the Middle East and Asia while keeping designers rooted in their own cultures and communities.
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Image: Harrods