WHEN NIGHT FELL: OSHOBOR’S “NIGHT HAS COME” AND THE ART OF DREAMING IN THE DARK

There are fashion shows, and then there are moments, moments that silence a room, hold its breath, and dare you to feel. Peter Odion Oshobor’s Night Has Come was one of those moments. Staged at Lagos Fashion Week, the show was a haunting, cinematic experience that blurred the line between art, myth, and madness. It was fashion along with a folklore made flesh.

Rooted in the oral storytelling traditions of the Benin Kingdom, Night Has Come played like a visual “tales by moonlight,” one that is familiar yet deeply unsettling. Thunder rumbled in sync with FKA Twigs’ “Eusexua,” guiding the audience through the shifting phases of night, from innocence to chaos, from softness to something far more sinister. The opening look, a woman holding a doll in one hand and a baby bottle in the other (from which she drank), was an arresting tableau of naiveté. She was the child before the dark, the calm before the unraveling.

What followed was a procession of figures that seemed pulled from a fever dream: a model crocheted in yarn, holding a rosary and tracing the sign of the cross; another dressed in a woolen black top and shorts, clutching a clock, almost a visual metaphor for time collapsing under the weight of night. Each look carried its own mythology, its own texture of fear and reverence.

Oshobor’s mastery lay in his ability to make chaos look intentional. Look 13, a mix of lace and heavy yarn in mottled browns, evoked the primal, something beastly yet tender. Then came the show’s emotional crescendo: look 17, a sculptural black coat with stitched moons, stars, and suns. It featured no sleeves or armholes, just form and meaning. Look 18, a body-shaped dress made from discarded foam, was raw femininity reimagined, while look 19, a black wool gown paired with lanterns, closed the show like a prayer in motion.

As the lights dimmed, Peter Oshobor walked out, visibly emotional, flowers trembling in his hands. The audience rose to their feet in applause and in recognition. Night Has Come was a requiem for beauty, a love letter to craft, and a challenge to Nigerian fashion to look inward, to embrace discomfort as the root of creation.