Sevon Dejana is transforming Nigerian luxury fashion by infusing rich cultural heritage with modern innovation, creating captivating, story-driven garments that resonate.
It is a quiet Tuesday in Lagos, and Aladejana Segun Victor Edikan’s day begins the same way it always has: prayer, intention, and a return to the studio. There, amid fittings, fabric discussions, and creative recalibrations, the designer, popularly known for his womenswear couture brand “Sevon Dejana”, continues to do what he has always done best—tell stories through clothes.
But in the past year, those stories have travelled further than ever before. From Lagos Fashion Week to international red carpets and the Golden Globes Eve Party on Olandria Carthen of “Love Island”. Sevon Dejana has emerged as one of the most compelling voices redefining what Nigerian luxury looks like… and what it can mean.
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The making of Sevon Dejana
Aladejana’s relationship with fashion is not incidental; it is actually ancestral. His maternal grandparents were tailors with a well-known shop on Ibido Street in Obalende. They dressed clients locally and abroad long before Nigerian fashion became a global talking point. Several uncles followed the same path, embedding craftsmanship into the family lineage.
Aladejana caught the sewing bug that had bitten most of his family. As a child, he sketched constantly, from superheroes and imagined worlds to clothes. By the time he launched his brand in 2015 with a Spring/Summer 2016 collection, design had already become his chosen language of expression. Entirely self-taught, he learned through intuition, experimentation, and trusting in his own point of view.
However, shortly before launching the brand, he had his first challenge: the name!
“I have a peculiar name, and I love it. But the lack of familiarity makes it hard for people to get it right on their first try,” Aladejana says. He is correct about that; neither of us has met anyone with his name before. From his three names, Aladejana Segun Victor, he created the name “Sevon Dejana.” Dejana from Aladejana, and Sevon is a portmanteau of Segun and Victor.
The brand name itself carries layers of meaning. Drawn from his personal names and heritage, Sevon Dejana reflects lineage, identity, and wit. “Sevon,” a name he coined in university, symbolises completion, as it sounds like Seven, a number associated with perfection. “Dejana,” derived from his family name, anchors the brand in personal history.
“You know something, Olandria was the first person to ever pronounce Sevon Dejana correctly on her first try,” he laughs. He doesn’t have to say it, but I am also guilty of mispronouncing it, as I pronounced the letter “A” at the end of Dejana.
However, he took no offence to it, and simply explained that its pronunciation is — Seh-von Deh-jan. The “a” at the end is silent, and if you pronounce it as “Dejana,” that becomes a different word entirely — a Slavic term that means “to do.”
He jokes that there’s something je ne sais quoi about a name you have to teach people to say. “It is like Versace; the name insists on being learned properly, and eventually embraced.”
After settling on a name, the next stop for Aladejana was building the brand itself, and he is unafraid to admit that it took years.
“I have a peculiar name, and I love it. But the lack of familiarity makes it hard for people to get it right on their first try.”
A brand built on mastery, storytelling, and reflection
For Aladejana, fashion is not a fast-moving churn of trends. He is spiritual and explains that fashion is alive. Being an existing object, it requires a deliberate and reflective process. His studio reflects this belief. Each workday begins with a review of the previous one, followed by role assignments, client consultations, and fittings. It is a system rooted in intention rather than urgency.
“I don’t believe people should wear clothes just because they’re trending,” he explains. “Clothing should be about individuality; it is about who you are.”
This shapes every piece that leaves his studio. From private clients to a runway collection, the goal is the same: to create garments that feel personal, self-expressive, and emotionally resonant.
He recalls dressing the legendary Nigerian actress, Ini Edo, for a movie premiere in 2025, “She will call me if she sees this,” he laughs, “But when she first came in, we showed her a plain dress. She was puzzled, but this is our process; we start with a blank canvas and build on it as we learn about the client. In the end, we decorated the dress with Swarovski crystals, 3D resin, and ethereal motifs. This was her return to Nollywood after a hiatus. Our idea was phoenix rising!”
He is very detailed about designing. “If you notice the back of Ini Edo’s dress, there was a scroll. The idea was that she was writing a story, a legacy.”
This meticulous approach and storytelling through clothing reached its peak in his viral SS26 collection, Transcendence.
I don’t believe people should wear clothes just because they’re trending. Fashion should be about individuality — it’s about expressing who you are.
Reincarnation and the art that led to Sevon Dejana’s SS26 collection
Velvet, crystals, and a multitude of celestial motifs; The SS26 collection of Sevon Dejana had the entire Lagos Fashion Week audience in applause. From the enchanting orchestra music to the slow struts of the models, the whole showcase was breathtaking to watch. But for Aladejana, it was a coordinated show that began a few years ago.
Velvet has become a signature fabric for Sevon Dejana, despite its reputation as one of the most unforgiving textiles to work with. It earned this reputation because of its delicacy. Every seam shows. Every mistake is visible.
Aladejana took a step back from making collections to hone his technique. Through years of experimentation — boning, internal structures, layered techniques — the brand developed its own proprietary approach to working with the fabric. What appears effortless on the runway is, in reality, the result of painstaking refinement during the brand’s quieter years.
After stepping back from collections to refine his aesthetic, Dejana returned with Reincarnation, his Fall/Winter 2025 collection. It was a philosophical statement.
“Reincarnation is about shedding the old and becoming new,” he says. “It’s about finding yourself again.”
The collection explored evolution, self-knowledge, and renewal — ideas mirrored in its rich textures, dramatic silhouettes, and spiritual undertones. It marked a turning point, both creatively and strategically, allowing the brand to re-emerge with clarity and conviction.
That clarity continued into Transcendence, his spring/summer collection. If “Reincarnation” asked who the brand was becoming, “Transcendence” answered the question.
Read also: Marie Claire Nigeria Trend Report: Lagos Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2026
Transcendence: The collection that redefined the brand
Structured, ethereal, and unapologetic, “Transcendence” explored the idea of celestial beings, but not as soft and ornamental as they are often portrayed. Instead, they were powerful and armoured. Velvet gowns stood voluminous. Headpieces evoked halos rendered in metal. Silhouettes felt otherworldly yet grounded in technical precision.
The spiritual narrative was intentional. “If you reincarnate, what do you become?” Dejana asks. “A good angel? A bad angel? Something in between?”
The result was a collection that felt both mythical and modern, distinct in a fashion landscape often crowded by repetition.
The Lagos Fashion Week show marked a cultural reset for the brand. Backstage, compliments flowed before the first look even appeared. Once the logo descended and the soundscape began, the audience leaned in.
By the time the first model hit the runway, the reaction was visceral. Screams echoed backstage. A standing ovation followed the final bow. Online, the collection became one of the most viewed from the season, dominating TikTok both locally and internationally.
“It was surreal,” Dejana says. “That’s when I knew something had shifted.”
Dressing the Golden Globes Eve party
That shift soon translated into international styling moments, including a viral appearance worn by the breakout star of “Love Island”, Olandria Carthen. Though the piece required alterations — reshaping and reworking the neckline — the integrity of the design remained intact.
Olandria, who has garnered a following for her fashion, wore the dress to the Golden Globes Eve Party. The dress quickly sparked conversation on social media, , and Olandria proudly identified it as a Lagos-based Nigerian brand.
Aladejana explained that it was a seasoned secret. “We sent her the dress last year. It was meant to be for another event,” he recalls, “Her stylist reached out to me after seeing the Transcendence collection on social media. Unfortunately, the dress didn’t arrive on time, you know, DHL. I was sad, but I knew there would be more opportunities.”
As luck would have it, he was right. Olandria did end up wearing his design, and the moment was even better than he had anticipated. “My phone was going off, and I was a little worried. I was wondering, ‘Why am I hearing Sevon everywhere?’” When he finally mustered the courage to examine his messages, he was “blown away”.
For Dejana, the moment was deeply symbolic. “Nigerian designers are incredibly hardworking,” he says. “To see a Nigerian brand on that carpet, pronounced correctly, credited properly — it meant everything.”
The next chapter and advice for the next generation
Looking ahead, Dejana hints at a lighter, more playful future collection; proof that transcendence can also make room for joy. But the larger vision remains expansive.
In five years, he sees his brand firmly on global runways and red carpets, representing Nigeria and Africa with confidence and clarity.
“Africa is the future,” he says. “Nigeria is the future. Fashion is one of the ways we show the world who we are.”
However, we can’t move forward without creating space for the next generation, and he knows finance is a leading challenge. For emerging designers torn between artistry and survival, Dejana is honest: money cannot be the starting point.
“If you’re doing fashion just to make money, you’ll struggle,” he says. “What you make has to be interesting. It has to tell a story. It has to be yours.”
Luxury, he believes, is never about price. “It is about giving people something they can feel, hold, and believe in. An experience.”
Sevon Dejana’s trajectory proves that playing the long game does pay off. The world is constantly paying attention; you just need to give them something to feel.
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