Nigerian college student shares his heritage with cultural fashion event

REXBURG — A local college student is hoping to share his culture with the community by putting on a unique event that will explore Nigeria’s history, fashion and food.

Lincoln Eguko, 23, is a Brigham Young University-Idaho student studying business finance with a minor in clothing construction (fashion). He was born in Nigeria and grew up in different parts of West Africa. He came to the United States when he was 17 years old. He began his education at BYU-Idaho in 2017.

He is married to Ashlynn Eguko, from Sparks, Nevada. They have a five-month-old son together named Ziggy.

On Saturday, Lincoln will host a Nigerian-themed fashion show he says he is doing for fun. He has a group of five to seven friends who are co-designers and helping him put the show together. His wife, along with his friends, will model his creations.

Lincoln said the goal was to make the clothes wearable for everybody, regardless of their culture or where they are from.

“The problem I had with my outfits initially was that people saw it — it was good but it was just for African people, it looks good on black people,” Lincoln explained. “I was like, ‘How can I change the idea?’ So the fashion show is going to have some clothes that are upcycled. Upcycling is a huge thing where you just change a couple of things in an outfit. You can take a piece off the sleeve and replace it with another fabric.”

Lincoln said his mother used to own a fabric store when he was growing up, but his real passion came out when he got to BYU-Idaho.

“I decided I wanted to have my own brand, be my own person,” he explained.

He said he even made his own ties when he served a two-year Latter-day Saint mission.

“I had a reputation for being the elder with nice ties. I didn’t want to rely on someone making ties for me. I wanted to learn how to make my own ties. I made a couple for myself, I made some for my dad. My dad wore his ties to his meetings and (people were like), ‘Where did you get those ties from?’ and he’s like, ‘My son makes them,'” he explained.

Lincoln improved his sewing skills by making his own clothing like shirts, pants and shorts.

At the fashion show, he will show anywhere from 30 to 40 different outfits.

There will also be Nigerian food, music and trivia.

“Being at BYU-Idaho, I feel like I get some questions almost every time I meet a new person. Like, ‘Oh, your English is good. Have you always known English? Where did you learn English from?’ Nigeria is an English-speaking country,” Lincoln said.

Ashlynn is also excited about the trivia. She says she learns something new from her husband about his country all the time.

“When we first got married, maybe my perception of Africa was all wrong,” Ashlynn explained. “I had no idea that Africa had highways or big houses…so I think that’s what I am most excited to share with the public, is to show how maybe our perception of Nigeria or Africa, in general, is wrong in some ways.”

The event on Saturday will be at Veteran’s Hall located at 480 West 2nd North in Rexburg at 6 p.m. Click here if you are interested in buying tickets to the event.

“Lincoln has put so much work into this and it’s just amazing to see his dream and vision come true. We are just really hoping that people will come to see it,” said Ashlynn.