Olandria Carthen’s first trip to Lagos, Nigeria, brought together fashion, culture, modelling and philanthropy, from a major Rolling Stone Africa shoot to a school visit that became the emotional centre of the trip.

She arrived in Nigeria after a hectic stretch of work in New York and quickly found herself immersed in the city’s creative scene. There were designer fittings, fashion showrooms, Afrobeats, Nigerian food, art, nightlife and a demanding editorial shoot. But the moment that stood out most was her visit to Victoria Island Primary School, where she spoke to children about education, ambition and supporting one another.

Highlights From the Trip

The vlog gives viewers a real behind-the-scenes look at how much goes into Olandria’s growing international profile. She visited Nigerian fashion spaces, worked with local stylists and designers, tried on multiple looks and later completed a full Rolling Stone Africa shoot featuring several African designers.

She also visited an Afrobeats studio, explored Nigerian art, met renowned Nigerian artist Nike Davies-Okundaye at the Nike Art Gallery and sampled local dishes including pounded yam, egusi soup, jollof rice and zobo.

The trip was not all polished glamour. Olandria also showed the chaos behind the scenes, from scrambling to find the right club outfit to working through hives during the shoot. That made the vlog feel far more personal than a standard campaign video.

The School Visit Was the Heart of the Vlog

The most meaningful part of the trip came at Victoria Island Primary School. Olandria deliberately wanted the visit to be more than a quick appearance and photo opportunity. She wore a custom white dress featuring painted children and left part of the fabric blank so the students could draw and write directly onto it.

She also spoke to the children about education, dreaming beyond their circumstances and working together instead of competing against one another.

“I came from this very small town in the US called Decatur, Alabama. And my town is very small and I had big dreams, too. And as I got older, those dreams seemed a lot far-fetched. But it didn’t stop me from dreaming. It didn’t stop me from going after my goals…Continue to go after your dreams. Don’t let anything stop you. Be a shoulder for each other to lean on… Collab together. Work together to achieve these dreams. Don’t be in competition with each other.”

Olandria Carthen, speaking to students at Victoria Island Primary School in Lagos during her Nigeria vlog

According to Rolling Stone Africa, Olandria helped distribute more than 200 school bags with support from Kazamance during the visit. Kazamance has also promoted the outreach under its “1000 Bags for 1000 Dreams” initiative. That moment worked because it did not feel overly staged. She spoke to the children warmly, allowed them to become part of the experience and turned the dress into something she could physically take home with her.

It was one of the clearest examples in the vlog of Olandria understanding that visibility can be used for more than fashion. The school visit gave the trip substance.

Olandria Is Building A Platform Bigger Than Fashion

What makes Olandria interesting right now is that she does not seem content to simply stand in front of the camera and look beautiful. She is visibly involved in the creative process. She thinks about styling, changes pieces, challenges ideas, helps shape the final image, and clearly understands how fashion works visually. At the same time, the Nigeria vlog showed that she is beginning to understand the value of her platform outside fashion too.

What I liked was the way she spoke to the children. She did not talk down to them or turn the moment into a performance. She encouraged them, listened to them and let them become part of the experience. Having the children draw directly onto her dress was such a beautiful idea because she literally carried a piece of that visit with her.

There was also something genuinely lovely about watching how much Nigeria embraced her. The welcome, the fashion, the food, the hospitality and the excitement surrounding her arrival all came through in the vlog. For viewers who have never visited Nigeria, the vlog offered a refreshing counterpoint to the narrow way African countries are often presented in Western media. Lagos appeared fashionable, creative, energetic and culturally rich, with its designers, art, food and hospitality all treated as part of the story rather than background scenery.

Fashion Spotlight

One of the standout looks from Olandria’s Rolling Stone Africa shoot came from Nigerian fashion label KÍLÉNTÁR. She wore KÍLÉNTÁR’s yellow Ano Layered Fringe Dress, a dramatic look built around texture, movement and a structured silhouette.

The gown perfectly matched the energy of the shoot. It was bold, sculptural and visually unmistakable, while also showcasing the kind of craftsmanship that made Nigerian fashion such a strong part of the vlog. Olandria’s yellow KÍLÉNTÁR dress was one of the strongest fashion moments from her Rolling Stone Africa shoot, combining structure, movement and Nigerian craftsmanship in one statement look.

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