Mora Couture Complex: A second edition between fashion, diaspora and international ambition
After a first edition organized in Paris, the Mora Couture Complex is putting the craft back to work. On September 25 and 26, 2026, Baye Mor Niang will meet the Senegalese diaspora in Fontenay-sous-Bois, for the second edition of its exhibition hall. A meeting designed as a showcase for Senegalese creation, but also as a space for networking talents established in Senegal and abroad.
The meeting wants to grow. After a first edition organized last year in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the Eiffel Tower, the Mora Couture Complex returns with a second edition scheduled for September 25 and 26 at the Novotel Hôtel de Paris, in Fontenay-sous-Bois. A new step for Baye Mor Niang, founder of the Mora Couture Complex, who intends to make this initiative a real space for promoting Senegalese know-how.
“I’m going why not a second edition, why not up to the thousandth edition? », says the stylist, summarizing an ambition that goes beyond a simple commercial meeting. This year, the show is based in particular on a collaboration with IBC Invest International and the SOS Casamance association.
A showcase for creators from the diaspora
Beyond fashion, this second edition intends to bring together several profiles of the Senegalese diaspora. Artisans, designers, soap producers, bag makers and even exhibitors working in different sectors are called upon to present their work.
For Baye Mor Niang, the challenge is to “bring together all the exhibitors from around the world”, particularly those based in Senegal and France. The show is intended to be a space where the diaspora can show its productions and create bridges between different markets.
The announced presence of personalities and representatives of the Senegalese community in France should also give a special dimension to this meeting. The stylist cites in particular Amadou Sylla, president of SOS Casamance, whose support he underlines in the development of his activity in France.
From Dakar to Paris, the bet of a Senegalese brand
Behind the show, there is also the story of a man and a brand who seek to cross borders. Baye Mor Niang says she began her career in 1997, in a family where sewing was already a tradition. After several years of experience, notably in Mauritania and Burkina Faso, he returned to Dakar in 2000 and gradually developed his activity.
His choice is then not to limit himself to making to order. “I preferred to go buy fabrics, bales of fabrics to be able to produce in order to be independent and sell,” he explains.
A strategy that reflects its desire to build a real brand. The Mora Couture Complex today aims to enter an international market dominated by large brands. “Mora, his dream, that is to say in every country in the world, when you get off the airport or in supermarkets, you will see the Mora brand,” says the stylist.
Suits, jerseys, jackets, caps and different outfits are among the products he wants to see carry the Senegalese signature beyond the continent.
International experience already underway
This ambition is based on several experiences abroad. Baye Mor Niang particularly mentions his participation in activities linked to the 2024 Olympic Games in France, where he says he dressed the Station Afrique orchestra.
Between 2024 and 2025, he will also participate in several meetings in France, Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain as part of his collaborations with IBC Invest International. Meetings that he presents as opportunities to highlight African youth and the diaspora.
The collaboration with IBC Invest International constitutes one of the strong points of this second edition. The stylist pays tribute to its president, Ibrahima Badji, whom he describes as “a network man” and an actor who facilitated his connections with several personalities from the diaspora in Europe.
Training young people at the heart of the project
If clothing remains the heart of its activity, Baye Mor Niang also wants to make transmission a component of its project. His background in production has already allowed him to run a large workshop during the Covid-19 period, where he claims to have supervised more than 400 people and participated in the production of several million masks.
Today, he wants to go further by opening up training more to young people without qualifications. Its ambition: to enable them to acquire a profession in sewing, styling, pattern making or design.
“Take young people who don’t have a job, who don’t have any qualifications, to train them for 1 to 2 years,” he explains, so that they can become “great stylists, great model makers, great design creators.”
The show thus becomes, in its vision, much more than a commercial showcase. It must help to publicize career paths, connect talents and encourage creation.
A request for support from the State
This ambition is, however, accompanied by a call to public authorities. Baye Mor Niang claims to have financed its various fairs from its own resources and regrets the lack of support from the State. “The State never supported me,” he declares, referring in particular to the opportunities that major sporting events organized in France could have represented.
The stylist now wishes to bring this request directly to the Senegalese authorities. In particular, he plans to request an audience with the President of the Republic in order to present his project in favor of the training and integration of young people.
Making “Made in Senegal” a global presence
Through this second edition, the Mora Couture Complex therefore seeks to combine several ambitions: to promote fashion, promote entrepreneurs from the diaspora, create professional connections and give international visibility to Senegalese productions.
“Mora Couture wants to show the world that the Senegalese can be born in Dakar, grow up in Dakar and go all over the world,” summarizes Baye Mor Niang.
On September 25 and 26, in Fontenay-sous-Bois, the second edition of the exhibition presents itself as a new stage in this ambition: to make Senegalese creation an identifiable presence on international markets, while bringing together those who wear it, in Senegal as in the diaspora.
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