The 2026 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards (AMVCA) celebrated not just excellence in African film and television but also served the continent’s most dramatic red carpet looks and fashion statements of the year.
The 12th Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards, under the theme “Honoring Craft, Celebrating Culture,” saw celebrities arrive in architecturally masterful masterpieces and attention-grabbing, breathtaking designs.
While there were numerous amazing looks, here are the seven red carpet looks of the night that got people talking.
Queen Mercy Atang (Designed By Tiannah’s Place Empire)
No outfit generated more debate at the 2026 AMVCA than BBNaija 2021 star and reality TV personality Queen Mercy Atang’s. She arrived on the red carpet in a dress designed by Tiannah’s Empire, owned by Toyin Lawani.
The dress is said to be constructed from over 100 loaves of Nigeria’s iconic Agege bread, accompanied by two maidens and several assistants helping carry the outfit across the carpet.
The gold bodice was paired with a towering bread-loaf skirt, and she also carried a jug-shaped prop as part of the concept. Speaking to the media, Atang said the look was designed to promote her bread-baking business. “What other place is better to advertise my business than the AMVCA?” she explained.
Reactions ranged from admiration to concerns about food waste, which Atang firmly rejected.
Nana Akua Addo First Look (Designed by Abasswoman)
Ghanaian style icon Nana Akua Addo, who is known for iconic AMVCA styles, once again turned the red carpet into a sacred site of high fashion. Her silver architectural gown was inspired by Germany’s Cologne Cathedral, featuring towering Gothic spires, hand-painted window-like details, and cathedral-shaped extensions.
Members of her team helped carry sections of the dramatic structure across the carpet. Her designer, Mohammed Abbas Ossu of Abasswoman, revealed that the creation process began as far back as November 2025 and was only completed two days before the ceremony. Addo herself described her outfit with the caption: “In my Mother’s House, AMVCA, I’m a QUEEN ‘Architectural.'”
Social media immediately erupted, with fans calling it “Met Gala-worthy” and Adunni Ade declaring she had not worn couture but rather “became the cathedral.”
Nana Akua Addo Third Look (Designed by Abasswoman)
If the Gothic cathedral gown was Nana Akua Addo’s architectural statement, then “The Living Stone” was her earthy one. Her third AMVCA look, again from the genius designer Mohammed Abbas Ossu, was a floor-length gown constructed entirely from layered, jagged fragments of what appears to be crumpled, earth-toned material, assembled to resemble broken stone or ancient rock. The silhouette sweeps dramatically from a pooling hem upward into an enormous sculptural collar and exaggerated puffed shoulders, giving the wearer the presence of a monument emerging from the ground itself.
Nana Akua Addo did not just attend the 2026 AMVCA; she showed up in three acts.
Osas Ighodaro’s First Look (Designed by Veekee James)
Osas Ighodaro served not just one look but two unconventional looks. Her first look, designed by the renowned Veekee James, was a floor-length crimson gown constructed from structured horizontal bands wrapped in a spiral, with a towering headpiece that dissolved the line between wearer and garment.
Osas Ighodaro’s Second Look (Designed by Veekee James)
For her second look, Veekee James constructed a silver ballgown by repurposing 400 repurposed metal sponges. A heavily embellished corset with a high choker-style chain necklace finished the look. The best-dressed category was removed this year, but the internet gave her the crown anyway.
ALSO READ: Top Looks From The 2026 AMVCA Cultural Night
Eniola Ajao (Designed by Tiannah’s Place Empire)
Yoruba actress Eniola Ajao made one of the boldest entrances of the night in a dramatic yellow gown constructed from hundreds of rounded balloon-like spheres.
The avant-garde creation by Toyin Lawani drew immediate attention for its sheer scale and structural complexity. Fashion critics were divided; some called it pure fashion theater, while others felt the execution missed the mark, but no one could deny that it commanded the room. It was the kind of look that dares you to look away and then makes sure you can’t.
Mercy Eke (Designed by Amy Aghomi)
BBNaija 2019 winner and fashion mogul Mercy Eke closed out the night’s most unusual looks with a bold aquarium-inspired design that stopped the red carpet cold. The concept evoking the wonder and otherworldliness of an underwater world was executed with the kind of artistic polish that has made Eke one of Nigeria’s most reliably daring dressers.
Fashion commentators summed it up simply: Mercy is always going to kill an outfit, and this one was described as the perfect blend of fashion and art.