Last week kicked off the year's global fashion week calendar with New York Fashion Week. Afterwards, fashion editors, bloggers, photographers, models and stylists will then head to Paris, London and Milan to complete the season. However, the world's most populated and youngest continent with a clothing industry worth between $15-$31 billion continues to be ignored.

Increased education levels on the African continent, rising gross domestic product (GDP) and more stable economies have led to a rising middle class with more disposable income to spend on fashion. As Swedish photojournalist Per-Anders Pettersson, who photographed fashion weeks in 16 African countries for a book titled African Catwalk, says: "The modern African consumer is becoming more sophisticated." Although there is no official calendar for African fashion weeks, almost all of the 54 countries on the continent hosts some sort of fashion event.

Below you'll find OkayAfrica's guide to some of the major fashion weeks around the continent.