Haute Afrika

Haute Afrika, (Haute “meaning high standards, class, and elegance in French”),  is an Award winning and internationally nominated contemporary African print brand founded in 2016 by Gracia Bampile. Her aim was to promote African sophistication and elegance by catering for a growing continent.

The brand embodies a modern culture and celebrates Africa’s heritage and shares the story one print at a time. Motivated to break societies stereotypes by infusing art through fashion and sharing the ethnic culture of Africans.

Haute Afrika brand is colorful, significant and explores the African roots and uniqueness that are engraved in Africa as part of its identity. Some of our textiles and fabrics are from different African nations and others are specifically created and printed by Haute Afrika to celebrate Africa as a whole as well as to cater for a more diverse audience by taking Africa to the world.

They believe that clothing can empower confidence, evoke topics and promote Africanism because “when you look good,you feel good.”

In the world of pop culture Haute Afrika maintains African print as its trademark and stand firm in breaking boundaries in order to merge cultures of artistic mindsets together.

They seek to make the availability of quality ready to wear outfits and the conceptualizing of custom made outfits a breeze. A lot of craftsmanship is actually put into every single outfit we make.

Haute Afrika strongly believe there is something about bold African prints that everyone can get to enjoy. Based in South Africa, our clothing has found its way on prominent people in different industries as well as celebrities.

Their  emphasis is and will forever be to give you unique, enjoyable and quality clothing that you will treasure forever.

Not many can say they discovered their ‘why’ before they turned 10. I would like to introduce you to, and request an interview with, Gracia Bampile a fashion entrepreneur who has a beautiful story to tell and is about to release a new HOT collection.

This formidable entrepreneur, who holds an International Relations Degree, has no formal fashion training background, yet she has inserted herself as a trendsetter in an industry booming with talent. She has dressed the likes of Boity Thulo, Maps Maponyane, Mihlali Ndamase, Amanda Black, Thabsie,Zamani Mbatha, Kwesta and many more.

Her latest collection is set to wow fashion lovers at this year’s fashion shows and catch the eye of influencers and the world press. She has already caught the eye of BBC World News and Vogue.

Born in July 1991, on her birthday, Gracia Bampile had what Oprah calls an “Aha moment”.  Her parents had bought her what she calls an ugly African print dress to celebrate.  It was so bad that it inspired her to start making clothes of her own at just eight years old.

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Gracia spent hours watching her seamstress grandmother make clothes until she mastered the art. As she grew older, she became concerned about how people didn’t like to wear African print designs especially as day to day wear. She says people had a perception that they can only wear African print clothes when attending events. So, she took it upon herself to disrupt the norm.

In 2015, she founded Haute Afrika, the home of her day to day African print designs made to change the narrative around African fashion.  She travels the continent in the hunt for high quality materials to create designs inspired by Africa’s history, heritage and stories for Africans from Cape to Cairo.

Content courtesy of Haute Afrika & Nairobi fashion hub