Sunday 25th of October 2026

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Tag: Fashion Designer

Satan shoes? Sure. But Lil Nas X is not leading American kids to devil-worship

Posted on by Fashion Police

This whole controversy is part of a long history of misdirected moral outrage that blames artists for the social ills of society

Lil Nas X, a 21-year-old musical artist first famous for his rap/country hit Old Town Road, has ruffled quite a few feathers with the release of the video for his new single Montero: Call Me By Your Name. He’s long been a controversial online figure, due in part to his charming and frenetic social media presence and the homophobic attacks he has received since proudly and publicly announcing that he is gay has been gay and will remain gay until the world stops spinning. Absurd conspiracy theories have followed him – from claims that he is brainwashing kids into queerness to his potential ties to the ever-present Illuminati.

Lil Nas X has embraced the hate and conspiracy with his latest song and the accompanying video, which satirically doubles down on the idea that his sexual orientation will send him to hell by visually traveling there himself, lap-dancing for the devil, and usurping him as the king of the underworld.

This, along with his limited release of custom Satanic-themed sneakers made with a trace amount of human blood, has brought a furor of condemnation and fresh conspiracy theories that Lil Nas X worships the devil, is trying to brainwash children, and/or has ties to secretive and sinister organizations.

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This use of satanic images, and the attacks on the artist flaunting them, is nothing new. It is part of a long history of misdirected moral outrage in the United States, one that blames artists for the social ills of society while ignoring the real reasons young people turn away from religion or act outside of the confines of the dominant culture. The controversy also shows a lack of understanding of the origins of the hodgepodge character of Satan and the imagery that has become associated with the fallen angel.

If the story of a potentially Satan-worshiping artist leading the youth astray sounds familiar, it’s because this tune has been played to death. From the bat-biting Ozzy Osbourne to the cryptically named Memphis rap group Three Six Mafia, parents have railed and rallied against innumerable artists over the last few decades. The “satanic panic” has been around for centuries and Christian accusations of devil-worshiping have historically been leveled against women, Jewish people, and other religious groups. Aja Romano, a culture writer at Vox, discussed its modern incarnation in a recent article:

Modern evangelical Christianity is largely influenced by the kind of epic Christian fantasy that emerged during the 1980s when writers like Frank Peretti turned the concept of “spiritual warfare” into, ironically, a kind of Dungeons and Dragons-like role play that saw good Christians quite literally fighting and defeating actual demons … that version of Christianity spread like wildfire across the country.

Overzealous Christians would demonize everything from the aforementioned tabletop game to heavy metal lyricists whose satanic instructions could purportedly be heard by playing their music backward. This led to the “ritual abuse scare” that started in the 1980s and still lingers today, a pre-QAnon conspiracy theory that held that daycare teachers around the country were sexually abusing children as part of a massive satanic cult. Mary de Young, a sociology professor, recently explained an underlying cause of the panic to the New York Times:

More women were going to work, by choice and necessity in the wake of the women’s rights movement and as the country struggled with a recession. Conservatism and the religious right were ascendant, and both emphasized the nuclear family. Good daycare was hard to find … and many parents felt guilt for relying on it.

After numerous lives were ruined, the panic turned out to have little evidence behind it. Artists like Marilyn Manson deliberately played on parents’ fears and adopted the cult-like images that threatened them. Like many of the artists who came before him, Lil Nas X is sporting the satanic aesthetic as a means to court controversy, and to deliver a message about the hellishness of contemporary life and its arbitrary yet harmful social restrictions.

The modern understanding of Satan has at least partially been driven by artists like Lil Nas X and Hollywood producers seeking to scare and titillate audiences. The Old Testament itself doesn’t exactly contain the full character of Satan as we know him today; it was later assembled over the years, partially borrowed from the religion of the also monotheistic Zoroastrians.

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The New Testament introduced Satan more formally, often used as a character to explain away the ills of the world like disease and struggles with mental health; it was also weaponized against Jewish people, with claims that they did the work of the devil.

According to Rebecca I Denova, a scholar who studies early Christianity, the image of Satan was later crafted, drawing from the horned Greek deity Pan, and retroactively given shape-shifting powers so that he could take the role of the deceitful serpent who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden a relationship that would be used to blame women for various social problems and the fall of man.

Much of the other imagery we associate with Satan is fairly modern. For example, the image of Baphomet, the goat-headed man, in an inverted Pentagram has origins in the 1897 work of the occult author Stanislas de Guaita. These images were then purposely adopted by the Church of Satan in the 1960s, and The Satanic Temple in 2012, two groups that don’t actually believe in the existence of Satan but use the image to generate controversy. The Satanic Temple is mainly concerned with issues concerning freedom of religion and spends more time lobbying than worshiping the devil. Much like artists like Lil Nas X, they courted the imagery because they knew it would draw attention.

If anything, Christian churches themselves are doing a great job at pushing people away from the pews. In a 2019 survey of young people who stopped going to church, conducted by Lifeway research – a Christian research organization 73% of all respondents listed the church or their pastor as a reason they stopped attending, including specific reasons like political differences and hypocrisy.

While there are many progressive religious organizations in the United States, some of the largest religious institutions have a history of protecting sexual predators and condemning people for whom they love – while some denominations, including many composed of white evangelicals, have essentially become far-right political factions.

Despite all this, the kids are for the most part still living the dreams of many a Christian parent. Gen Z is relatively more “moral” on paper than most previous generations. Members of Gen Z have less sex, and the rate of teen pregnancies has plummeted. They are less likely to use drugs than their predecessors and have turned away from the American pastime of binge drinking.

They are more likely to see themselves as activists and more likely to believe that racism is real. While many of these behaviors are ethically neutral and more about the social conditions driving them to prioritize survival above all else, it speaks to the fact that young Americans are not becoming the Satan-worshiping sex addicts that people fear that artists like Lil Nas X will turn them into. They are in fact a generation preparing themselves to face the existential threats of climate change, capitalist overconsumption, and growing pollution-induced infertility. Let them be gay, let them be free, let them have their music.

Written By Akin Olla 

Akin Olla is a Nigerian American political strategist and organizer.

He is the host of This is the Revolution Podcast

Content courtesy of The Guardian & Nairobi fashion hub 

Women-led Kenyan Design House Pine Kazi wins Fashionomics Africa sustainable Design Competition for turning Fruit Waste into Eco-friendly Footwear

Posted on by Fashion Tribe Influencer

The African Development Bank’s (www.AfDB.org) Fashionomics Africa initiative has named a women-led Kenya shoe design house as the winner of its competition to support producers of sustainable fashion.

Pine Kazi, which converts pineapple leaf and recycled rubber into fashionable footwear, won the $2,000 Fashionomics Africa competition cash prize. In addition, the business will have the opportunity to showcase its creation in online events, share insights on key sustainability challenges facing the industry, and receive a certificate.

The brand, co-founded by Olivia Okinyi, Angela Musyoka, and Mike Langa, will also have access to media opportunities and receive mentoring and networking opportunities from competition collaborators.

“Pine Kazi is greatly humbled to be the winners of the first Fashionomics Africa contest in Africa. This is indeed an honour to the Kenyan people and the African continent at large,” said Okinyi.

Musyoka added: “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage and the patience to pursue them.”

Competition judges said Pine Kazi’s shoes are innovative and sustainable. The upper of the shoe is made from pineapple textile, while the inside is lined with organic cotton. The sole is made from sisal plant fiber, fitted with recycled tyre underneath.

The Fashionomics Africa contest honours African fashion brands working to change how fashion is produced, bought, used and recycled, to encourage more sustainable consumer behavior. A panel of four judges representing the Bank and competition collaborators the United Nations Environment Program, the Parsons School of Design, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation reviewed 110 entries from 24 African countries and selected three finalists: Pine Kazi; CiiE Luxuries, an eco-friendly accessories business based in Abuja, Nigeria; and clothing brand Labake Lagos.

“We were pleasantly surprised by all the applications received for the first edition of our Fashionomics Africa competition. It was very difficult to make a choice, but the finalists stood out with their innovative, durable, and contemporary designs,” said Emanuela Gregorio, coordinator of the Fashionomics Africa initiative at the African Development Bank.

Of the applications, 65% were submitted by women and the businesses were predominantly micro-enterprises (54%), solo entrepreneurs (35%), and small businesses (12%).

“What we learned from this Fashionomics Africa contest, in this month celebrating women around the world, is that many women entrepreneurs are advocating for sustainable production and consumption, and we commend their efforts,” said Amel Hamza, Division Manager at the Bank’s Gender, Women and Civil Society Department.

An online public vote by 986 participants determined the winner: Pine Kazi got 400 votes, 318 votes went to CiiE Luxuries, and 268 to Labake Lagos.

Competition judge and a Program Director at New York-based Parsons School of Design, Brendan McCarthy, congratulated Pine Kazi during the competition winners’ announcement last Friday: “You transformed waste materials from pineapples into profound new textiles and absolutely beautiful new shoes,” he said.

The shoes are 100% handmade to reduce carbon footprint and can last three years, Pine Kazi says.

The design house said resources would also be divided equally between research and development of natural dyes, the acquisition of professional stylists, and the establishment of a centralized production system.

To learn more about the Fashionomics Africa online competition,

Fashionomics Africa (https://FashionomicsAfrica.org) is an initiative of the African Development Bank to increase Africa’s participation in the global textile and fashion industry value chains – with an emphasis on women and youth.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

Media Contact:
Alphonso Van Marsh
Principal Digital Content and Events Officer
African Development Bank
Email: a.vanmarsh@afdb.org

 

With Traditional Fabrics, Nigerian Designers Fashion a New Aesthetic

Posted on by Fashion Tribe Influencer

Weaving contemporary designs into a traditional West African fabric, Nigerian Tsemaye Binitie is creating fashion he hopes can also bridge the gap between luxury and the everyday.

His material of choice is Aso-oke, a hand-woven cloth indigenous to the Yoruba people and historically used on special occasions.

Binitie, who cut his teeth as a design assistant with Stella McCartney in 2005, began using the fabric in 2017, and he infuses the yellow dresses that are his signature creations with cotton and silks to give them a post-modern feel.

“We started to use contemporary African art and culture within the threads of the collection so you see hints of it or very … obvious (signs),” said Binitie, who divides his time between Lagos and London.

“It’s sort of informed fabric, informed color, informed styling.”

Priced at between $300 and $4,000, his TB12 custom collection features Aso-oke – which means “top cloth” in Yoruba – in seven different shades.

“We are sort of preserving the culture, you know, that we’ve watched all our lives in front of us … and teaching the younger generation that it is something to be proud of, something to want to wear,” he told Reuters.

Fellow Lagos designer Lisa Folawiyo specializes in a different traditional cloth, the West African wax prints known as Ankara, and her hybrid collection, called Batkara, incorporates Batik designs embellished with needle-work beadings and sequin trimmings. “We have merged what is indigenous to us with what is familiar in the West and we’ve made it ours,” she said.

That same synthesis informs the aesthetic of Alara, a Lagos store dedicated to showcasing contemporary African fashion for the Nigerian and the diaspora markets. Its Head of Partnerships, Arinola Fagbemi, says more and more people are thinking about African luxury “in terms of how we live on a day-to-day basis … not just for celebratory moments.”

Content courtesy of Malaya Business Insight & Nairobi fashion hub 

Rising label LABRUM Weaves Untold Stories of West Africa into its Clothing

Posted on by Fashion Tribe Influencer

Community-focused designer Foday Dumbaya is bridging the gap between Britain and West Africa with his culture-blurring collections

Foday Dumbaya first became aware of fashion at an early age. “In Sierra Leone, when I was young, my dad was in the police force and always dressed immaculately. He had this great authoritarian military uniform,” the East London-based designer, who was raised between Sierra Leone, Cyprus, and London reveal.

“My mother loves to dress well too. She’s more extravagant and to this day wears traditional African dress coordinating colors, a headscarf, it’s a whole look,” he adds. When it came to his parents actually allowing him to go into fashion, however, things got a whole lot more tricky. “It wasn’t always on the table in my African home. My parents were determined I chose a more stable career – as immigrants themselves, they recognized we faced an uphill battle as it was.”

Instead of heading to fashion school, Dumbaya studied information design at university, going deep into the ways in which humans interact with computer interfaces. After an internship at tech powerhouse Siemens, he dipped his toe into fashion for the first time at Nike, where he created bespoke designs for the sportswear giant. “I’m largely self-taught but fashion isn’t so different (from information design),” he says. “I create stories within a fashion that humans respond to.” After his stint at Nike, he laid the foundations for his own label, LABRUM, with the intention of exploring both West African and British heritage, and bridging the gap between the two.

Past collections have seen Dumbaya look to Sierra Leonean capital Freetown, his grandmother, and the West African diaspora for inspiration, with classically tailored suits, clean indigo denim, and slick, functional sportswear-indebted pieces sitting alongside his own takes on the agbada and other traditional silhouettes. “A lot of our pieces are an amalgamation of cultures,” he explains. “We have British tailoring in the shirt, with the addition of ruffle sleeves, which is more traditionally West African attire.”

More recently, as part of his AW21 collection at London Fashion Week, LABRUM paid tribute to “the heroes of St. Giles Blackbirds” – a community of sailors, soldiers, and former slaves that came to England from Africa in the late 1700s and ended up living in poverty, shunned by society. “We wanted to tell the story of a group of people that were downtrodden and went against the efforts made to forget them,” Dumbaya explains. “It was important that we told it now because it’s a story of resilience and migration, which feels very poignant right now.”

Inspired by the stories of figures including writer and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, who came to the UK after buying his freedom and fought for the abolishment of slavery, Dumbaya reworked and reimagined historic dress for 2021, enlisting Dazed editor-in-chief and longtime collaborator Ib Kamara to bring the offering to life on the runway. This saw trenches with dramatic ruffled panels matched with louche, wide-legged trousers, structured coats layered over tailored, printed suits, and new iterations of his signature balloon-sleeved Mamie Bakie shirt – named after his grandmother – all on the line-up for the new season, with 80 percent of the offering crafted from offcuts and salvaged fabric.

For Dumbaya, it’s not just about the clothes, though fostering and supporting a sense of community, as well as empowering a new generation of creatives, is high on the agenda, too. Having long worked with Hackney’s Wickers Charity, which supports and uplifts disadvantaged youths in Hackney, he also founded Sierra Leone running club Labrum Athletic. In addition to donating funds and equipment to the group, he also stepped in to create the Sierra Leone Olympics kit when some of the club’s members were chosen to represent the country in the postponed 2020 games.

Working in partnership with Converse, the designer is also attempting to open up the fashion industry to a wider, more diverse demographic. Having first linked up for a creative project and collaborative runway footwear, Dumbaya’s relationship with the legendary label has evolved into something a lot more expansive. As part of Converse’s All-Star program, LABRUM has been able to access mentorship and funding that has allowed Dumbaya to grow its brand and community significantly.

With many brands – both emerging and, more dismally, established relying on low or unpaid interns to support their businesses, those from lower economies have historically been locked out of fashion. In a bid to combat this, Converse has begun funding paid placements with its All-Star designers – allowing growing businesses to thrive and young talent who otherwise might not have been able to get their foot in the door to gain experience, knowledge, and guidance.

Ahead of the AW21 season, LABRUM was one of the labels that benefit from the initiative, with a number of interns and a studio manager joining its fold.

“(The interns) were an incredible support,” says Dumbaya. “Each of them brings different experiences and energy to the team, and I really valued their input. We’re developing a platform where there is knowledge sharing between West Africa and the West – and especially London. We want the people interning to share their knowledge too.”

With Dumbaya intent on telling new stories and merging the borders of West Africa and Britain as the label grows, he’s determined to also keep the door open for the creative new gen. ”Nurturing talent is so important to me. LABRUM will continue to create and support communities linking back to Sierra Leone and London, as this is so much more important than simply designing clothes. If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic, it’s that we all need to think about each other more.”

Content courtesy of Dazed Digital & Nairobi fashion hub 

Akintunde Ahmad’s new fashion line takes African textiles global

Posted on by Fashion Police

After spending half a year living and studying in Ghana, writer, filmmaker, and educator Akintunde (Tunde) Ahmad returned to his native East Oakland, California in 2016 sporting unique threads, colorful compositions, and eclectic patterns

During his time in Ghana, he quickly found a creative partner in Awurama Mankatah, creative designer and manager of luxury clothing brand Threaded Tribes. He became enthralled in West African fashion culture: the diversity of style, the fabric markets, the accessibility to tailors, and, ultimately, the endless possibilities.

“With an abundance of tailors and access to any fabric you could desire, from woven kente to wax print to Bogolanfini (mudcloth), people could quickly get anything they imagined turned into a reality. I immediately started sketching designs, visiting fabric markets, and getting my own pieces made.”

At first, though, it was small-scale: “I began making items for myself and my family. But whenever I posted pictures on social media or wore my outfits back in the States, friends or strangers would ask where I got my clothes from and how they could get their hands on something similar.”

And thus, the idea for Ade Dehye was born. Founded in 2020 with continued close collaboration with Threaded Tribes, Ade Dehye is a fashion brand that draws inspiration from across the African Diaspora, with products ethically and sustainably made in Ghana.

The style fuses West African textiles with urban streetwear and luxury quality, including fugu, a woven fabric from the upper west region of Ghana; kente, a traditionally woven fabric found throughout Ghana and Bogolanfini, also known as mudcloth, a hand-dyed fabric that is made in Mali.

“Ade Dehye is more than just a clothing company. How many of you can say what you wear was made by black hands?” continues Tunde, following Ade Dehye’s launch in February.

Concerned with the lack of diversity in the fashion industry, he notes that while black people often have some of the least financial resources, we spend the most money per capita on luxury designer goods.

By building a pipeline that connects the rest of the world to sustainable fabrics and fashion from Africa, Ade Dehye is Tunde’s latest contribution that creates economic empowerment for black communities while reassuring the world of black peoples’ contribution to global culture, fashion, and style.

“When people shop with Ade Dehye, they are doing more than just purchasing our outfits. They are investing in the continent of Africa and the diaspora.”

Content courtesy of Creative Boom & Nairobi fashion hub 

The Black In Time Fashion Show: A Time Of Celebration

Posted on by Ann Mumbi

The Black in Time fashion show took place Feb. 28 to conclude this year’s Black History Month. The event was put on by the Association of Black Students (ABS) who partnered with the African Student Association (ASA). The evening consisted of six categories, each highlighting how Black fashion has evolved throughout the decades.

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Her Story,” ABS’s theme for Feb. was incorporated into the show. Each category was accompanied with a song by a female Black artist. Songs featured included Say My Name by Destiny’s Child, Lose Control by Missy Elliott, and Foolish by Ashanti.

“The theme was emphasizing influential Black women in our community because they are often overlooked and overshadowed, and we wanted to take this time to really emphasize them,” said Sparrow Caldwell, the show’s director.

Caldwell said, as part of this theme, it was important that each gender had their own spotlight in every category of the show.

“We really wanted to highlight both gender’s fashion to show how female Black fashion has evolved over the decades as well as men’s Black fashion,” Caldwell said.

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The categories included the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, ’00s, African Streetwear, and future Black designers in the DFW area. A fan favorite was African Streetwear which was led by the ASA president, Abena Marfo. Marfo not only was the lead for planning and finalizing outfits but also walked in the show.

“I definitely do a lot of the background work and I thought it’d be fun to step out of my comfort zone and be in the front and center walking in the show,” Marfo said.

She said for each category, with the exception of future designers, the models put their own outfits together. The African streetwear section was unique in that many of the models walked in clothes they received from family members in their home African country.

“My outfit was made from Ghana,” Marfo said. “I am Ghanian so my grandma sent me that outfit.”

Marfo emphasized the importance of the African streetwear section because of the influence it has on American fashion and iconic looks throughout the decades. Caldwell reiterated this importance.

“We finished the show with African streetwear section because our fashion would be nothing without paying homage to the motherland,” Caldwell said.

Marfo said another highlight of the show was the future designers section. She said it allowed young student designers and other young Dallas names to get their product recognition.

“In the beginning we put out a word to schools in the community to get their participation because we wanted it to be a whole community event,” Matthew Merritt, co-host of the show.

Mindful Maniac was one of the labels showcased in the fashion show and was co-founded by SMU alumni and former football player, Demerick Gary. Other designers in the show were Lakayla Cole, recent Texas Southern University graduate, and Alicia Crayton from UNT. The event also included a performance by the University of North Texas’s African dancers team.

“The team did a whole mix and it was really cool,” Caldwell said. “There were twelve of them on stage and they were bringing a lot of energy.”

Caldwell said the event was a huge success in that many people of all backgrounds and ages showed up to support and have fun. She said it was really important to her that the fashion show was a safe space for everyone to come and enjoy.

“Everything was free,” Caldwell said. “After all the hard work that we did this summer and fall semester with social justice, we just wanted an opportunity to celebrate Black culture, and we didn’t want to put a price tag on that.”

Caldwell discussed the trauma that took place over the summer for the Black community and the wear of constantly having to fight for every aspect of their lives. The month of Feb. , to her, was to recognize the great things the Black community does and the greatness within themselves.

“Our fashion was a staple and showed unity across a lot of turmoil that we had to go through,” Caldwell said. “We are students but we are Black students, our story is different from other people, and our story deserves to be told.”

Caldwell said that this is not the end of the events celebrating the Black community and to watch social media platforms for upcoming events. ABS partners with many organizations on campus and their events will also be promoted through Instagram and Twitter.

“Look forward to more events by the association of Black Students because Her Story will continue,” Caldwell said.

Content courtesy of The Daily Campus & Nairobi fashion hub 

Nathalie Bajinya Fashion Designer From Congo Celebrate her New-found joy in Lakewood.

Posted on by Fashion Police

Orphaned by war, Nathalie Bajinya’s future is as undeniable as her brightly colored fashions

LAKEWOOD, Wash.  “When I look at fabric I see something that is telling a story,” says Nathalie Bajinya in a Lakewood shop called Undeniable Bajinya, where she makes beautiful clothes that combine African colors with French and American styles.

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“It’s joyful for me,” she says. “It just give you peace knowing someone will wear your clothes and they will feel good themselves.”

The peace Bajinya finds in her colorful shop is so very different from her childhood where a war that killed millions raged across the Democratic Republic of Congo

“Since I was born, we were always running,” she says. “We always know that today might be OK, tomorrow it might be not.”

She was seven years old when she and her siblings lost their parents. They were split apart and given shelter in Kenyan orphanages where nuns taught Bajinya one special skill.

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“That’s where I learned to sew,” she says.

Bajinya can lose herself at a sewing machine, but memories still come back to haunt her.

“Sometimes I still have problems, but when I’m sitting at a table making clothing that’s what most makes me happy,” she says.

Nathalie Bajinya was 14 when she applied for refugee status in the United States and learned she’d be entering the foster care system in Tacoma.

“The nuns were telling me it’s going to be great.‘You’re going to be sewing for celebrities’,” she laughs.

But here too she struggled. Nathalie Bajinya was lonely.

“Especially here in America it is hard to get friends,” she says.

Bajinya joined the Tacoma Refugee Choir where she made many friends.

“They have been like my family,” she says.

But something was still missing. Her real family. She sent her brother and sister money and in 2015 they joined Nathalie.

In fact one of the women modelling Bajinya’s clothes for our story is her 16 year old sister Sophia, who was just two months old when war split the family apart.

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“Now we are getting closer and closer,” Sophia Bajinya says, “but before I didn’t know anything about her even though she was my sister.”

Sophia’s middle name is Joy which is exactly what she’s brought to Nathalie’s life.

“Coming back home together, it’s beautiful,” she says.

And so are the clothes Nathalie Bajinya makes. Each telling a story with a happy ending.

Nathalie Bajinya, an American citizen now for two years, is facing a surprising challenge because of COVID-19. So many people are working from home, they’re not buying dressy clothes.

Bajinya can do it all. You can even bring in your own fabric and she will make you a dress in a week. She says there is nothing like a dress made exactly to your measurements.

Her sister is also getting into the fashion game. Sophia Bajinya sells jewelry and wigs online.

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My name is sophia Bajinya CEO/ OWNER of Joy Bajinya. I was born in Africa Congo a.k.a D.R.C. As a teen I started this business when, this queen told me she was not beautiful because her hair was not straight and she was black. My goal is to make our teenager feel blessed with who they are and make them embrace their beautiful culture. As me?

I was bullied in middle school for wearing my afro calling me slave, mushroom head and tree of life. By all these names, they called me, I realized are about nature or history which made me feel more unique than them. These names led me to embrace my beautiful culture and be to become an influencer of others who get bullied because of their identities.

Content courtesy of King 5 & Nairobi fashion hub

Socialite Mollie Moon Used Fashion Shows to Fund the Civil Rights Movement

Posted on by Fashion Police

In the 1950s, famed Harlem socialite Mollie Moon transformed the Ebony Fashion Fair into a powerhouse fundraiser for Civil Rights activities. When she did so, she took part in a long tradition of fashion shows fundraising for Black political causes.

The glamorous Mollie Moon sauntered around the Grand Ballroom at Manhattan’s famed Waldorf Astoria hotel as she made minor adjustments to the decor. It was October 4, 1959. Moon, the founder and president of the National Urban League Guild, was preparing to bring the Ebony Fashion Fair to New York for its Big Apple premiere.

A mother and daughter at an Ebony Fashion Fair in Denver, Colorado, 1978. KENN BISIOGETTY IMAGES

A pharmacist by training and a veteran fundraiser, Moon paid meticulous attention to every detail of the events she hosted, because she believed guests could feel her level of care. The Waldorf, with its Art Deco luxury, had hosted European monarchs, diplomats, and New York’s white upper crust. Why should the Black American guests Moon was hosting on this evening expect anything less than the royal treatment?

Moon, wife of the former NAACP public relations director, Henry Lee Moon, understood that Black Americans were generous givers who loved to dress up for a good cause. Give them an opportunity to show out and the money would show up! Ticket prices for the fair ranged from $3.50 to $12 (roughly $25 to $100 today) and came with a subscription to either Ebony or Jet magazine.

Proceeds from the NYC show would go to the National Urban League, the interracial civil rights organization Moon’s guild supported through savvy fundraising campaigns and volunteer work. In cities from Washington, D.C., to Peoria, Illinois, powerbrokers like Moon hosted Ebony Fashion Fair events to fund local nonprofit organizations, racial justice causes, and HBCU scholarships.

The idea for the Fashion Fair originated in New Orleans in 1956. Jessie Covington Dent, an accomplished pianist, a socialite, and the wife of Dillard University president Albert W. Dent, reached out to media mogul John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing about cohosting a fashion show fundraiser for Flint-Goodridge Hospital.

That first show was such a success that Johnson and his wife, the fashionable and cosmopolitan Eunice Johnson, decided they should make it an annual touring fundraiser. Ripping “Fashion Fair” straight from Ebony magazine’s monthly column of the same name, Ebony Fashion Fair took shape under the leadership of Johnson Publishing’s home services director, Freda DeKnight. The rebranded traveling fashion extravaganza launched in 1958 with the theme Ebony Fashion Fair Around the Clock, featuring the wares of American and European designers, a few models, lively music, elaborate stage props, and colorful commentary by DeKnight.

Give them an opportunity to show out and the money would show up

Ebony Fashion Fair was the perfect fundraiser. “It was ready-made,” Joy Bivins, curator of “Inspiring Beauty: 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair,” explains. “For the organizations, they don’t really have to do anything but bring the show. It’s a package deal.”

And for the attendees, the shows created an opportunity to “get together and do what rich people do with each other: show off! But it had this philanthropic aspect to it that, in many ways, made it okay,” Bivins says. The shows also gave exposure and brought new clientele to Black ready-to-wear designers and milliners who were struggling to launch their careers due to Jim Crow racism and cronyism in the mainstream fashion world.

A model at the Ebony Fashion Fair in Denver, 1979
DENVER POSTGETTY IMAGES

By the time Moon brought the event to NYC in 1959, it was among the hottest Black social events in the country. That year with an Around the World theme the tour expanded to 51 cities in 31 states. Moon supervised as DeKnight and the Fashion Fair team transformed the Waldorf Astoria’s Grand Ballroom into a Black traveler’s paradise, replete with stage props that included hat boxes and luggage with the names of European destination cities fancifully written on them.

Press coverage that ran in the Amsterdam News and the New York Age played up the exclusive nature of the event, dubbing the two-hour show a “one night only affair.” It was a massive show that featured 200 garments and more than 400 accessories personally selected by DeKnight.

The models swayed and sashayed across the stage in haute couture garments by Arthur Jablow, Martier Raymond, Maggy Rouff, Harry Young , and others. With more than 3,000 people in attendance, the standing-room-only event was a roaring triumph. It further cemented Moon’s status as the grande dame of Black social and civic life in New York City.

Models at the Ebony Fashion Fair, Denver, Colorado, 1979
DENVER POSTGETTY IMAGES

Fashion show fundraisers like the Ebony Fashion Fair were ubiquitous in the Black community during World War II and well into the Black Power movement era. The Fashion Fair reflected the Johnsons’ particular brand of Black cultural elitism, evident in the mink stoles, silk chiffon dresses, hand-beaded gowns, and dripping diamonds that were on display during the shows.

But any crowd, regardless of income, taste level, or political leanings, could find a fashion show that catered to their interests and supported causes they could throw their hard-earned money behind. Designer to the stars Zelda Wynn Valdes directed a show for Harlem’s Salvation Army, much to the delight of the neighborhood’s elderly and infirm population.

The Black Nationalist organization African Jazz-Art Society & Studios toured its Naturally fashion show down the Eastern Seaboard and through the Midwest. Naturally’s Afro-sporting Grandassa Models wore African-inspired dresses and pantsuits, which they had designed and sewn themselves. Other community shows featured local folks from maids to transit and postal workers who modeled clothes from their closets. Styling out in garments of their own choosing affirmed that they were much more than uniform-wearing laborers. Churches, youth groups, sororities, and fraternities all found a sense of Black pride and Black economic self-help through fashion shows.

A model at an Ebony Fashion Fair sponsored by the Links in 2004
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Any crowd, regardless of income…could find a fashion show that catered to their interests

Moon and her contemporaries demonstrate how Black women have defined and redefined the contours of American philanthropy. “The biggest misconception is that Black women don’t give and that they’re not involved in philanthropy,” says Tyrone Freeman, author of Madam C.J. Walker’s Gospel of Giving and assistant professor of Philanthropic Studies at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

“The truth is, Black women are on the leading edge of generosity in their community.” Philanthropy for Black Americans has never been the province of the rich or even of the middle class. Black, community-based giving circles and mutual aid societies can be traced to the Caribbean and West Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries, Freeman explains. Enslaved and free Black women’s philanthropic efforts helped to fund the abolitionist movement, the Black Freedom movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and the Black Lives Matter movement today.

Studies have also shown that Black Americans give a larger percentage of their disposable incomes to nonprofits than other races. Thus, giving was foundational to Black life long before exorbitantly wealthy white capitalists became the face of modern philanthropy.

A model at the Ebony Fashion Fair, Denver, Colorado, 1979
DENVER POSTGETTY IMAGES

Reflecting in 1982 on her career as a philanthropist and lifelong civic leader, Moon wrote, “Neither I nor my family had sufficient income to make significant financial contributions to this cause [Black Freedom]. We did, however, have commitment, energy and time to contribute.” Bake sales, chicken dinners, galas, card parties, dance-a-thons: All those fundraising events helmed by Black women who were not generationally wealthywere their chance at Black world making.

A model at the Ebony Fashion Fair, Denver, Colorado, 1979
KENN BISIOGETTY IMAGES

Black women were giving and raising money to create the world they wanted to live in. Ebony Fashion Fair was a vehicle through which they could perform this women-centered freedom dreaming. The Fashion Fair ran annually through 2009, raising nearly $60 million in its 51-year run. Moon and countless others whose names have been lost to history were the visionaries who kept the touring show in circulation.

At the time of her death in 1990, Jet reported that Moon had raised more than $3 million through the National Urban League Guild, which, under her leadership since 1942, had grown to nearly 30,000 volunteers in 80 guilds nationwide.

Content courtesy of Harpers Bazaar & Nairobi fashion hub

How Ruth E. Carter Brought Zamunda’s Royal Fashion To Life In Coming 2 America

Posted on by Oscar Alochi

There’s plenty of overlap between Coming 2 America, the sequel to the 1988 comedy of the same name, and Black Panther, and not just because the former referenced Wakanda early on in the trailer. For one, both films center around the homecoming of American sons, who go to their ancestral (and fictitious) African countries with plans to ascend the throne.

And, secondly, they’re outfitted by costume designer Ruth E. Carter, who not only became the first Black woman to win the Oscar for her Afrofuturistic looks in the Ryan Coogler’s Marvel film but, last month, was awarded a Walk of Fame star (she’s only the second costume designer to receive the honor).

Taking place 30 years after the original, Coming 2 America follows King Akeem (Eddie Murphy) as he discovers that he has an adult son, Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), in New York, and brings him to Zamunda as his heir. Like Black Panther‘s Wakanda, Zamunda’s combines a mix of African cultures and aesthetic traditions, which are reflected in Carter’s costumes in a vibrant display of traditional prints, fabrics, and silhouettes.

“I didn’t do the same kind of research that I did with Wakanda because I felt like this was more of a lighter, more comedic film. And so, it had to have more [about the] fashion,” Carter tells Refinery 29. “I remember the fashion from the first movie, and I really wanted to honor that, but also bring some new fashion that I was seeing around the internet.” As part of her research for the film, Carter looked at brands like Ikiré Jones founded by Nigerian-American designer Walé Oyéjidé, South Africa’s MAXHOSA by Laduma Ngxokolo and Mantsho by Palesa Mokubung, and the British designer Ozwald Boateng (of Ghanaian descent).

Carter’s talent for combining contemporary silhouettes and traditional designs is best embodied by the fashion of Akeem’s three daughters who are modern-day princesses with distinct looks. While the youngest Tinashe (Akiley Love) wears cutesy styles, the middle daughter Omma (Murphy’s real-life daughter Bella) opts for loose dresses in statement prints. The oldest, Meeka (Kiki Layne), the obvious Zamunda heir to everyone but Akeem, displays the most fearless style of the trio, preferring daring cutouts, tighter fits, and dramatic silhouettes. Her fight-training outfit, a bright yellow-and-green set with a fringe skirt, is especially powerful.

“KiKi told me that she wanted to wear the flag of Zamunda,” says Carter. After finding some flags online, her team sourced matching fabrics to make the outfit. “We added some movement by putting fringe on it and draping it so that it could have a nice flare as she moves around.

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It was like a dance.” In a later scene, Meeka wears an athletic Puma halter dress with cutouts and armbands that read “democrazy” (photo below), created by Jahnkoy, the Brooklyn-based brand by Siberian-born Marusya Kazakova and Burkina Faso-born Burkindy.

For the many intricate crowns and headpieces featured in the film, Carter turned to Laurel DeWitt, a go-to designer for Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Lady Gaga. “In her showroom, there were crowns waiting for queens to wear them. And I scooped them all up and brought them with me to Atlanta,” she says.

“So anytime one of our princesses or our queen was getting ready in the makeup and hair trailer, there were four or five crowns to choose from to match their outfits.” This opulence extended to the rest of the jewelry, too, which Carter worked with several designers to create, including L.A.’s Melody Ehsani, whose designs feature Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, to create.

“We were really interested in everybody who was addressing the African diaspora with their work,” says Carter who, according to WWD, worked with 39 independent designers for the film. “We really were picky about [the pieces] having a regal appearance.”

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For the celebrations shown in the film, which involved Carter dressing large groups of people for several scenes, the color was key. “We had dancers, we had a choir, we had the ballroom full of Zamundans. That just gave you license to be colorful,” says Carter. “When you look at a lot of African beadwork, you see a lot of brights, you see a lot of primary colors. When you look at [West African] Ankara fabrics, you see beautiful color combinations and prints and patterns.”

While the costume designer employed a whole spectrum of jewel-toned colors throughout the project, red was the prominent go-to, appearing on Akeem and the royal palace attendees. In one of the earlier scenes, the Rose Bearer Priestess (Garcelle Beauvais) enters the ballroom in a giant off-the-shoulder ballgown in red-and-gold, which Carter chose after being inspired by the East Indian influences in the first film.

“We had permission to mix cultures and borrow, because Zamunda’s not hidden by a hologram, it’s an immersive place,” she says, referring to Wakanda’s strategic isolation from global influences. After buying the dress off the rack from an Indian designer, Carter wasn’t sure where the gown would fit in.

“It took up half of my office,” says Carter. “Everyone was like, ‘What is wrong with Ruth?’” Once she learned of Beauvais’ scene, Carter says she knew the gown was meant for it: “It was such a good opening dress.”

Blue was another prominent color featured in the film. It first appears on Queen Lisa (Shari Headley) in the form of a sleeveless gown with cowrie bead detail, embellishments frequently used in West African designs. Upon arriving in Zamunda, Lavelle’s mother Mary (Leslie Jones) plucks a blue halter gown in an Ankara print with a matching headpiece from Lisa’s closet.

According to Carter, it was an homage to the original film. “[Costume designer] Deborah Nadoolman Landis had big shapes, big headdresses,” says Carter. “It was a really beautiful fit on Leslie… She could actually wear the outfit to the Oscars.”

While Carter collaborated with various designers for the film, most of the costumes were created from scratch. “They’re the Royal family, so I didn’t want anything like, ‘Hey, that’s Tom Ford.’ I didn’t want it to be recognizable from the racks in a store somewhere,” says Carter. “I wanted it to feel aspirational.”

But while Coming 2 America is distinctly its own film when it comes to fashion, Carter did include nostalgic nods to the original. When returning to New York, Akeem and Semmi (Arsenio Hall) wear the same gray and navy caped looks they first arrived in Queens in.

In a later scene, Akeem also wears the same Mets jacket, and Semmi a blazer. “We had to remake the blazer that Arsenio wore in the first film 30 years ago. That wasn’t easy. We had to paint it and find wool that was close in tone,” she says. “I looked at the sequel for the first time, and I could not see where the old footage ended and the actual new footage began.”

If that’s not the true mark of Ruth E. Carter, I don’t know what is.

Written By Irina Grechko

Content courtesy of Refinery 29 & Nairobi fashion hub 

Fashion Designer Kenneth Ize from Nigeria Is Getting Through It All

Posted on by Ann Mumbi

Nigerian fashion designer Kenneth Ize is happy. He is grateful. But he is also stressed, and frustrated. He is a ball of mixed emotions, as any designer is in the lead-up to a fashion show even if it’s digital especially in these epochal times. Asked what the last few months have been like for him, he replies, “tired, sad, but not crying.”

Ize is phoning from a car in Italy, where he had been for three weeks, finalizing his Fall 2021 collection. Those who have seen the new lineup have expressed surprise, and he expects a similar reaction once he presents it via video during Paris Fashion Week on March 10.

Ize is known for his joyful, vividly colored, and patterned clothes, defined by slim tailoring, a retro influence, and, most of all, a dedication to traditional Nigerian aso oke textiles. Like everyone else on the planet, his axis has been shifted by the coronavirus pandemic, but being based in Lagos, Nigeria comes with its own set of problems. Big ones.

recalling the high of last season’s collection, which delivered a celebratory message of political empowerment, homosexuality, diversity, and craft. He was quickly deflated by the reality check of the political turmoil at home.

Last October, a wave of mass protests swept Nigeria amid new reports of police brutality by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a Nigerian police unit with a long record of abuse and violence against civilians. Thinking about the social unrest put Ize in an edgier place than usual when developing his fall collection. One literal example is his use of the color black, as well as cutting down on the number of bright colors a signature in his palette in general. But there is more.

“I started noticing that I was researching, for example, snakes and serpents. I would research body tattoos. I would research dark things that I would not usually research because I’m African,” Ize says, noting the culture of superstition. “As an African person, your parents will tell you, ‘Oh my God, when you see the cat, you need to run because if the cat spit in your face, it’s going to blind you.'”

Ize found a way to reframe the narrative via ancient Egyptian lore, turning the negative connotations of snakes into a story of rebirth, which is how he’s choosing to see the state of Nigeria and the state of the world at large in the age of COVID-19. “It is a different side of me,” Ize says. “I want to speak about life. I want to speak about what is affecting me personally, what is affecting my friends, my loved ones, people dying around the world. I want people to also be aware of the problems happening in Nigeria.” His clothes are his way of having these conversations.

 

Indeed, Ize’s clothes have spoken volumes in a relatively short amount of time. They tell a story that’s quite different from most fashion brands on the world stage and have earned an audience of industry elites along the way. Born in Nigeria, Ize moved to Austria as a young child when his family was in political exile. He grew up there, his earnest interest in fashion nursed by his mother’s wardrobe of traditional Nigerian garments.

After studying fashion and design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where Bernhard Willhelm and Hussein Chalayan were among his teachers, Ize moved back to Lagos. He launched his label in 2016 with the intention of exploring West African identity and showcasing and preserving the centuries-old Yoruba textile handcraft by working with local artisans.

The collection toes the line of gender fluidity, though there are men’s and women’s clothes. Naomi Campbell and Alton Mason walked in Ize’s show during Arise Fashion Week in Lagos in 2019, the same year he was a finalist for the LVMH Prize, making a list that has rarely included African designers.

He made his debut at Paris Fashion Week with Campbell closing the show in February 2020, and later in the year, it was announced that Ize had been tapped for a capsule collection with the Karl Lagerfeld brand that will launch in April. Ize’s own retailers include Net-A-Porter, Dover Street Market in New York and Los Angeles, MatchesFashion, and Browns, among others.

The decision to take his collection to Paris was a game-changer, one decided over dinner in Vienna one night. “I wanted to do Paris because I just knew that was being in it,” Ize says. “If I’m going to show what we have in Nigeria, [which has] already been around for centuries and has not been paid attention to in fashion, where should I place it? It’s in Paris.”

Ize’s first show in the City of Lights was a success from a critical and sales point of view. “Seeing the money, I was like, ‘OK, I’m fine now. I’m good.'” But as any industry veteran can attest, one good season does not a sure thing make, and the struggle is always real. Especially when you’re operating independently, as Ize is.

Paris is the big leagues, and by showing there, Ize proved he could compete design-wise, but the elevation in profile also exposed problems in production. It’s one thing to celebrate West African textile craft and tradition. It’s another to rely on local artisans to scale up to meet the needs and orders of international luxury retailers.

“I need to sit down with the weavers to make sure that they get it right,” Ize says. “Sometimes things are just made badly, or when I go to the market to buy some yarn, I might be in traffic for six hours. I might not have an electricity supply for the whole day, and I’ll have to run my generator. Let me call it straight: It’s like working in a Third World country.”

Ize still develops his fabrics and designs with local artisans, but the collection is now produced in Europe, mainly Italy. He is committed to using his work to shine a light on African design and culture, traditional and modern, but he can’t help but vent about the lack of resources in Nigeria and the lack of unity and organization from the fashion community there, all of which was compounded by the pandemic and #EndSARS. “I have never experienced something that looks like a war zone in my life,” Ize says of the last six months. “We need support. This is almost a cry for help.”

On his wish list is mentorship from the luxury industry and more financial support, for himself as a self-proclaimed one-man-show entrepreneur, and also support to develop the African fashion industry. He channeled his frustrations into his new collection. “If you would ask me about how I feel about doing my fall collection, I feel sad and I feel very happy that I could for one time in my life just speak my truth and just go with my feeling 100%.”

Content courtesy of The Zero Report & Nairobi fashion hub

Rwanda to Host Commonwealth Fashion Council 2021 at The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)

Posted on by Fashion Tribe Influencer

The fashion and textile industries will be a focus of this year’s Commonwealth Business Forum, an event associated with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which will be held in Kigali, Rwanda. Business leaders, heads of government, ministers and senior policymakers will gather, in person, from 22 to 24 June 2021.

“Members of the Commonwealth Fashion Council such as Omoyemi Akelere, founder of Lagos Fashion Week, Claudia Lumor, the Ghanaian founder of Glitz Africa Magazine and the Glitz Style Awards, and Sheena Frida from the Kenyan Fashion Council have been invited to form panel discussions on re-thinking Pan-Commonwealth cooperation,” said Daniel Hatton, Chief Executive and Founder of the Commonwealth Fashion Council (CFC).

The CFC is a council of fashion industry leaders from across The Commonwealth, an association of 54 sovereign states headed by Queen Elizabeth II that is home to 2.4 billion people living on six continents. The 26th edition of the biennial CHOGM summit was due to take place last year before being postponed.

“Blue fashion, the sustainable use of ocean-based materials in fashion, will also be a topic of conversation, as East Africa enjoys untapped resources across its coastlines,” Hatton added.

As part of the forum’s programme on the global economic recovery, which spans issues such as supply chain disruptions and digital infrastructure, one session will be dedicated to the future of the textile industries in Commonwealth economies that were severely impacted by the pandemic.

“Fashion and textiles are crucial industries in many Commonwealth countries including Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, and Ghana. Government and fashion industry leaders will benefit from a post-Covid discussion about the future of the industry and its impact on sustainability, jobs, and rapid digital transition,” said Samantha Cohen, Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council.

Companies focused on the fiber to the fabric supply chain as well as apparel, footwear, and textile manufacturers such as Hussain Mills, Ravi Spinning Mills, MAS Holdings, Brandix, Hirdaramani Group, KAD Manufacturing, Shasha Denims, Nishat Group, Ha-meem Group, DBL Group, and Plexus Cotton, will attend from across the Commonwealth.

Content courtesy of Bussines of Fashion & Nairobi fashion hub

Viola Davis’ Golden Globes 2021 Gown Was Inspired by ‘African Royalty’

Posted on by Fashion Police

The night before the Golden Globes 2021, Viola Davis, who is nominated for her powerhouse performance in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, did not post pictures of herself getting awards show-ready. Instead of face masks and manicures (yes, actors still enlist full glam squads for Zoom), Davis posted the following message to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, of which not a single member of the 87-strong governing body is Black.

Viola Davis’s 2021 Golden Globes fashion moment had an impactful meaning behind it.

The multi-hyphenate star wanted a dress that “spoke to her specifically as a Black woman,” according to her stylist Elizabeth Stewart, so Davis and Stewart collaborated with Black designer Claude Kameni, the founder of the Los Angeles-based brand Lavie By CK.

“It’s all about rethinking glamour and couture on the red carpet in the age of diversity and inclusivity,” Stewart tells PEOPLE. “It’s still an arena that needs cultural specificity.”

Calling the look “bold, vibrant and strong, just like Viola,” Stewart says the custom gown designed by Kameni was “inspired by African royalty.”

“Viola is royalty to me,” Stewart shares.

The dress features a silk cotton African print from a fabric that is made in Kameni’s home country of Cameroon, where the designer’s love of fashion began.

Davis has worn Kameni’s designs before, including in the spread for her 2020 Vanity Fair photoshoot. The designer took to social media to share her excitement over working with Davis once again on this memorable Golden Globes fashion moment.

“It was such a pleasure making this gown for @violadavis. Finding out she would wear it to the @goldenglobes awards was the icing on the cake. She definitely violated the gown. We wanted to create a dress that showcased viola in a different light but still make it her own sense of style. We nailed it,” she wrote.

Davis teamed her meaningful gown with Stuart Weitzman shoes, Pomellato jewelry, a Gabo Guzzo clutch, and a beautiful hair and makeup moment created by Jamika Wilson and Autumn Moultrie, respectively.

Makeup pro Moultrie created Davis’ glowy beauty moment using items from L’Oreal’s Revitalift Age Perfect makeup collection, including the Age Perfect Radiant Serum Foundation SPF 50 and Age Perfect Radiant Concealer with Hydrating Serum under the eyes and to highlight cheekbones.

On the eyes, Moultrie opted for a bold dark look using Age Perfect Satin Glide Eyeliner in Black followed by Voluminous Mascara. To complete the look, lips were lined with Age Perfect Anti Feathering Lipliner and topped with Age Perfect Satin Lipstick.

“We wanted the dress to take center stage, so we chose to keep Viola’s makeup minimal,” Moultrie tells PEOPLE. “I loved Viola’s choice of color for the dress because her bold choice redefines the notion of beauty and what it means to be adorned. Her choice recognizes the cultural specificity of African cloth as beautiful, as something to be worn to an awards show  not only the European designers.”

Moultrie adds that working with Davis is always a collaborative process.

“Viola always has a sense of what she wants before I walk in, but we work together to create the final look,” she says. “The dress always helps choose the direction for glam and for last night’s look, we wanted the powerful bold colors of the dress to take center stage.”

Davis has been a mainstay on the Golden Globes red carpet over the past decade and never shies away from bold color or statement-making accessories.

Some of her biggest hits?

The velvet Brandon Maxwell gown with a sweetheart neckline (teamed with a 111-carat Harry Winston necklace, plus a Tyler Ellis clutch!) worn in 2018, the vibrant yellow, one-shoulder Michael Kors Collection sequin gown in 2017, a romantic and ethereal crystal-covered Marchesa gown in 2016 and a strapless fire engine red Donna Karan Atelier creation in 2015.

Content courtesy of People & Nairobi fashion hub 

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