Tag: Fashion Designer

Kampala Fashion Week  Uganda’s most influential fashion platform, (KFW) promotes Ugandan designers and Fashion designers African continent to a large global market. The organization was created to support and strengthen the design industry in Uganda as well as enhancing the cultural and creative talent that our country and continent has to offer. KFW is powered by the Ugandan Fashion Council (UFC).

Fashion in Uganda is flourishing, if the work we’ve seen this year is anything to go by. Design labels are turning into highly respectable brands, attracting attention from all over the world. This is thanks to platforms such as Kampala Fashion Week which foster talent and creation of high-quality garments.

1. Anita Beryl

Anita Beryl born 11 January 1986 is a Ugandan Fashion Designer, Couturier and Entrepreneur. She is the creative director of Beryl Qouture, a Ugandan fashion house. The Ugandan magazine, Satisfashion Uganda, named Beryl one of “The 40 Movers and Shakers of 2016”, in December 2016.

Anita Beryl of Beryl Qouture has positioned herself as the go-to dressmaker for exquisite red carpet looks. Her label which started as a bridal house has dressed some of the best-dressed women this year, attracting massive PR in the process.

She has also featured at a slew of fashion weeks the previous years , Accra Fashion Week and Swahili Fashion Week being some of them. We look forward to the surprises she has under her sleeve in 2018

2. Sylvia Owori

She was born 1976 is a Ugandan fashion designer, businesswoman political lobbyist and entrepreneur. She is the Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Zipa Modeling Agency, a company that she founded and owns. She is reported to be one of the wealthiest individuals in Uganda, the third-largest economy in the East African Community.

Sylvia Owori is one of today’s leading figures in East Africa’s Fashion, media, and modeling industries, famous for both her entrepreneurial skills as well as for her creative talent.

Her break into fashion happened when she took on the challenge of revitalizing the ‘Miss Uganda Beauty Pageant’, (2001-2004) which following her input became one of the most significant events on the Ugandan social calendar. She also revealed her innovative talent by designing outfits for the contestants of the M-Net Face of Africa in Dar es Salaam (2000) and Cape Town, which resulted in immense acclaim from the public as well as from fashion critics. Following this positive feedback, Sylvia was appointed to design the Nokia Face of Africa’s Ugandan finalist’s outfit in 2001.

Sylvia Owori, the brand, launched in 2004 and provides a range of prêt-a-porter exclusively on sale in the flagship store in Kampala and in an outlet in Nairobi. Described as a balanced mix between smart and elegant outfits for work and trendy casual wear for leisure, her label is all designed with sophisticated and modern working women in mind.

3. Philip Buyi
​​​​​​​Philip Buyi is an actor, founder and creator of the Kkoolo fashion brand. Kkoolo means “crow” in Buyi’s native language, Gisu. The brand specializes in designing and manufacturing customized street, haute and ready-to-wear apparel for both men and women. Buyi’s goal for Kkoolo is to return, rediscover, and redefine African culture today. “Fashion is an image and character we portray.”

Kkoolo is afro urban wear trend with beauty to colour your world, K koolo reproduces african fabrics and recycled materials ,customized products such as caps , jackets ,vests , pants for both men women, Kkoolo, an afro-urban label made its KFW debut with a collection filled with Samurai inspired outfits, long coats and jumpsuits with dandelions, and lots of leather. We can’t wait to see what the youthful brand has up their sleeves for 2018.

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Kkoolo operates at the intersection of the art projects and economic development. Kkoolo is dedicated to the development of the local job market and youth empowerment through skill development, employment opportunities to the youth using fashion, design and craft.

With her activities, Kkoolo addresses issues in regards to innovation, creativity and inclusiveness. Kkoolo Organizers believe that with Art and unemployment can be addressed through gender, innovation and creativity

4. Santa Anzo
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Anzo is a Ugandan model, fashionista, fashion designer and businesswoman, who is the founder, chief fashion designer and managing director of Arapapa Fashion House, based in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. She is also the founder and President of Uganda International Fashion Week, an annual fashion exhibition.

Santa Anzo is another pioneer of Uganda’s fashion industry. Anzo is the Chief Fashion Designer and Managing Director of Arapapa Fashion. Anzo says that fashion is not just about glamorous models and glitzy catwalks, it is also a multi-million dollar industry that creates millions of jobs just like any other business. “The fashion industry includes many sub-industries, it has an amazing value chain.”

5. Charles Kasozi

Charles Kasozi, aka Ras Kasozi, is founder and creative director of Kas Wear. It was his lack of financial capital that motivated him to explore new and unusual avenues through recycling to create unique designs. Kasozi began experimenting with different textiles and materials to create one-of-a-kind looks which he is now famous for.

6. Raphael Allan Kasule

Raphael Kasule is the owner of K-Rafael Couture fashion brand. Kasule began his fashion journey at the age of 13, when he started tinkering with his mother’s sewing machine. His fashion brand is famed for its unconventional concepts and approach to style. Rafael’s highlight was when he designed the official national ceremonial wear for Uganda’s Olympic team, which was quite well received at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

“Fashion means so many things; a way of life, culture, an art, source of income. But in general I take it as a platform to express fantasies, thoughts, emotions, among other things. As for the K-Rafael brand, the vision is to make it to the top African designers, to spread outlets and a wide employment and training scheme around Uganda, equipping the less privileged. I would also like to get into the global film costume industry, mainly with adventure, sci-fi, and video production.”

7. Brenda Maraka

Brenda Niwagaba Maraka, who is undoubtedly among Uganda’s top fashion designers, describes herself as “just a simple person who loves work and fashion”. She is also quick to recognise people who have inspired her, including renowned fashion designer and artist Stella Atal and Xenson Samson Ssenkaaba

In January 2007, Maraka officially launched ‘Brendamaraka’ as a fashion label, Brenda Maraka is a textiles designer with a passion for promoting Uganda’s art, culture and traditions through fashion.

For Maraka, fashion is a channel of expression, not just for herself but also for her clients. “It’s been my livelihood and has propelled me to where I am today. Fashion has opened up doors for me, to meet people I never imagined I would meet, to make friendships and visit several countries.”

8. Shiela Lukwanzi

Shiela Lukwanzi is a Ugandan fashion designer who has worked before as a studio assistant for Emanuel Ungaro in Paris and Gloria Wavamunno in Kampala where she assisted in the preparations for the first ever Kampala Fashion Week in 2014. she discovered her signature style while at the university and continue to portray her attention to asymmetric cuts in the collections.

Sheila Lukwanzi is the force behind the formidable Lukwanzi fashion label. Lukwanzi aims to remain enthralling and show a degree of inventiveness through its signature style. It is a unisex brand, currently producing one collection a year. “Fashion to me is freedom, the freedom to change and break barriers. It’s an art and therefore a means of deep communication. Fashion is courage, it’s bold and beautiful.”

Lukwanzi is currently contributing to the fast growing fashion industry in Africa as the creative director for LUKWANZI, a local fashion brand, and also the head designer for Haute Uganda Limited, manufacturers of industrial garments, and corporate and school uniforms.

9. Stella Atal

Stella Atal was born in the Northern Region of Uganda, along the northern shores of Lake Kyoga. Stella started her schooling in Kampala, Uganda’s capital and largest city. She relocated to Kenya and continued her education there. Later, she completed her education in the United Kingdom. She has a bachelors and a master’s degree in Fine Art.

Stella Atal is based in Paris, France. Atal, a professional painter, describes her fashion as wearable art. Having grown up in an artistic family, it was only natural to take on fashion. Atal uses the opportunity of living in the fashion capital to elevate Uganda’s fashion industry to an international level by connecting upcoming fashion designers to international fashion communities.

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In 2007, she started her own label, Atal Stella. There she focuses on using what is locally available, including eco-friendly, natural and re-cycled material. Her designs have showcased at the Africa Fashion Week New York, in 2010 and at the Green Fashion Switzerland, in 2011. Stella’s work has been featured in two issues of the prestigious Italian Vogue magazine.

In 2016, she relocated from Kampala, Uganda to Paris, France. The following year, she received a license that allows manufacturing and selling of her branded clothes and copyrighted art pieces in France and the rest of the European Union. She tours internationally in Continental Europe, United Kingdom and the United States.

10. Xenson

Xenson know as Samson Ssenkaaba is a multimedia artist and the brilliant brain behind the Xenson fashion brand. Xenson is famed for its creativity greatly influenced by the grandeur of African arts, culture, the vitality of African dance and hip-hop as a free, expressive art form.

​​​​​​​“For me, every creation is a narrative of a complex historical idiom correlated with a poetic contemporary occurrence. The process is very organic and embodies modern African ingenuity and ancient craftsmanship. Materiality involves recycling consumerist by-products, interplayed with organic or natural materials.”

Content courtesy  Nairobi fashion hub 

Kigali Fashion Week is an annual fashion event that takes place twice a year. It is a platform that promotes Rwandan creative industry in fashion and modelling; the event attracts international attention with both designers and models from across the globe. Kigali fashion week was appointed as a founder member on the commonwealth fashion council in London.

This platform will open up a wider door for Rwandan fashion industry in over 53 countries in the commonwealth. Kigali fashion week in partnership with Rwanda cultural fashion show have created the first ever Rwanda fashion council a regulatory body that will manage and promote the image of fashion industry in Rwanda and the region as a whole.

Most Influential Fashion Designer In Rwanda

1. Moses Turahirwa

Moshions is an elegant culturally inspired brand with a distinctive world-class taste. Since 2015, the award-winning brand has created clothing that celebrates Rwanda’s eclectic culture by a fusion of ancient motifs with contemporary designs.

Founded by model turned designer Moses Turahirwa in 2011, Moshions has gained prominence as a bespoke tailoring brand. His unique label is inspired by contrasting elements such as modernity and ancestry, anarchy and severity, and spectacle and depth.

His clothing, often minimalistic and with small flourishes of traditional Rwandan influence, is known to be of excellent quality, creative, and easy to wear. He recently showed his designs at the CollectiveRw fashion show in Kigali, as well as across the region and Nigeria. Moshions is simple, elegant, and only getting better with time.

2. Linda Mukangoga

Haute Baso is an ethical fashion brand for the modern individual looking for thoughtful, simple and functional designs. We are centered around the belief that “two heads are better than one” using fashion as vehicle for positive change towards the empowerment of women and youth who are integral to our value chain while contributing to preservation of culture in Rwanda.

Founded by Linda Mukangoga, Haute Baso produces some of Rwanda’s most creative, colorful, and innovative clothing and accessories. As the creative director, Mukangoga started Hatue Baso upon realizing there were few options for Rwanda-made gifts and apparel. Passionate about collaborating with fellow designers and individuals in the creative sector, Haute Baso is a ready-to-wear lifestyle brand, designing contemporary pieces with subtle Rwandan accents.

Their quality and craftsmanship is not limited to just their designs, as they also invest in young women throughout Rwanda by way of vocational training, entrepreneurial mentorship, and employment. Haute Baso’s minimal yet fashion-forward style is becoming known around the world, and Mukangoga’s lines have appeared recently at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Johannesburg.

Additionally, Haute Baso has also been featured in Vogue, Forbes, Vanity Fair, CNBC Africa, CNN, and many other publications. Keep an eye on their website for an e-commerce shop to come that will service North America and Europe.

3. Matthew Rugamba

House of Tayo was created out of the desire to find a unique way through which to showcase African sophistication, style and flavor through contemporary, locally-made clothing and accessories. With style influences ranging from the Motown era to traditional British tailoring, House of Tayo seeks to combine elegance and class with a strong sense of African heritage and iconography.

Matthew Rugamba is the founder and creative director of House of Tayo, with a signature style described as ‘Afrodandy,’ has steadily gained prominence across Rwanda. Established in 2011 by Matthew Rugamba, House of Tayo is known for their colorful bow ties, shirts, and custom suits. Rugamba, as one of Rwanda’s early fashion designers and co-founder of CollectiveRw, has been dedicated to building up the fashion community, changing Rwanda’s fashion narrative, and collaborating with like minded brands.

Rugamba creates iconic designs inspired by the Motown era, traditional British tailoring, and his own African heritage. In using design as a tool to tell stories about his home country of Rwanda, he paints a richly diverse, fantastical, fast-paced, and sophisticated picture of Rwanda today.

4. Teta Isibo

Inzuki is a dynamic young Rwandan brand specialising in jewellery, accessories and interior decor that are handmade, of local materials. All products are Rwanda-made, Africa-inspired and globally-loved. their products are a fusion of traditional craftsmanship and contemporary style and their design philosophy seeks to transcend traditional Rwandan design and customize it to suit modern needs.

Bold and colorful accessories, jewelry, and interior decor are the cornerstones of Inzuki’s bourgeoning fashion label. Founded by Teta Isibo in 2010, Inzuki’s unique designs simultaneously merge traditional and contemporary Rwandan styles, and have quickly become known as some of Rwanda’s best work.

All pieces are made in the country with local materials, and her collaboration with other designers and sectors in the country is exciting to witness. Recently, Isibo designed the interior decor of the new and luxurious Bisate Lodge, one of Rwanda’s premier accommodation offerings. Further, with countless features in prominent online publications and an online store opening soon, Inzuki is becoming even more well known outside of Rwanda as an African lifestyle brand.

5. Nathalie Remera and Rwema Umutoni

UZI Collections was founded in July 2015 by Rwandans, Nathalie and Laurene, as a result of their passion and love for fashion. Their main focus is to create a brand of impact that empowers young people and to increase the economy of Rwanda through the fashion industry.

Newcomers Nathalie Remera and Rwema Umutoni founded Uzi Collections in 2015, and are dedicated to uniting their love of fashion with their focus on youth empowerment, Rwandan entrepreneurship, and creativity. Using colorful and handmade batik fabric, their designs are centered around a comfortable vintage feel.

The brand works to lift up and impact young people that did not originally have opportunities in Rwanda’s creative sector. Noting that the fashion industry in Rwanda has grown tremendously in the last five years, Uzi plans to keep that momentum going with further innovation and cross-sector collaboration.

6. Bernadette Umunyana

Dokmai was founded in 2014 as a private, family owned limited company by Mrs Bernadette Umunyana, DOKMAI is Rwanda’s premier leather fashion accessories company. DOKMAI thoughtfully designs and handcrafts purses, bags, wallets, and more in Rwanda. By pairing local leather with local kitenge fabric, these custom and handmade products have become immensely popular throughout the country.

Umunyana, before moving back to Rwanda, got her start in fashion in Laos and Burkina Faso. There, she focused on silk production and design. By bringing her talents back to Rwanda and working with leather, she has filled an important niche. In the future, DOKMAI is looking at expanding its offerings to include shoes, and focus on targeting clients throughout East Africa.

7. Sonia Mugabo

Mugabo a businesswoman, fashion designer and fashionista in Rwanda. She is the founder and chief executive officer of the fashion label Sonia Mugabo, which is named after her.

Sonia Mugabo (SM) began in 2013 as the brainchild of Sonia Mugabo herself. SM is one of the premier fashion houses in Rwanda, and Mugabo, as the chief designer and entrepreneur, creates beautiful clothing for the stylish and modern individual. Her timeless designs have become known as some of Rwanda’s finest, and her brand is undoubtedly a reflection of herself; elegant, feminine, and whimsical.

By breaking barriers and creating an accessible and genuine brand story, Mugabo is on her way to becoming one of the region’s most beloved designers. She has been featured in several major publications, and recently showed her designs in the CollectiveRW fashion week.

SM also plans to eventually expand to other global fashion markets, and hopefully present seasonal collections on the runways of major fashion shows around the world. Named one of the 30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa by Forbes and one of Glam Africa’s 5 African designers to watch, Mugabo is going places.

8. Ituze Ndutiye Colombe

Ituze Ndutiye Colombe is a fashion designer and an ICT trainer with the Rwanda Workforce Development Authority (WDA). She is also the Founder and Creative Director of “INCO icyusa” which is the first fashion label owned by a Rwandan and introduced in Rwanda. She designs all of her clothing and accessories and works with women cooperatives to produce and sell products that are available in retail and custom order.

Her collections have been showcased in several Fashion shows in Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, and also in the United States through the “Cowboy and Couture 2012” in Oklahoma. The Africa Diva Award recognized Colombe with the Rwanda Fashion/Style Role Model award in 2013. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Business and Information and Communication Technology from Mount Kenya University.

After completing the Washington Fellowship program, she will coach and create networking opportunities for young girls involved in the Duhugurane Project and the Young Adolescent Initiative (AGI) to help them successfully get internships and employment opportunities.

Content courtesy of Nairobi fashion hub Online Digital Team