Monday 4th of May 2026

Nairobi, Kenya

Tag: Fashion

Kenyan Designers and Film Looku Debut at London Fashion Week Virtual Premiere

Posted on by Fashion Tribe Influencer

A film called Looku celebrating the work of 11 emerging Kenyan brands and designers, including Favoloso By Nanu, Genteel, Nisisi Factory, Sevaria, Enda and We Are NBO, premiered virtually on Saturday 20 February.

Brought about by the British Council’s Creative DNA programme and emerging creative consultancy Fashion Scout, Looku was co-directed by Sunny Dolat and Noel Kasyoka, who sought to recreate the creative vibrancy of Nairobi’s street style scene.

“Whenever we see images of Kenya and Nairobi, often, it’s the landscapes and wildlife that are often prioritised, over the incredible and dynamic people who live there,” said Dolat, a stylist, creative director and co-founder of The Nest Collective in the Kenyan capital who leads the creative direction of Creative DNA x Fashion Scout digital publication Wauzine. “Looku and Wauzine are a celebration of Nairobi, Nairobisms and Nairobians in their glory and flair, a love letter from us to us.”

The screening of Looku was accompanied by three panel talks on timely topics like fostering creativity during crisis, reimagining fashion’s capital cities (moderated by Helen Jennings, Wauzine features editor and co-founder of Nataal Media), and the value of more conscious design practices.

Fashion Scout 

Fashion Scout is a leading international consultancy and platform for nurturing, empowering and showcasing the future of fashion. Fashion Scout’s showcase events in London, Paris, Kyiv and other fashion weeks have presented a whole generation of designers to international media, buyers and influencers.

With 20 years of experience in the industry, our consultancy creates and delivers bespoke mentoring and development programmes for designers and organisations around the world  enabling designers to adapt and build sustainable businesses in these challenging times – and providing them with the opportunity to showcase their work to the international market.

Mettā Nairobi

Metta is Nest Groups’ physical and digital entrepreneurs’ network, where they bring together founders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, academics and investors
to collaborate. Nest Group is committed to creating collaborative environments that help corporates, start-ups, and our investors scale and succeed.

HEVA Fund

HEVA Fund is an East African fund that invests in the transformative social and economic potential of the creative economy sector in the East African region.

Since 2013, HEVA Fund has generated insights, rolled out investments, and innovated financial models specifically for the growth of the creative economy in east Africa.

HEVA Fund have invested in more than 40 creative businesses and directly supported over 8,000 creative practitioners in the fashion, digital content and television, live music and gaming value-chains. From Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, Arusha, Lamu to Dar es salaam, the creative sector is where the creation of new products and new cultural experiences is happening.

They want to be at the forefront of helping producers of cultural goods and services to build high-value, profitable businesses where new ideas will come to life, and where the highest potential for great profits, great jobs, and happy people will be found.

Content courtesy of  Fashion Scout, Mettā Nairobi, HEVA Fund & Nairobi fashion hub 

 

5 Africa Fashion Designers open Digital Milan Fashion Week

Posted on by Ann Mumbi

MILAN – Five designers of African origin making their runway debuts opened Milan Fashion Week on Wednesday under the banner “We are Made in Italy,” having nurtured dreams deemed fanciful in their native countries and which faced considerable obstacles coming to fruition in their adopted Italy.

Joy Meribe, who is originally from Nigeria, started out working in Italy as a cultural mediator. Fabiola Manirakiza came to Italy as a child from Burundi and first trained as a doctor.

Morocco-born Karim Daoudi grew up in a shoe-making town in northern Italy and eventually took up the local craft. Pape Macodou Fall arrived from Senegal at age 22, applying his creative streak as an actor, film producer, figurative painter and now, as a designer of up-cycled garments.

Just one of the five, Cameroonian Gisele Claudia Ntsama, set her sights on Italy with the singular, already mature goal of a fashion career.

“When I told friends in Cameroon that I wanted to travel to Italy to become a fashion designer, they said, ‘Why are you going to study fashion. You know you are Black? What Italian fashion house is going to hire you?’” Ntsama said in a video chat with The Associated Press. “It is always in people’s minds that fashion is for white people. No and no and no!”

The designers, dubbed “the Fab Five,” are the first crop of creators nurtured through a collaboration between the National Chamber of Italian Fashion and the Black Lives Matter in Italian Fashion movement. Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean, Milan-based African American designer Edward Buchanan and Afro Fashion Week Milano founder Michelle Ngonmo launched the movement last summer..

The collaboration has expanded from September, when the Fab Five’s collections hung in a showroom, to a bona fide runway show of five looks each for Milan Fashion Week, which is taking place 99% online.

For their fall-winter 2020-21 collections, the designers worked alongside suppliers and received mentoring from experts, all organized by the Italian fashion council, in an enhanced partnership that allowed them to take their creations to the next level.

A multi-ethnic team of stylists, hairdressers and makeup artists were on hand to prep for the runway show, and buyers can visit the collection on the National Chamber of Italian Fashion website.

Meribe worked with silk from the Como-based textile company Taroni, revisiting some of her earlier designs for her Modaf Designs brand that she has traditionally made from cotton renderings of traditional African wax textiles. Buchanan helped with fitting and encouraged Meribe to change ideas at the last minute without being too rigid,’ she said.’

“This collection is the most luxurious I have ever created. For this capsule collection, I went beyond every possibility,’’ Meribe said.

Daoudi worked with Veneto shoemaker Ballin, which produces footwear for Bottega Veneta, Chanel and Hermes, to create his collection of high heel sandals and boots. He said the association helped him produce more challenging designs.

“I hope that there are buyers,’’ he said, adding that the producer plans to help him fill any orders he receives.

Ntsama added knitwear to her distinctive swirling creations from hemp textiles. The artisanal looks are one-of-a-kind pieces fit for the celebrity red carpet and require hours of handcraftsmanship: She shapes the hemp with a kitchen utensil she prefers not to identify and irons it into place.

Fall, whose nom de artiste is Mokodu, took existing garments and upcycled them with hand-painted African-inspired images.

Manirakiza, whose Frida Kiza brand already has a following in the Marche region of Italy where she lives and in Rome, needed no outside financing for her collection inspired by Botticelli’s “Primavera,” which she intended as a sign of hope after the pandemic.

A babydoll dress with a gathered neckline and cape details is crafted from a black and white print of “Primavera” that emphasized the masterpiece’s floral elements. Manirakiza said staging a runway show was “a wonderful experience” that she hopes will help expand her brand.

Ngonmo established Afro Fashion Week Milano on her own after failing to get the attention of the industry before the Black Lives Matter movement inspired Black Italian creatives to draw attention to the limits they face. She said it was particularly important that the fashion world didn’t just stop with slotting the names of African-born designers into the fashion calendar, but gave them material support to grow.

“This has to have deeper roots. If we want to have true change, we need to offer the same opportunities that their colleagues have had, give them the same instruments and experiences,’’ Ngonmo said. “Let’s say this is a good first step.”

Content courtesy KSAT & Nairobi fashion hub

Three African Rising Fashion stars offer Standout Spring Looks

Posted on by Fashion Tribe Influencer

Personal heritage defines the collections of Thebe Magugu, Supriya Lele and Chopova Lowena. The two latter designers have just been nominated for the BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund 2021

When it comes to articulating ideas of identity, the fashion world has traditionally drawn from external and historical sources to create evocative visions. As well as that may be, a new wave of young, emerging designers are instead looking inwards and expressing their sense of self in ways rarely seen before.

In Johannesburg, designer Thebe Magugu has used his collections to preserve and share South African culture. In London, British designer Supriya Lele mines her Indian heritage to create universally flattering silhouettes, while the rising label Chopova Lowena seeks out Bulgarian deadstock fabrics to create its signature folkloric skirts. Drawing on their individual heritage to champion diversity, these designers widen the fashion lens in ways worth applauding.

Supriya Lele

As distinct as traditional Indian dressing and 1990s minimalism may seem, these opposing forces come together memorably in the hands of the British designer Supriya Lele. Known for her layered silhouettes that flatter all female forms, Lele began exploring her Indian heritage while studying fashion at London’s Royal College of Art (she graduated with a master’s degree in 2016), where she also realised the importance of experimentation in her creative process.

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She realised that ‘the only way I can work is in 3D, on the stand, by draping’, she says. The process ‘really set the tone for what I wanted to do going forward’.

Lele was selected to show her graduate collection with the pioneering design incubator Fashion East. Her debut at London Fashion Week in 2017 was staged at Tate Modern, and she continued to show under Fashion East’s stewardship for the next three seasons. In 2019, Lele was sponsored by the British Fashion Council through its NewGen initiative and in 2020, she took home part of the LVMH Prize Fund, which was split equally among eight finalists (also including label Chopova Lowena, see opposite) for the first time.

Industry success aside, Lele’s brand of female-centric inclusivity could not feel more sincere. Her S/S21 collection exuded a panache inspired by how her all-female team dressed immediately after the first round of lockdown restrictions had eased.

Despite the logistical challenges of its creation, the collection encapsulates a youthful sexiness. Minimalist silhouettes are amplified by vibrant shades of azure blue and fuchsia; lingerie-inspired details such as delicate ties gingerly hold up draped tops and dresses; and embellishments such as sequins and lace add finesse. Several bright, Madras-check pieces were cut from fabric sourced from Lele’s grandmother’s favorite sari shop in Jabalpur, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

‘What the pandemic has done is bring people together,’ Lele reflects. ‘Everyone has gone through this together and there’s an openness to the fashion system changing; to people showing in their own way and different methods. I think we all really needed that break in the cycle and rhythm.’

Chopova Lowena

Emma Chopova and Laura Lowena transform overstock and deadstock Bulgarian fabrics into oversized Victorian-style blouses and accordion-pleated skirts festooned with carabineers and large buckles. Their work is a triumphant celebration of heritage, cleverly transposed into a contemporary context.

Chopova, who was born in Bulgaria but grew up in the United States, and Lowena, who hails from Somerset in the UK, share a passion for craft and sustainability. ‘I became very interested in Bulgarian dress when I started my BA at Central Saint Martins in London and met Laura,’ says Chopova. ‘I was collecting and wearing traditional dress, but it wasn’t until we did our MA together that we started using Bulgarian references in our work.’

With an archive that spans wall hangings, needlepoints and aprons, the duo’s approach is highly individualised. ‘For us, it’s about having the right product in mind and the right usage for it,’ says Chopova.

The pair dissociate the fabrics from their origins by juxtaposing them with utilitarian silhouettes and sporty embellishments. For S/S21, they invited artists and craftspeople to contribute, a collaboration that resulted in jeans printed with painterly designs and T-shirts featuring abstract imagery made from cut-up Bulgarian postcards.

Thebe Magugu

Originally from the South African mining town of Kimberley, Thebe Magugu moved to Johannesburg to study fashion at LISOF. The 2019 winner of the LVMH Prize, he continues to fly the flag for African culture and provenance, using his eponymous label to highlight social issues, local standards of production, and the potential for growth.

‘I think African stories have often been told by people who aren’t African, and thus distort accounts for their own agenda,’ says Magugu. ‘The collections are inspired by real people and their stories; stories that are often missed in the history books.’

These include the human rights activists of Black Sash, who inspired Magugu’s S/S19 collection, and spies who worked for and against the apartheid regime, whom he interviewed for his S/S21 offering. The resulting collection brims over with hidden details, including patterns developed from the fingerprints of a former spy, and a print featuring official confessions provided by the South African government.

‘Instead of working abroad, I want to create something for us, by us. I think this sentiment, now more than ever, is shared by many designers working on the continent,’ says Magugu, who launched his online store.

Content courtesy of Wallpaper & Nairobi fashion hub

 

Labrum London Autumn/Winter 2021 at London Fashion Week

Posted on by Fashion Police

Not long ago, Menswear brand Labrum London launched their 2021 autumn-winter collection named St. Giles Blackbirds. The collection pays tribute to the black community that settled in London’s St. Giles area, which was full of soldiers, sailors, and former slaves.

The inspiration for the collection is Olaudah Equiano, a man who fought to abolish slavery. The collection itself utilised traditional West African fashion. For instance, the trench coat was a tribute to Equiano’s style. Moreover, the collection displayed loose-fitting tailored garments with voluminous statement ruffles with blue, beige and a pop of bright yellows.

Labrum London continued to be aware of the production wastage by having 70% of their collection made up of deadstock fabric and factory surplus from the previous seasons. They used durable materials to expand the longevity of their garments.

The accessories were made up of 80% upcycled materials.

Labrum dedicates this season to the heroes of ‘St Giles Blackbirds’. Celebrating a section of the black community comprising of; sailors, soldiers and former slaves that settled in England in the late 1700’s and soon found themselves poor, dispossessed and living within the St Giles in the Fields area of London.

Dubbed the ‘black poor’ they were dispassionately transported Sierra Leone following difficulty finding the solace that London once promised.

The group are symbolic of a familiar history and repeated tale: black people who are discarded as soon as they no longer prove useful. Today, the St Giles Blackbirds, defying the attempts of silence and being cast away, are highlighted by Labrum. Their story depicted as one of migration and great resilience.

Special thanks to; The blackbirds of St Giles Lesley Goddard at St Giles in the Fields Converse Creative Direction: Foday Dumbuya JulianKnxx
Art Direction & Styling: Ib Kamara Musicians: Anaiis Kwaye Sheila Maurice-Grey Ayo Salawu Jonathan Moko Godwin Sonzi Renato Paris
MUA: Riona O’Sullivan
MUA Assistants: Hiromi Iizuka Chiharu Wakabayashi
Hair Stylist: Shanice Noel
Hair Assistant s: Franklyn Nnamdi-Okwedy Nat Bury Muriel Cole Carl Murray Danielle Igor

Content courtesy of Our Culture & Nairobi fashion hub 

 

Naomi Campbell: “I’m proud to be part of a shoot with young creatives that are all my skin colour”

Posted on by Ann Mumbi

The iconic supermodel and activist tell i-D about being photographed at her home in Kenya by Luis Alberto Rodriguez, and her hopes for 2021.

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“When I’m in Kenya there are days that are less hectic than others, but I’m always busy. I’m being more careful at the moment because of the situation with COVID, but I still saw the kids in the orphanage that I support, I didn’t want to let them down. I want to reach as many people as I can. I want to spread awareness. There’s a part of me where, if I love something, I want the world to know about it.

“We were working, too we were even shooting on Boxing Day! We shot during the day, we shot at night, but the atmosphere on set with Carlos and Luis and Jawara was so fun, so easy there was always a boombox somewhere close by playing music that it just felt like we were taking pictures on vacation. I think that’s something you can see: in how at ease I am; in the style of Luis’ photography; in the way, Carlos has styled me, and in the fun, Jawara had with the hair. We got to be a bit flamboyant, and it didn’t really feel like work, to be honest, it just felt like dressing up!

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“It was just very real, very organic. And I felt proud, humbled, and happy to be part of a shoot with young creatives that are all my skin color, and that I’m getting to work with them after so many years of being in the fashion industry. It’s very rare that this has happened to me. Luis is the third photographer of color I’ve worked with in my whole career in fashion.

“When you see these images, I hope you see that Kenya is beautiful, that Africa is beautiful. I think people now are going to really open their minds and start to understand that real beauty is in Africa. There are so many gems, so many hidden secrets. I’ve been coming here since 1994 and I’m still discovering things.

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“At the end of 2020, my main reflections were on the need for us to move upward and forward. We have to rise to every challenge and walk through it. And we will get through it. 2021 is going to be a great year, we’ve just got a few more bumps to get through first. Nothing disappears overnight, but we just need to get through this first quarter. After that, I believe that this is going to be an amazing year.

“Actually, I don’t just believe it will be; I feel it will be.”

Credits

Photography: Luis Alberto Rodriguez
Fashion director: Carlos Nazario

Hair Jawara at Art Partner using Dyson.
Make-up by: Bimpe Onakoya and Naomi Campbell.
Styling assistance Raymond Gee, Christine Nicholson, Cari Pacheco, and Jennifer De La Cruz.
Hair assistance: Matt Benns.
Casting director: Samuel Ellis Scheinman for DMCASTING.
Post-production:  Michael Moser.
Model Naomi Campbell at Models1.

Content courtesy of I-D & Nairobi fashion hub

 

Has Black Lives Matter really helped African brands?

Posted on by Fashion Police

The first week of June 2020 was memorable for AAKS designer Akosua Afriyie-Kumi. She woke up to hundreds of orders via her brand’s online store a volume of sales unprecedented in the handbag line’s six-year history.

“I knew the Black Lives Matter protests were happening, but I was wondering, ‘why are people shopping?’,” she recalls. “Then I realised a lot of people were sharing lists of Black-owned businesses online. From June to December [the sales] never stopped.”

For AAKS, based in Ghana, direct sales online grew by 700 per cent in 2020 alone. From her home workshop in the city of Kumasi in the south of the country, the designer is preparing orders that have been placed by major international retailers over the past nine months.

Afriyie-Kumi initially felt under immense pressure when faced with the expectations of her new clients. “The majority expected me to operate like a major retailer,” Afriyie-Kumi says. “I’m a small business. It’s a challenge meeting the orders. I had the worry that they might cancel the orders.”

The process of completing one of Afriyie-Kumi’s handcrafted bags can take from 10 to 14 days. AAKS bags are handcrafted in raffia from palm tree leaves. The harvested leaves are left to dry in the sun before being soaked in vegetable dyes to create the striking colours so characteristic of the brand’s designs. Artisans in northern Ghana hand-weave the raffia; in the finishing process, leather linings, buckles, handles and straps are applied.

Fortunately for the AAKS designer, her new clients are firmly aligned with the sustainable and artisanal ethos of the brand. “Companies are so understanding once I explain the nature of our operations,” she says.

AAKS is one of many African brands that have become highly prized in the aftermath of last year’s anti-racism protests in the West. Calls to end racial and social injustice catalysed a global Black economic empowerment movement that has boosted Black businesses around the world.

South African brand Maxhosa Africa likewise experienced a surge in demand, with sales growing by 400 per cent in June 2000. The luxury knitwear line was featured on Beyonce’s Black Parade, a platform on the singer’s website to promote Black-owned brands. Its online store promptly sold out of stock.

Maxhosa’s knitwear, for both men and women, features colourful patterns in silk, mohair and wool thread that appear to have been dipped in a rainbow. They reference traditional beadwork and symbolism from designer Laduma Ngxokolo’s Xhosa heritage.

However, despite the positive interest, Ngxokolo says he is unenthusiastic about servicing the influx of requests from international retail platforms. “Unfortunately, they only place orders in very small quantities,” he explains. “Processing a very small order costs more than the revenue that you’re going to generate from that order.

I personally feel that some outlets want to be on trend, or they want some form of credibility or want to leverage demand I’ve created. It’s not really worth it.”

Ngxokolo says longer-lasting and lucrative opportunities are needed to promote meaningful change. “If you think back five years ago or even three years ago [about] boutiques that placed Black brands, do they still stock them to this day? No, they don’t.”

African Fashion Foundation creative consultant Arieta Mujay-Barg is also a touch sceptical about increased interest in African brands. “Of course, it’s a bit of a trend,” she says. Mujay-Barg has witnessed a revolving door of African creatives over the years. She urges caution: “This whole thing happened last year  let’s wait and see the figures.”

One of the most high-profile initiatives promoting Black economic empowerment is the 15 Percent Pledge, founded by Canadian designer Aurora James. The Pledge has called on major retailers to commit a minimum of 15 per cent of their shelf space to Black-owned businesses to reflect the size of the African American demographic in the US.

The Pledge has evolved into a nonprofit headed by racial justice activist LaToya Williams-Belfort. ‘We didn’t get to this moment overnight,” Williams-Belfort says. “It’s been years of systemic injustice to get here.

So it will take time and work for companies to take the pledge… Eighteen companies have taken the pledge since June and are making progress to hit their benchmarks and goals, while others are at varying stages of discussions with the organisation.”

Meanwhile, retailers are creating or reevaluating their internal diversity, equity and inclusion strategies. This includes major global luxury platform Net-a-Porter, which says its buyers are in the process of improving access for, and visibility of, Black-owned brands.

Mujay-Barg says social media has played a central role as a conduit for African creatives who have taken control of their narratives to deliver their aesthetic story directly to trend-spotting gatekeepers of the industry.

Fashion designer Phyllis Taylor highlights how social media influencers’ approval has driven transformative growth for her made-in-Africa brand Sika. The influencers’ followers post images and videos of her collections on Instagram. Sales have grown by 150 per cent since June.

Within less than a year, Taylor has hired 30 people to boost the production team in Ghana to 50 artisans. She is ramping up output to fulfil substantial orders for 10 new wholesalers keen to stock her hand-dyed batik prints.

For all the good news, Taylor describes the expansion as an uncomfortable period of “forced growth… With all these deadlines and interest we have to work at a different pace  that hasn’t been easy. I’ve gone from [being] a retailer to a production house. I’m grateful for it, but it’s not what we set out to do”.

Taylor is among a number of African designers who are considering broadening their handcrafted offer to include some elements of machine-made product.

The dilemma is that these brands could lose part of their allure and be potentially obliged to abandon some of the sustainable practices that originally attracted eco-conscious consumers and wholesalers.

Growth can be difficult but it’s also exciting and potentially transformative. “Before it was about the big brands the Guccis, the Louis Vuittons but now people are craving something different,” Afriyie-Kumi says. “The Black Lives Matter movement has prompted a conversation.”

Written By  Ijeoma Ndukwe

Content courtesy of  Vogue Business & Nairobi fashion hub 

 

Black Lives Matters ( BLM ) in Italian Fashion campaign shows early tangible results

Posted on by Fashion Police

MILAN – A digital runway show by five Italian fashion designers of African origin opens Milan Fashion Week on Wednesday, one tangible result of a campaign launched last summer by the only Black Italian designer belonging to the Milan fashion chamber.

After some initial resistance and a slow start, designer Stella Jean credits the Italian National Fashion Chamber with “a lot of goodwill” in pushing through an enhanced collaboration with five young designers, including financing and partnerships with Italian suppliers.

“When you want to do something, you can do them immediately,’’ said Jean, one of the founders of the Black Lives Matters in Italian Fashion campaign. “I have been working hard to overcome this gradualism that is part of the mentality of a certain part of the Italian fashion world.”

She launched the campaign with designer Edward Buchanan and Afro Fashion Week Milano founder Michelle Ngomo after fashion houses expressed solidarity with the Black Lives Matters Movement on Instagram, demanding that they put action behind their social media pledges. Jean, who got her break when Giorgio Armani invited her to show in his theater in 2014, said putting the spotlight on Italians of African origin is important to combat one of the first obstacles the campaign ran up against: claims that there were no Black designers in Italy.

The collaboration with the Italian fashion council will continue in September, when five new designers from Italy’s minority communities will be featured during fashion week. And Jean also is creating an event featuring designers and artisans from Africa, with the goal of creating partnerships between Italian fashion houses that can learn sustainable production methods in exchange for training in the global fashion system.

“You speak about sustainability ad nauseam here, and what I see is anything but sustainable, believe me. In the countries where I work, people are working 99% sustainably, as a result of necessity, of restriction or desire,’’ Jean said.

Jean is also working on a database of African artisanal techniques, fabrics, motifs and other cultural references. The Italian-Haitian designer sees the move as a bulwark against cultural appropriation that does not economically benefit Africans and a way to prevent racist gaffes.

Valerie Steele, director of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s museum, said many of Jean’s ideas could be replicated in the United States and elsewhere.

Steele, who has some of Jean’s creations in the collection, recorded a conversation with the Italian designer for Black History Month, which will be released on FIT’s YouTube channel on Thursday to highlight Jean’s role in shaking up Italian fashion.

Steele said Black designers are also under-represented in the United States, despite the role Black culture has had on inspiring fashion there.

“When a few years ago we did an exhibition on Black fashion designers, which was an international show Stella was in, we were very shocked to realize that on the Vogue.com, something ridiculous, like 1% of the designers who were featured were Black,” Steele said.

Content courtesy of ABC News & Nairobi fashion hub 

Something for the forever: Lukhanyo Mdingi on weaving friendship into his latest collection, Coutts

Posted on by Fashion Police

When his friend and fellow designer Nicholas Coutts passed away, South African fashion designer Lukhanyo Mdingi decided to commemorate Coutts in the most meaningful way he knew how through their shared language of fashion design.

“We’ve found that the spirit of time has yielded us to create collections that have a certain steadiness to [them]; a pitch of some sort that mirrors values that are rooted by consideration and sincerity, swaying ourselves away from anything that is fleeting, the resistance of some sort that’s against the aesthetics of trends.

“Our intention is to simply create a body of work that has a sense of soulfulness to it; work that is of substance, that is strong and that is solid something for the forever.” So reads the “intention” statement on the Lukhanyo Mdingi fashion label’s

If one thinks of the idea of steadiness in the way the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as direct sure movement, being firm in position, showing little variation or fluctuation, and not easily disturbed or upset then the “steadiness” the 27-year-old eponymous designer behind the label speaks of, does indeed inform much of what he does, both personally and in his creative output.

From his 2015 Macrame menswear collection, a series of monochromatic looks presented in whites and shades of grey without so much as a suggestion of any other colors, to spring summer 2016’s genderless Taintless collection, a strictly navy blue affair of sheer fabrics and billowing silhouettes through to his more recent Perennial collection which debuted at New York Fashion Week in February 2019, made of oatmeal shades and copper hues, spread across mohair textures and metallic fabrics.

It is also that steadiness of mind that led him to choose a fashion collection as the appropriate tribute to his dear friend and fellow young designer, Nicholas Coutts, who passed away in May 2019.

“All of us who were really close to him were deeply affected by his passing, and we had our own ways of dealing with his death. A lot of people commemorated him through social media, posting things about him and posting their memories, and hanging out. But I knew that I wanted to do it in the language of what he and I shared: fashion design.

“Having had the opportunity to collaborate with him and really get the essence of Nicholas Coutts, I felt confident enough to approach his parents and his family and ask them if the LM label could commemorate his legacy through a body of work that represents the spirit of Nicholas Coutts,” says Mdingi.

On 9 February 2021, the Coutts collection by Lukhanyo Mdingi debuted at Pitti Uomo, the highly influential menswear trade show that has been held annually in Florence, Italy, for almost four decades.

This year, however, much of it has moved online due to the pandemic.

Unlike Mdingi’s usual monochromatic looks and neutral tones, here we see reds, greens, burnt oranges, and blues living side by side. At times, Mdingi’s typically loose silhouettes give way to Coutts’ more fitted sexy looks. At its most uncannily Coutts, the collection features the late designer’s signature handwoven scarves.

Alongside his fitted silhouettes and an eye for textural combinations, it was the scarves that first caught the attention of the judging panel at the 2013 ELLE Rising Star design competition, which Coutts would go on to win, launching him into the spotlight. Full disclosure: this writer was part of the judging panel that year.

Both Mdingi and Coutts were finalists. Having met a couple of years earlier in 2011 and hung out socially, Mdingi notes the competition as a significant moment in their friendship.

“The friendship really got solidified that year. Both he and I were now in the same boat, not just in terms of being fashion students, but we were also finalists in this national prestigious competition that had been happening since 2000.

Debuting the Coutts collection at Pitti Uomo this year is particularly significant for another reason for Mdingi. In 2016, the pair debuted their collaborative collection at Pitti Uomo, the first time both designers had collaborated, and the first time they’d shown at Pitti Uomo.

Says Mdingi: “It didn’t feel transactional. We were just two friends trying to put a body of work together. And it was like… business aside, let’s just collaborate and work with one another. We were 22 or 23 at the time. We hadn’t even made the marriage of business and design work; we were just designing and thinking about the shows and the craftsmanship and the direction of where we wanted it to go.

“We weren’t thinking about the business of fashion at all. We didn’t know any better. All we said was that we’ll just split everything in half in terms of costs, and that’s what we did. We weren’t even thinking of selling the collection… we were just making clothes.

“I think it was only later in our careers, as we got older, that we realized that we both have so much potential and so much to offer; that people want to feel part of the story. And the only way we can make this work is if we also bring in the business side of things, and make that marriage of business and design work.”

As with the ELLE Rising Star competition nearly three years earlier, which brought both designers into the public eye and led to a strengthening of their bond, the Pitti Uomo show would push them further into the spotlight.

This slowly led to divergent ideas between the pair, and the years that followed brought about tension and competition.

“We became more competitive with one another.

There were certain times when it was difficult to put that aside and just be friends, knowing that every single time we would have a hangout at my place or his place we would always be like… so what work are you doing? What competitions are you in?

“I don’t quite know why we became like that, instead of being the same peers that we were when we were both 22, 23 years old,” says Mdingi.

At the end of 2018, just a few months before Coutts’ passing, an opportunity came up to be part of a trade show in Paris, France.

“I was like, hey man, are you keen on doing this? And that’s when things started to get better between him and me and it felt really good. After the trade show, we decided to extend our stay in Paris and have a little bit of a holiday and just hang out.

“Sometimes there was tension, sometimes there was just a lot of love. It was an interesting dynamic because I knew I loved and respected this guy so much, and I knew that he loved me too,” Mdingi recalls.

“He was my friend, but he was also was my peer… and just having another individual that was exactly in the same boat as you, and going through the same industry struggles as a young designer, was really nice… to have someone to talk to and confide in and lean on and share what you’re feeling.

“I felt like he was my only peer that was also my friend; there was that level of trust and respect.”

Coutts’ passion for craftsmanship and the role he believed it could play in society had also led him to work with Philani, a multi-faceted organization based in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, that works to empower women and children.

Says Mdingi: “I looked at him with so much respect… there was so much potential to be reached. Nicholas was making his own textiles by his own hands, and no other designer was doing that, to be frank. And then it reached a point where he was able to pass that spirit, using his time and talent through working with the women at Philani, teaching his technique, and collaborating with them.

“He used talent as a means of service. A lot of people don’t know the intentions that he had, the visions that he had, you know, and I feel honored to have had a little bit of a taste of that.

“His passing made me realize there is an impermanence to everything. And it really made me reflect on my friendship and work relationship with Nick, and the importance of actually being friends, having your peers’ back, supporting them, and understanding that one is on their own trajectory, their own journey, and respecting that person’s journey instead of looking at them as competition.”

As Mdingi prepared for their second collaborative showcase at Pitti Uomo, this time without Coutts’s hands and his craftsmanship to get on the loom and weave his signature scarves, Mdingi would have to go to the source – the very same person who taught Coutts.

“It was in January last year 2020 … maybe February… when I visited his mom Lindsay again and she was, like, ‘Okay, well, when you visit again, I have to teach you how to set up a loom and how to weave, because if you’re going to be doing this yourself, you need to do it properly. I need to teach you the same way I taught my son’. And so she taught me,” says Mdingi, recounting an afternoon spent with Nicholas’ mother, Lindsay Coutts.

He would visit the family several times, showing them the progress of the collection.

“It was a constant and steady in and out because I knew each moment that I would text or call or even enter their home, one way or another, it was a reminder of their son, of course among other things that were in the home.

“Besides coming in based on the premise that Nicholas and I were friends, I’d also be coming to discuss the body of work and showing them progress and getting permission to go into his studio. So I had to be steady, and do this sporadically overtime to make sure I didn’t bombard them.

“Because as much as the spirit of this is to celebrate Nicholas, it would still bring up a longing and missing, and it could be triggering; it would be a reminder that the physical being of Nick is no longer with us, even though his spirit is still here.”

While putting together the collection, in particular, while weaving the scarves in the style Nick would weave them, and now as they had both been taught the technique by Coutts’ mother, Mdingi would momentarily be faced with moments of doubt about his decision to embark on this commemorative collection.

“There was this imposter syndrome when I’d ask myself, ‘What are you doing? Who do you think you are?’ I would literally have conversations with myself like, ‘Why are you doing this? Nobody asked you. You’re just taking over somebody else’s like signature’.

“But there were also moments when I felt his presence. And I felt him saying, ‘Go for it.’ Without sounding weird and spiritual… but I felt his presence. I remember moments while weaving and thinking to myself, ‘Lukhanyo would never put these colors together, but it wasn’t about me, it was Nick saying, ‘Go for it, put together that green with the purple, bring in the gold, bring in the yellow’.

“Even in those moments of doubt, I just had to remember the intention… the root of what I was doing love. I just had to remind myself that you’re doing this because you love Nick’.

“My friendship with him was too strong to just say ‘goodbye, my friend, I love you, I miss you. No way. I had to use the language of design to honor him and his legacy; through what he did, in the most honorable way.” DM/ML

Content courtesy of Daily Maverick & Nairobi fashion hub 

Cyril Naicker To Represent South Africa at The Un Panel Discussion on Sustainable Fashion

Posted on by Fashion Police

The world of fashion is more than models, make-up, ramps, divas, and fabulous designs. That’s exactly what a UN panel on sustainable fashion plans to discuss next week and South Africa has a seat at the table.

Chief executive at Imprint Luxury, events, PR and marketing company, and founder of the Fashion Revolution in Cape Town, Cyril Naicker, will be joining fashion gurus from around the world at a sustainable fashion show and panel event on February 24 where they will discuss the importance of sustainable fashion.

The event will also showcase fashion designers at the forefront of sustainable and culturally diverse clothing and ethical consumerism.

Panel members will highlight the different ways to systematically change the processing and supply chain management of the fashion industry as well as their experience in promoting sustainable fashion around the world.

Topping the agenda will be harmful practices and human rights violations of the fast-fashion industry, which hurts millions of people and has been justly criticized for perpetuating poverty in developing countries and unsuitable manufacturing methods.

In 2014, Naicker was contacted by Brittany Chambers, a researcher and education advocate with a passion for sharing insights on the workplace. In 2017 he was asked to be part of the UN panel but due to funding issues, he had to decline. Fast forward to 2021 and Covid-19, the event is taking place online and Naicker would not miss it for the world.

“I have worked as a fashion consultant for sustainable clothing brands. I am a fashion designer by qualification but spent the last twenty years working at almost every point of the fashion value chain. I built a reputation for an ethical stance on fashion and am very involved in the sustainable fashion movement in South Africa.

“My work with Fashion Revolution South Africa and my dedication to sustainable and ethical fashion made by local people who are paid a living wage and work in decent workplaces is what we will be highlighting at this event,” said Naicker.

He said while he’s the only African on the panel, he knows there are many like-minded people in South Africa and on the continent.

Naicker said sustainable fashion is a movement and process to bring about change in the fashion value chain.

“It is about addressing the impact that the manufacturing processes have on our environment and it is about social justice. The people who made our clothing. What working conditions do they work under? Do they get paid fair wages? In summary, it is about a fashion industry that is fair to the planet and fair to the people that make our clothing,” he said.

On ethical consumerism, Naicker said: “It’s voting with your money. It is the practical side of consumer activism based on their shopping habits. An ethical consumer cares about understanding the process of how the item that they are buying was made. It is about caring for the artisans that make these items, boycotting items made while exploiting children as workers and avoiding items that damage our environment.”

“I have a sit-down interview with sustainable textile designer Sindiso Khumalo and we feature fashion from local South African designers, Mmusomaxwell, Lukhanyo Mdingi, Thebe Magugu as well as Cute-Saint from Lagos, Nigeria. Imprint Luxury’s focus on sustainability as a business consultancy company has led to several large companies approaching us for advice and business ventures with respect to them achieving the UN Sustainability Development Goals,” said Naicker.

He will be joined on the panel by Hyejune Park Professor, Oklahoma State University Specialist in Sustainable Fashion Production, Ayesha Barenblat -Social entrepreneur and sustainable supply chain advocate and founder and CEO of Remake Tara Rangarajan – Head of Communications, Brand Relationships and Country Programmes, International Labour Organisation and the discussion will be moderated by Jeff Trexler from the Fashion Law Institute.

Content courtesy of IOL & Nairobi fashion hub 

Kutula Clothing Celebrates its 50th Anniversary as a Leader in African Inspired Fashion

Posted on by Fashion Tribe Influencer

Kutula’s clothes are rich in color and African history. They’re a favorite on the red carpet. Stars like David Oyelowo, Angela Bassett, Lupita Nyongo, and the late Chadwick Boseman, and their family members wore them to premieres.

Kutula itself is a family story. Francesca Anuluoha started it in 1971 after she arrived in Los Angeles from Zambia. She told NBC4 about the 70s when her daughters were little and African fashion was beginning to take off as an individual expression.

“We’re adventurers, we were allowed to be adventurers and we did what we wanted to do,” said Anuluoha.

Fifty years later, Kutula’s clothes are once again the rage. The Black Lives Matter movement, and a summer of racial justice protests and awakening, have led to a new generation of Angelenos looking to express their African heritage.

“Individually people have come to us and made a decision to now start wearing clothing in their daily life,” says Nyambo Anuluoha Francesca’s daughter and co-owner of Kutula.

From formal wear, like the senator suit, a favorite of Boseman’s, to more casual wear like the dashiki, all of the clothes at Kutula have roots in Africa.
Francesca has now handed the business to her two daughters, Nyambo and Kay, who say they don’t only see each other as family, but also the community around them.

Everyone is a family member, everyone is part of the tribe, say Nyambo and Kay.

Those interested in getting an outfit, being fitted, or shopping off the rack at Kutula can visit the store in View Park-Windsor Hills. The clothes go from $50 and up.

Francesca is retired but she still travels regularly from Zambia to Los Angeles, keeping an eye on new prints, and appreciating that her daughter’s dedication has enabled Kutula to reach 50 years and beyond.

Content Courtesy of NBC Los Angeles & Nairobi fashion hub 

Step into Elsa Majimbo’s World with an all-new Collaboration Presented by Valentino

Posted on by Fashion Police

Valentino is proud to announce a special project with writer, actor, and comedian Elsa Majimbo, culminating into a soon-to-be-released collaboration. Stay tuned to find out more.

Elsa X Valentino

One of the brightest stars to emerge from 2020 is Kenya-based social media sensation, Elsa Majimbo. If you haven’t seen her viral Instagram videos, which often feature tight closeups of Majimbo rocking her Matrix-style tiny sunglasses and always showcase her infectious laugh, then you’ve likely caught her being interviewed by Anderson Cooper or heard her voice on TikTok or Instagram Reels. (Majimbo’s now-signature quotes have become a popular soundtrack for many content creators’ social media posts.)

In a year marred by anxiety and uncertainty, Majimbo’s hilarious videos have provided joy for millions around the world and continue to do so. With a reach of 1.3 million Instagram followers (and an engaged online community that only continues to thrive), and partnership deals with the likes of Fenty and MAC, the 19-year-old celebrity is proving that when it comes to fame, there are no boundaries or borders.

Majimbo’s international popularity is also proof that there’s a reward in continuously catching fans by surprise. Like stealth chess player Beth Harmon, the main character in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, the beauty is that no one sees her coming.

Most recently, Majimbo dropped an ASMR-style song called “Snack Queen,” produced by Cautious Clay, to strategically coincide with U.S. Thanksgiving. It’s also an ode to Majimbo’s signature snacking habit on social media and after all, has there ever been an ASMR trap song about snacks? Well now, there is.

So who is the Internet’s favorite comedian whose Instagram biography includes the titles “15x chess champion and professional bragger”? (Spoiler alert: only one of these claims is true.)

Born and based in Nairobi, Kenya, Majimbo was studying journalism when the pandemic hit in March (she had approximately 7K followers back then).

While at home during lockdown, the teenager with natural comedic talent and timing began filming short Instagram video clips from her bedroom. As fate would have it, boredom can blossom into beautiful beginnings.

The clips went viral, especially on TikTok and Instagram’s newer feature, Reels, where people posted themselves using the audio of Majimbo’s signature voice and laugh, along with her hilarious taglines. Majimbo’s profile took off like wildfire, along with her love for binging on potato chips and streaming content.

For Majimbo, 2020 has become the year of Netflix and thrill.

Majimbo’s satirical style of comedy (punctuated by her lo-fi video technique) has struck a chord with a global audience, clearly craving humor and a dose of optimism in otherwise trying times. By leaning into her voice and relatable content, Majimbo has become a breakout star with a positive impact.

“I initially made my videos to bring joy to myself. I would make them and I’d think, I am so funny! I would watch the videos and just laugh!,” Majimbo shares. “I wouldn’t care if other people found them funny or not. Turns out, the videos have also brought other people joy, and I’m so happy they did.”

Majimbo’s lockdown-themed Instagram video with the now-famous “I want you to come over, but it’s a pandemic” is the most popular. After being nominated for the E! People’s Choice Awards in the African Social Star category, Majimbo satirically taped herself looking for her humility in a big purse (a nod to her “professional bragger” title)  she ended up winning the award.

Majimbo is also passionate about chess, a skill that has earned her the title of a 15-time chess champion. Although this is clearly stated in her Instagram biography, no one thinks she’s being serious.

But once you look deeper and notice Majimbo’s swift and strategic process, it’s clear that she conducts her business as exquisitely as a chess player. Just like a chess master, everything Majimbo does is intentional, calculating, and thought out. She is always several steps ahead when it comes to plotting her next move.

A strong theme in The Queen’s Gambit is to “never count anyone out” and this holds true for Majimbo, who is proving that success can be achieved despite the sexism, colorism, and limited resources she faces in her native Kenya.

When Majimbo’s star began to rise earlier this summer, brands were clamoring to partner with her. The thing is, for Majimbo, it’s about the long game and operating with her instincts just like in chess.

“I definitely tend to always go with my gut and trust my intuition,” Majimbo explains. If my gut says one thing and I’m like, Oh no, let me just try it, it always ends up going south. My gut is like my guardian angel, always telling me what to do. Chess is an intuitive game because you don’t know what move your opponent will make next, so you have to make yours based off your gut. I always trust my intuition.”

This is why Majimbo has what can be perceived as “the audacity” (a word she uses ironically, in her videos) to refuse certain brand partnerships, by considering and focusing on the long game. She is unapologetically betting on herself and being strategic about owning her IP and brand equity. (A critical business lesson for any creative today.)

“When you’re playing chess, it’s all about the long game. And if your opponent is equally as clever as you, you have to be really clever in everything you do. Even if the brand or company approaching you makes it seem like it’s something you need or something you want that’s when the end game comes in,” Majimbo asserts.

With partnerships like Fenty and MAC already in her portfolio, Majimbo has been discerning when it comes to the merch deals, partnerships, and ambassadorship opportunities presented to her.

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It’s further proof that she is doubling down on her worth and keeping her sights on long-term brand equity rather than quick wins.

“It’s big money, but I know that bigger opportunities are on the way and I’d rather wait than jump on what’s coming in right now. So I’m thinking about the long term. It definitely requires patience and hard work, and being consistent and believing in yourself.”

Another tactic in Majimbo’s arsenal is consistency, a critical tool for successful chess players. In her case, there’s a lot of A/B testing when she posts her videos to Instagram and measuring different segments of her content based on engagement. In other words: nothing is random.

“I feel like being consistent just helps my mind run and helps all the ideas flow. It keeps me happy and keeps me busy. I feel like when you’re consistent and you finally get the achieved goal, you learn that nothing can be built overnight and you learn to put one brick at a time to build your empire.”

While Instagram’s algorithm can make it challenging for content creators, Majimbo explains that the “Explore” page helped catapult her videos and content by showcasing it often: as she says, “the Explore page just ‘got me’.”

“Now I’m focusing on all my platforms. Making sure they all thrive. I’m continuously perfecting my art and I’m perfecting it until now, and I just tried to build a team around me that I trust  I removed all the negative people, all the people who just came with very wicked vibes.”

She recently put her journalistic skills to use as the host of her newly-launched IGTV series, Bedtime With Elsa (her first guests include musician Jorja Smith and comedian and talk-show host Lilly Singh). She also launched a podcast this Year 2021.

While Majimbo might joke about her work ethic in her Instagram videos (with her viral quote “Everyday slaving, everyday labor”), she is getting the last laugh.

“The fact that people told me I couldn’t do it  I think that’s what drives me so much. Maybe it’s because I’m dark-skinned or I’m African, they say that I can’t achieve certain things, and I’m like, okay, we’re gonna see about that  and I just go for everything headstrong.”

The mantra she always go by?

“Chance favors the prepared mind, and opportunity favors the bold. Because I have this opportunity and so many people would say it’s luck, but I believe there is a very thin line between luck and opportunity. I feel like there’s also quite a number of people who say, Oh you know, I’m famous now, I’m untouchable. You always need to know where your head is at and I feel like you also need to carry yourself with some type of humility. Being in such a space should humble you strangers go out of their way to support you, so you should be so incredibly grateful.”

Another parallel to The Queen’s Gambit: surrounding herself with the right people. Majimbo’s manager, Mo Kheir, helps mastermind the moves, behind the scenes. Kheir, who is an architect-turned-brand developer, is also the host of the podcast Turning Point and author of the book, Alien Of Extraordinary Ability. (Spoiler alert: while Beth Harmon in the Netflix series was a natural wonder, a big part of her success can be attributed to her support system and those in her tight circle.)

Majimbo jokes about being a “professional bragger” and binging on junk food, but in reality, she’s humble and swears by eating healthy foods for her, hydration is key!

“I like junk, but I don’t eat it as much as I imply! I also tell people not to work. I’m like, guys, don’t work, work isn’t meant for you, just rest! And I work a lot. I work so much for what I want and what I’ve achieved and for the life I’m aiming for. So I always feel like I’m cheating people but we laugh. I laugh, they laugh. So everyone wins.” Checkmate.

#ElsaXValentino

Content courtesy of Valentino, Forbes & Nairobi fashion hub 

If Rihanna herself can’t hold down a luxury fashion label in 2021, then who can?

Posted on by Fashion Police

When I heard the news that LVMH was dropping Fenty (the clothing brand) from its roster and putting it on sleep mode, (or a momentary coma with indefinite return), I flinched, but nothing automatically triggered me. I love me some Rih Rih, but I wasn’t going to have sleepless nights over the first lady of pop music and beauty becoming a little less rich.

However, something didn’t quite sit well with me. For me, it was beyond Fenty.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGDFI_vh3uI/?utm_source=ig_embed

There was a message there and it took me a few moments to grasp it.

It’s understandable there are those that perhaps feel like her luxury fashion brand didn’t have legs as she is more of a beautiful babe. It’s a fair point. Although her undeniable sex appeal and attention to diversity do sell lingerie (Savage x Fenty heart eyes), she isn’t really a lingerie designer either, right? Nor was she a beauty pro before she launched her sell-out Fenty Beauty range.

So it made me question whether there’s something else going on and whether we should be questioning the landscape of luxury when it comes to Black ownership and where exactly representation fits into this conversation.

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One of the arguments for the closure of Fenty is that her core audience is ultimately not a luxury buyer. “I believe that the clothes haven’t done as much as beauty and lingerie, but that may be because Rihanna’s current demographic/core audience is millennial/gen Z Black, men, and women.

” says creative consultant Arrieta Mujay Bärg, 41, who was a former Head of PR and Marketing for River Island and led Rihanna x River Island 13’ collection. “However Fenty fashion house has only been opened for less than two years and it takes time to develop a following when you are doing something different from the norm,” Bärg adds.

The same may be said for a lot of Black designers like the super trendy Telfar Clemens and the super edgy, cool, and monotone Cold Laundry founder Ola Alabi, who often attract a more ‘urban demographic’ for lack of a better word.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCRGVLHI9pj/?utm_source=ig_embed

By no means is that a bad thing, but of course for sustainable success, there is a need to appeal to as wide an audience as possible. Gaining respect across the board in that space is a hard task, but it’s lazy to assume that consumerism within the Black community or a specific generation is capped at a price point.

Bärg agrees to add: “On the same note. It would be inaccurate to say that her, having a majority Black following is the reason that the brand has failed. Developing a high-quality luxury brand and sticking to it is no easy task.” Barg believes that the same level of grace is not allowed fairly, and that may support the case as to why we see so few successful Black-owned/Black-led luxury businesses.

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“Case in point: Edun – the brand fronted by Bono and wife Ali Hewson made LVMH a loss of $28million in a space of five years, and every year they were given the benefit of the doubt and they kept feeding in cash until there was no turning back,” says Bärg.

Written By Sheilla Mamona

Content courtesy of Glamour & Nairobi fashion hub 

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