DAKAR FASHION WEEK is the longest running fashion exhibition in Africa, it might not be as popular as cities like Lagos or Cape Town, the show is a celebration of fashion by revealing the cultural riches of Africa. Beyond the fashion show which reveals the stylists, for them, it is a question of associating the crafts and the music with these festive appointments. The event which happens every year celebrates black beauty and emancipation of the black woman. Every year the show’s main focus is curating a stage for young Senegalese designers on the international scene by providing a bridge between creation in the rest of the world and in Senegal.
Dakar Fashion Week always goes under the radar as far as media is concerned, and unfortunately, acquiring runway pictures can be extremely different never the less the event still remains a magnificent showcase for the fashion world, and probably one of the most favoured in Francophone West Africa.
South African duo, Quiteria, and George showcased their latest collection at the recently concluded DAKAR FASHION WEEK, which featured muted tones, with occasional splashes of rainbow colours on sophisticated evening gowns. “You know I think African fashion is really taking its own turn. The continent is raising so that gives us a better chance to tell our stories. And we have been fortunate to be in a country where, you know, as artists we are allowed to focus more on our individualism and being able to be creatives and telling African stories through clothes,” George Malelu of Quiteria and George shared with AfricanNews
A total of 35 designers from Senegal, South Africa, Mali, Nigeria, and Guinea Bissau amongst other countries showcased their collections during this year’s fashion week event in Dakar Fashion Week. As one of the first fashion weeks to launch on the continent, it’s helped encourage other Fashion weeks as well as encourage businesses in fashion community as a whole, creating jobs for photographers, journalists, makeup artists, hair stylists, highlighting the beauty of indigenous African style.
“It’s not easy for me to be a model in Africa because I have more of a European than African measurements I would say. I am a 34 (size) and it’s not easy for the designers because African designers do big 36 and 38. So I am used to floating in their clothes. And as for modeling in general I would say that of course there is progress, but there is still more progress needed. Because an African model can’t, well, you really can’t say modeling in Africa is a career, there is still a lot that needs to be done. In Europe, once you are there, you fight and that’s it and models are better paid there than in Africa. In Africa, for some catwalks, it’s more like doing charity work than a job,” 22-year-old Senegalese-Gabonese model, Jamila Nguizi Diaoune said.
Founder of Dakar Fashion Week, Adama Ndiaye a Senegalese fashion designer who also goes by the name Adama Paris, the same name of her label came up this year’s theme “My Africa” while contemplating what representation and Africa meant with friends.
For me, ‘My Africa’ is creative. And we went around the table. Each of them was asked what’s your Africa. My Africa is proud. The other said My Africa is bold, the other My Africa is colourful. And in the end what we got were powerful words that were coming out of that and I think there is nothing better than to chant, really to chant and shout out loud what we love so that it can be integrated into this youth, this pride to be African and the pride to evolve in Africa, Ndiaye said.
