Imane Ayissi is on a mission to put authentic African textiles in the spotlight but faces an uphill battle as a pioneer African couturier at Paris Fashion Week in France.

The bark of the Obom tree, kente cloth from Ghana and kapok fibres from Burkina Faso are some of the textiles — little-known in Europe — that the Cameroonian turned into bespoke dresses for his haute couture show in Paris on Monday.

“Often when we talk about African fashion, we think of colorful fabrics that Africans actually only started wearing relatively recently,” Ayissi told AFP at his workshop ahead of the show.

Ayissi — who in 2020 became the first designer from Sub-Saharan Africa at haute couture week — seeks to resurrect more traditional fabrics like rafia, drawn from local trees and plants, that were used before the African market was flooded with imports during the colonial period.

Source: AFP

A fashion week has kicked off in Yaoundé with an urban parade dedicated to the celebration of cotton.

Models opened the way to an impressive parade of dancers, performers, clowns and even giant puppets. The show was called “Cotton Pride, from seed to dress” .

“When you see a woman walking by in a beautiful dress or a man in beautiful cotton trousers, you can’t imagine the whole chain of work that goes into it. So in fact Cotton Pride is the pride of cotton work. It means that before you can wear this beautiful dress, there are people who cut, there are people who sew, there are people who spin the fibres, there are people who sow the seed, others who pick the flowers and others who transport these cotton flowers to the spinning mill. So in fact all these pictures show the different stages of cotton processing”, said show director, Nathalie Veuillet.

The show was a prelude to the Fashion and Design Forum.

The urban parade was an initiative of the Centre des Créateurs de Mode du Cameroun (CCMC), which is headed by Yves Eya’a .

“The theme of the designers’ collections is Let fashion express itself. And for us it was important that fashion went to the streets because today when we look at the streets, it’s all that inspires us as designers, as fashion, as fashionistas. And so it was important for us to be able to take to the streets to show the Cameroonian public the fashion that is expressed today in Cameroon”, added the CCMC promoter.

With its carnival atmosphere, Cotton Pride attracted many people.

“This show is really beautiful. It’s beautiful because it’s typically African, it’s beautiful, I love it so much,” said one onlooker.

Africanews reporter, Philippe Anatole Malong , added:

“Yaoundé’s Fashion Week features exhibitions, conferences, debates, fashion shows and other activities aimed at bringing fashion design closer to the Cameroonian public”.

Culled from iol.co.za

The maiden edition of Sp’Ash, a celebration of Cameroon’s amazing talent in fashion, sport, visual arts, music and entertainment, was held on February 5th 2022 at the prestigious Hilton Hotel in Yaoundé, as a prelude to the TotalEnergies AFCON 2021 Finals in Cameroon.

A major highlight of this unique event which fused Sports and Fashion was the appearance of the 2010-2014 Vice captain of the Indomitable Lions – Eyong Enow – who graced the runway in clothes by outstanding Cameroonian designers. Also on the fashion runway was the reigning Miss Cameroon 2022 Samantha Edima, Miss Cameroon 2020 Audrey Monkam, Miss Cameroon 2015 Jessica Ngoa, with Miss Cameroon 2014 Valerie Ayena being the vibrant host.

The Cameroon designers selected for this special event included Inesta, Yves Tchinda, Eloli and Kibonen. Numero Uno department store also displayed a collection of the brands they carry, with a promise of eventually carrying products from select Cameroonian fashion designers in the near future. The eclectic band X Maleya provided the  musical performance for the runway walk, whilst LoveNLive also kept guests enthralled with folkloric live music.

The symbolic presence and support of HRH Nfon Ekoko Mukete was a clear sign that Cameroon’s cultural landscape had endorsed Sp’Ash, further evidenced by the opening address of Mme Ewang Grace from the Ministry of Arts and Culture (SWR Regional Delegate).

Among the illustrious guests were: -Mrs Elizabeth Mbayu, wife of Minister Delegate at MINREX in charge of relations with the Commonwealth, Mr Ben Modo, CEO of Prime Potomac,  Mr Moctar Ousman Mey, Board Chair of NASLA,  Mr Kinge Monono of the Cameroon Embassy USA,  Mrs Priscilia Monono of the Prime Minister’s Office,  Mr Awasum E.M (JR), President of The Cameroon American Football Federation, Mr Donatus Ach, Inspector at the Ministry of Finance,  Nkanya Nwai, renown movie producer and Mayor of Ako Municipality,  Bah-Pna Dahane, international consultant for Sports, Arts and Culture

Echoes of this event led the meeting of some Cameroonian fashion stakeholders with Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe, a South African fashion businesswoman and wife to CAF President Patrice Motsepe, and whose company, African Fashion International  produces African Fashion Week in South Africa. 

This edition of Sp’Ash was sponsored by Afreximbank through its Creative Africa Nexus program, represented on site by Mr Temwa Gondwe and Mrs Khanyi Mashimbe.

Legendary French fashion designer Pierre Cardin died Tuesday at the age of 98 at a hospital in Neuilly in western Paris, his family told AFP.

Cardin was born in Italy in 1922 but emigrated to France as a small child.

Cutting his teeth working at top couture houses such as Christian Dior, Cardin went on to launch his own brand and pioneered the use of licensing in fashion, plastering his label’s name on products of all kinds. His savvy business sense brought him a mix of admiration but also scorn from fashion purists at the time.

In the 1960s and ’70s he upended traditional fashion with his futuristic, avant-garde looks. He became known for his visionary creations, shaking up fashion with bubble dresses and geometrical designs. Cardin was also one of the first to bring high fashion to the masses by selling collections in department stores beginning in the late 1950s.

While he no longer presented runway collections in his later years, Cardin remained active in the industry, attending parties and events and taking young designers under his wing.

He had previously been a mentor to prominent designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier.

His death was also announced by France’s Academy of Fine Arts on Twitter.

“It is with great sadness that the members of the Academy of Fine Arts announce the death of their fellow member Pierre Cardin,” the academy tweeted.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)