The fashion industry in Africa and especially West Africa has been constantly evolving at a fast pace with an increasing number of fashion talents defying the norm and creating unique and innovative designs. Spearheading this evolution are fashion brands like Debonair Afrik which promotes and enhances emerging and established fashion brands through various platforms like Style Lounge Platform.
Over the years, Style lounge has been a great platform for designers to grow their brands. The three-day event which is in its third year was created by Debonair Afrik to promote fashion brands in Africa, especially West Africa, through workshops and fashion presentations.
The third day of this year’s event featured a three-part fashion presentation consisting of seven emerging designers including Ekua Addo, mss evy’s ,Kai Shika, Sena Bryte , Miss Evys and four established designers including Nuna Couture and Diva Delicious amongst others.
The first show featured seven ingenious emerging designers, the first being Sena Bryte, who showcased his “AKWAABA” (Welcome) Collection inspired by the Ghanaian culture and tradition. He stated that the “AKWAABA Collection” is to welcome himself into the fashion industry. The masculine collection had a blend of Polka Dots with touches of Kente and Denim.
‘Archaic simply means old-fashioned’ while’ Invasion simply means an unwelcome intrusion into another’s domain’, this was the collection title of Anthony Owusu, the Creative Director of “HOUSE OF OATH. According to him, his collection which looked archaic and yet very fashionable was deliberately designed to intrude the youth to our old style of fashion.
The brand name,”AKUA ADDO”, was inspired by the pre- Columbian artefact of the Taino tribe. This is as a result of the designers mixed cultural background with roots in both Jamaica and Ghana. Samara Akua Addo is the creative director of the “AFRO- LATINA” Collection. The ‘AFRO-LATINA’ Collection had its predominant colour to be yellow with very proud native designs.
As humans, we are inspired by many things but to Golden Osekre, owner of the brand ‘KAI SHIKA’ with her Collection “VIEWS”, her inspiration is from her obsession with how things look from above. Her designs were full of life with the earthly colours green, white and brown.
Gertrude Ross is obviously, one of the upcoming designers that showcased at this year’s Style Lounge Collection Presentation. The audience was wowed as this happened to be her first collection since she burst onto the fashion scene. The collection titled “UNEARTHED” portrayed elegance in contemporary African style. The Unearthed design is inspired by that beautiful African woman who has boldly peeled back layers of femininity with every effort exerted in finding herself. It explains that her colour story was hugely inspired by nature and layers of the earth. The Collection displayed a brilliant relationship between different types of materials where African wax printed fabric stood at the core.
Dufie Boateng can certainly not be left out as she showcased debonair designs. Her “GREEK ETERNAL COLLECTION” was inspired by a Greek poem by Sappho called “Hymn to Aphrodite”. She explained that the poem tells a story about the goddess of love with tremendous passion and detail. These intriguing features are the foundation for the flattering women’s wear collection. This was what birthed the Greek eternal spring/summer collection.
The next showcase was by Edzordzinam Agrosah with the brand name, Miss Evys Clothing. Her Collection was titled “PECHE ET CHIC and LEMONADE” The Collection was mainly jumpsuit with very bright colours. PECHE ET CHIC and LEMONADE by Miss Evys Clothing was inspired by her utmost love for Jumpsuits.
The Second show which took place indoors featured established designers showcasing their latest collections. These established designers were;
Diva Delicious a female designer whose collection featured colourful designs which were very feminine, sassy and flirty but still conservative with a lot of lace and organza details for a modern trendy woman.
Bello Couture’s Collection titled “Afi ss18” featured trendy designs for the modern man inspired by Nigerian art infused with “Ghanaian Adinkra symbols and ancient style of dressing”. The collection featured trendy shirts with detailed African prints, as well as vintage pants all put together in an urban street styled collection.
Bushai Weave whose monochromatic collection of northern inspired designs featuring lots of lacy, flower-patterned details infused with polka dotted pants and shorts. The collection depicted clean, masculine aesthetics radiating innocence accentuated with carefully selected accessories.
Nuna Couture Ghana’s collection this year titled ‘FULA 18’ inspired by the Wodaabe people. In the Fula language, woɗa means “taboo”, and Woɗaaɓe means “people of the taboo”. This is sometimes translated as “those who respect taboos”. This collection will inspire people from all around the world to remain true to their roots and reference the taboos of their culture from which they were hewn whilst striving to find their place of balance in today’s ever-evolving world. The very colourful collection took us on a journey with detailed prints, Afrocentric patterns styled with woven bags. The presentation told a story of African fashion with an infusion of traditional and modern elements put together.
