Models and Designers from South and North Africa are billed to meet in Botswana at the end of the month for the second edition of the Colour in the Desert fashion week.
The fashion extravaganza, dubbed “Colour in the Desert Fashion Week”, will see established designers, models and would-be-models and would-be-designers gracing the fashion week in Botswana.
The Fashion Week was initially started as an exchange programme with Swahili Fashion Week in which designers from Botswana were taken to showcase at the Swahili Fashion week in Tanzania.
Award winning fashion designer, Mpho Kuaho, who is organizing the Fashion Week, promised that the event will be a spellbinding fashion extravaganza to be a fixture on the country‘s calendar.
Kuaho indicated that some of the models, such as Julia Tsile who attended the first Swahili Fashion Week, have also made it to the Johannesburg Fashion Week in South Africa.
“With a short stint at Swahili Fashion Week, she was able to catapult herself to a serious and dedicated model who is currently doing well in South Africa,” said Kuaho.
She stated that her hope is to make The Colour In the Desert an established show on the world calendar.
The designer also explained that Tsile is not the only one who has benefited from this gesture, aimed at catapulting the youth in the fashion and modelling industry.
She stated that some of the models have featured in the magazines with the help of Jan Malan of Umzingeli Production and Face of Africa fame who is currently the producer of the “Colour in the Dessert Fashion Week”.
Kuaho said that Andiswa Manxhwiwa, who is one of the best choreographers in Africa, will also be tasked with model training during the fashion week.
Kuaho stated that the extravaganza will impart knowledge among the youth who will be participating.
“Our aim is to show them what is expected from them as would-be-models and designers. We also partnered with Swahili Fashion Week to come and showcase their culture and developments in fashion and modelling from North and East Africa. We will come together and share our challenges and opportunities in the industry,” added Kuaho.
She is optimistic that the fashion show will create downstream opportunities in the future, saying that she is hopeful that the fashion extravaganza will be used to attract tourists in the future.
The event will take place at the Phakalane Golf Estates and will be held under the theme “Advocacy for the development of fashion design and clothing textile industry in Botswana”.
Local designers that will be showcasing at the Fashion Week are Mpho Kuaho, Sweetie Lobelo, Lesedi Matlapeng, Thato Mokgadi, Mckay, Lindiwe Keitz, Florence Radisweng, Sema Raditladi and Theo Rags.
Among international designers will be South Africans Thula Sindi, Paledi Seagapo, Gert Johan Coetzee, Dax Martin and David Tlale, as well as Taibo Bacar (Mozambique), Nadir Tati (Angola), Frank Osodi (Nigeria), Mafi (Ethiopia), Nyasha Joyce Chimanye (Zimbabwe), Towani Clark (Zambia), Soucha (Egypt) and Mustafa Hassanali (Tanzania).
