African Fashion International

Founded in Johannesburg in 2010, is a new fashion concept to create a standard of well dressed citizens.
Classic looks for men and women, innovative silhouette with noble fabric.
The designs follow the craftsmanship of tailoring for some elegance in everyday.

People get up and get out but first they get dressed.
One day is important because it can´t be repeated.
The next day is the future and it can be today.
Today is a moment when we will do something.

noir is a Fashion Salon d´Automne under the creative direction of Roman Handt & Katrin Lewinsky.
The studio is located in Johannesburg and works with international material.

CONTACT:
noirtailors@gmail.com

STOCKISTS:
CO-OP www.co-opjoburg.com

Xuly Bet studied art in Senegal, then went to France to study architecture in Strasbourg and Paris. He set up the Xuly Bet Funkin’ Fashion Factory in 1989. (Xuly Bet is a dialect word meaning voyeur.)

He caught the attention of the fashion world with his streetwise creations made from recycled materials. He was recognised by and has been featured in French fact Vogue and Glamour magazine. His success is illustrated by the that his merchandise was chosen to be featured in all stores of the French Galeries Lafayette chain.

Xuly Bet was the designer who used the clothing tag externally as part of the overall effect in his clothing. Embraced as a street-savvy fashion designer, he is favored by many rap artists as well as such pop luminaries as INXS, Neneh Cherry, and Soul II Soul. Xuly Bet is one of a number of designers who exists side by side with the musical fraternity to propagate his fashion message. In common with that same school of fashion savants, his end-wearers are the ordinary working class.

Xuly bet continues in that vein, avoiding elitism, and resisting the temptation of becoming the fashion/merchandising stereotype – a fate which has marked the creative end of many financlially successful designers.

Typcial creations of Xuly Bet include a revealing dress made from tights fabric. He is reknowned for using such materials as well as items obtained from second-hand stores and bargain stores, and then creating something completely new from them.

+ 33 (0) 1 46 71 89 80
funkinfashion@gmail.com

Nkhensani Nkosi is one of the new voices of Africa: Entrepreneur, television personality and lauded actress. She has travelled throughout the world as an entertainer / host and actress in a series of theatre plays including “Sophiatown, The Coloured Museum and Marabi” which received critical acclaim from international audiences. She boasts a mantelpiece of awards, the most rewarding as a business woman being The Top Success Story of The Year – Top Women in Business And Government 2005. Other awards include The Young Business Achiever of the Year – Young Business Quarterly (2003)

Nkhensani holds a degree in Industrial Psychology and Sociology and is a gifted writer having written articles for O Magazine, Y-Mag, Going Up, amongst others. In 2005 she completed her final season as co-producer and co-host of popular SABC 1 talk show Mojo. Her career in television began as co-owner of a production company called Vicious Funk Productions, producing corporate videos and inserts for Options (SABC3).

She is a coveted speaker, having been invited as guest speaker at numerous events and conferences, including the internationally renowned Design Indaba. She recently addressed a crowd of the worlds leading entrepreneurs at a gala event in New York alongside the likes of Jerry Yang, the founder and chairman of Yahoo as well as Terry Bernstein CEO of Yahoo. She has also been invited to motivate post-graduate students at The Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).

Having travelled throughout Africa in 1999 as the host and official spokesperson for M-Net’s Face of Africa, Nkhensani recognised that there was a gap in the market – the urban energy that exists on the continent was not being branded and packaged into authentic products. There was an opportunity to build an African brand that celebrated South Africa’s new sense of identity and explored in a creative way what it means to be an African in the 21st Century. She decided it was time to set up a new and now popular African urban fashion label, Stoned Cherrie.

Tel: + 27 (0) 11 402 0188
info@stonedcherrie.co.za

Born in Cape Town, Stiaan Louw has developed a characteristic language for his eponymous menswear label. Since 2008 he has focused on South Africa’s somewhat neglected male fashion scene. Single dominant colour tones, e.g. white, black, grey, clear lines, classic-look tailoring and materials that sit naturally, have lent his collections its own distinctive style. Inspired by social, sexual and traditional cultural themes, Stiaan says that he wanted to create a modern interpretation, related to specific forms of self-expression. Stiaan Louw’s work incorporates ideas of ambiguity and duality: masculine versus feminine, trendiness versus luxury, intellectuality versus understatement. Even so, the dominant impression is of a contemporary male iconography on the edge of and indefinable transgressive sexuality. Stiaan Louw has been nominated for the prestigious Mercedes Benz South Africa Award for Fashion Design 2009 and is currently receiving mentorship as part of the Cape Town Fashion Council Business Readiness programme.

CONTACT:
stiaanlouw@yahoo.com
studio by appointment only:
+ 27 (0)21 4655499

STOCKISTS:

astore, Cape Town
The Street, Johannesburg
‘Cabinet’, Johannesburg

An artist at heart with a passion and true talent in haute couture fashion, Soucha has left Tunis his home country at a young age to pursue his lifelong dream of educating himself and studying in the best European fashion design schools.
In 1987 he joined the Italian school of haute couture, graduated and went on interning for some of the biggest apparel and fashion houses in Rome. Gaining necessary practical experience and understanding the different aspects of building a fashion house.

Soucha then went on venturing in the capital of entertainment in the Arab world and moved to Egypt. His capital was his talent and will to succeed; he successfully proved himself and gained the reputation of being creatively different than what was available in the market.

Today Soucha Fashion has achieved regional reputation and obtained numerous awards for talent and trend originality.
He continues his path of success and business growth.

CONTACT

Tel: +2 3 749-0872
Mobile: + 2 (0)10 191-3230 / 016 111-6561
Tito Fashion assistant cel: +2 010 584-4032
Fax: +2 3 749-0872
souchafashiondesigner@gmail.com ; soucha@soucha-hc.com
www.Soucha-hc.com

STOCKISTS:

106 –first floor, Nile city building, cairo, Egypt
316-3rd floor, grand hyatt, Cairo, egypt

Sandra Muendane, graduate in strategic design and innovation in Lisbon.

Fashion is conceptual and functional, a complex visual communication influenced by cultural, political and economic associations. Her prêt-a-porter garments are “interactive” in that the original ideas behind them are open to the wearer’s interpretation and adaptation thus making fashion a vehicle of creative collaboration.

Tel. +351 925 247 696
scmuen@gmail.com
http://muendane.elementfx.com/

A renowned designer since the beginning of this century, Sakina M’sa retains the characteristics of a person passionate about her projects throughout her singular trajectory. Her clothes represent the intimate and honest reflection of a history rife with symbols, of a young woman originally from the Comoros Islands, who transcended her social origin and proclaimed her hybrid identity with talent and determination. A contemporary woman—born Muslim and Animist, a punk designer as a teenager—she radiates an offbeat glamour, with an eye on romanticism and dandyism. Thanks to her large repertory, she addresses all generations and tastes, and defines her client as being «between 25 and 50 years old, active, dynamic, chic, feminine, free and funny.» Sakina M’sa’s style is truly generous, poetic, she plays with a variety of disciplines: textile, geographic, and literary.

Her invention: «buried (or planted) fabric», an empirical technique that ages fabric in a natural way, through slow oxygenation, is by now well-known. However, Sakina M’sa’s imprint is not limited by this superb idea. She was influenced by the post-modernist theses of the philosopher, Jean Baudrillard.

Sakina M’sa’s production is distributed internationally and she has a myriad ideas on developing her brand in a very competitive environment, thanks to humorous and convivial marketing initiatives such as the M’as-tu vu («Did you see me») parties, similar to the old-fashioned Tupperware parties.

Since 1998, she moderates «Cultural Mediation» workshops in disenfranchised neighborhoods on the theme of clothing and identity. Workshops and design activities are interlinked, and Sakina M’sa created a design company to employ the workshop participants. Her own atypical background, cultural and social origins, and the meaning she intends to give her work, led her to think about the democratization of the fashion industry and on how to include those not born into the inner circle, and more importantly the “socially excluded,” so they can participate in the extraordinary adventure of manufacturing and presenting a collection. In 2001, she received the Saint Etienne Biennale Grand Prix, and in 2002 the Fondation de France prize. In 2007, she received the Grand Prix de la Création de la Ville de Paris (Grand Prize for Creativity from the City of Paris), and the “Fantastic Woman” prize, Femina version (Sunday supplement of the Journal du Dimanche, publisher: Hachette-Filipacchi).

She exhibited L’Etoffe des Héroines at the Petit Palais Museum; this exhibit enjoyed tremendous success. She also authored the book, Robes des Possibles (“Dresses of the Possible”) in honor of her heroines (the women of her workshop: Malika, Besra, Marta… as well as other women: Marianne Faithfull, Agnès Varda, Louise Bourgeois…), published by Filigranes in September 2007.

“Optimism Joy Collection” is the fall winter 09/10 !

CONTACT:
6 Rue des gardes 75018 Paris
0033 1 56 55 50 90 / 0033 6 86 16 19 94
commercial@sakinamsa.com
www.sakinamsa.com
STOCKISTS:
Première vision, trade show.

qUmi Bespoke is for today’s fashion forward man. A man going places. A man who believes in the uncompromising nature of fashion. qUmi Bespoke seeks to be recognised as the name in men’s bespoke fashion. The signature qUmi Bespoke look is one of perfection; detailed tailored suits with luxurious fabrics, bold square buttons and brightly coloured inner lining fabrics. We aim to bridge the gap in the market for exclusive, custom-fitted, high quality men’s suits whilst giving our clients excellent value for their money.

Ever the sharp dresser since his youth in London, CEO; Leslie Kofi Danso has always had a keen eye for top-end designer suits. Ask him and he will tell you that he owes much of his early knowledge of the textiles industry to his mother who was and still is one of the more renowned fabrics and wax print merchants in the bustling Makola Market in the Accra Metropolis over the last 40 years. He will also mention his late father Kofi Danso (Snr) whom he describes as his fashion icon and inspiration. Leslie Kofi Danso had a huge vision for the brand when he established it in June 2008 after he noticed that the contemporary African man had limited access to high quality custom made, African-designed men’s suits without the need to venture to Europe. His dedication to perfection means that he is directly involved in the design process from creation to finish for each piece branded with his purple label. The brand has been gaining increasing amounts of exposure through television coverage and magazine articles, more recently, show-casing part of the range during Ghana Fashion Week 2008. His vision interminably expands as with growing attention and interest, the brand is on course to penetrate the rest of the African continent and eventually the global market.

Clients who come to his showroom in Accra can expect to be measured and pinned, leaving with a suit perfectly tailored to fit their shape; the London Savile Row experience, right in the heart of Ghana. Currently, the range includes men’s suits, shirts and ties.

qUmi Bespoke is for the everyday man who is willing to go the extra mile for their image.

qUmi Bespoke…”be spoken of”…

CONTACT:
Ground Floor, 1st Ringway Estates, Kukuhill, Osu, Accra, Ghana

Mobile: (+233) 24 858 7132

kofi.l.danso@gmail.com
leslie@qumibespoke.com

www.qumibespoke.com (under construction)

STOCKISTS:

1. Showroom: Ground Floor, 1st Ringway Estates, Kukuhill, Osu, Accra, Ghana

2. 51 Harold Road, Chingford, London, E4 9ST, Mobile (+44) 7950 566 969

Twin sisters Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim share a story that is anything but ordinary. Born in the U.S. and raised in Somalia, they fled the country at the age of nine to escape civil war. Ayaan and Idyl spent their school years in Washington, DC, and went on to graduate from Boston University and the University of Michigan, respectively. Their next step was to reconvene in New York City, where they embarked on a mission to stand out from the rest in the crowd in fashion and design.

Experiencing the industry from the ground up, through careful study and practice, they gradually crafted their talent, weaving their varied cultural influences into each meticulously designed piece in their studio. In 2008, the Mohallim sisters took a bold step together, launching their brand, Mataano (translated as “twins” in Somali), and developing a platform from which to express their vision and bring forth their creations to the marketplace.

CONTACT:
Info@mataano.com
+ 1 718.399.2079

STOCKISTS:

ONLINE STORE AT : http://www.mataano.com/store
Stores:
MICHELLE NEW YORK
376 Atlantic Avenue
BROOKLYN, NY 11217
TRUE BOUTIQUE
278 Mott Street
New York, NY 10012-3479