News & Media

This year's Africa Fashion Week promises to amaze and delight far more than the inaugural event last year, with more than 30 designers from Africa and the diaspora showcasing their threads. 

There will be 19 runway shows from June 30 to July 3 at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The show has drawn fashion creatives from Guinea Bissau, Nigeria, Uganda, Botswana, Ghana, Somali, Tunisia, French Comoros, Mozambique, the US and the UK, who will burn the catwalk with bold and diverse innovation, African style.

After appearing on the catwalk, the designers' collections will be available for purchase on site, along with ready-to-wear garments, at the first AFI Fashion boutique which will be open for the month of June.

The AFI online boutique will become a permanent shop specialising in African fashion.

And, on July 5, acknowledgement will be given to the leading lights of the industry at the second AFI African Fashion Awards. 

The show will be opened by Xuly Bat, the Paris-based go-to label for many celebrities, including Grace Jones, Lauryn Hill and Neneh Cherry. Designer Lamine Badian Kouyate made global headlines at New York Fashion Week with a dress, modelled by Oluchi, printed with President Obama's face. 

South African heavyweights including Marianne Fassler, Errol Arendz, Stoned Cherrie and David Tlale will show alongside global talents like Deola Sagoe and LaQuan Smith, a favourite of Lady Gaga and designer of the gold dress for singer Rhianna's Rude Boy video.

New York-based label Mataano, with its soft, feminine line designed by the Somali sisters Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim, will also be there, as well as Mimi Plange with her romantic label Boudoir D'Huitres and Bunmi Koko, a British-based label that has been causing a buzz with designer Bunmi Olaye's innovative, structured designs favoured by celebrities such as Mel B, Alesha Dixon, Alex Curran, Sadie Frost and Kate Middleton.

Local brand Stoned Cherrie will be marking its 10th anniversary with a Summer 2010 collection, a retrospective of the label's silhouettes throughout its history.

Marianne Fassler, who has not shown for two years, will be showcasing a collection entitled "Global Gathering".

"The world continues its love affair with all things African, African as a point of reference, not as a cliche," says Precious Moloi-Motsepe, chairperson of African Fashion International, which runs AFW. 

Completing the line-up are Sakina Msa, Ituen Basi (last year's Africa Fashion Award winner for Innovative Designs), Soucha, Heni Este-Hijzen and Christie Brown (joint winners of last year's Emerging Designer Award), Noir, Qumi Bespoke, Koketso Chiepe, Gloria Wavamunno as well as Abigail Betz, Thula Sindi, Carducci and Fabiani.

Top visiting designers include:

Xuly Bat: Lamine Badian Kouyata 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. He caught the attention of the fashion world with his streetwise creations made from recycled materials. 

LaQuan Smith: At the age of only 21, New York's LaQuan Smith has designed pieces for artists including Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyonce, and Courtney Love. His New York Fashion Week debut in February this year was a huge success.

Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim: Born in the US and raised in Somalia, these twin sisters fled the country at the age of nine to escape civil war. They spent their school years in Washington, and went on to graduate from Boston University and the University of Michigan respectively, then regrouped in New York where they began gradually crafting their talent for fashion. In 2008, the Mohallim sisters launched their label, Mataano ("twins" in Somali).

Deola Sagoe: Headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria, the House of Deola Sagoe has since evolved into an international haute couture label, with an equally compelling ready-to-wear line. Sagoe is known for her complex colour blends, detailed finishes and sheer glamour.

Mimi Plange: The daughter of a Ghanaian entrepreneur, Plange was born in Accra, but moved to the US with her mother and siblings at the age of five. A graduate of San Francisco's Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, she spent many years as a consultant in the fashion industry, including stints with Patricia Fields (the Sex and the City stylist) and Rachel Roy before going on to launch her own label.

Bunmi Koko: Bunmi Olaye is of Nigerian and Scottish heritage, and founded her own label last year. She specialises in couture womenswear and ready-to-wear fashion with contemporary elegance and sophisticated edginess. She was commissioned by Mel B to design a couture dress for the 2010 Brit Awards.

Christie Brown: This Ghanaian-based designer's label specialises in carefully selected African prints, combined with silks, chiffon, denim or jersey.

Tickets are available from Computicket. For more info, full show schedules and highlights from previous collections, go to www.africanfashioninternational.com