Models on the catwalk during the Kenya Fashion Awards at Alliance
Française in Nairobi on August 16, 2014. Ten categories of designers
were feted at the event. PHOTO | CHARLES KAMAU
By Mwikali Lati
The second Kenya Fashion Awards was held last Saturday at the Alliance Française Gardens to celebrate the best in the industry.
The finalists, both established and budding designers who
have made a mark in the industry, were part of the audience or backstage
dressing the models for the runway show.
“This event is basically a platform to be noticed
first and then they [winners] get to establish themselves,” says Kenya
Fashion Awards director Ngau Kyule.
The runway show, however, was not only for the
nominees but also for other designers to showcase their work. For others
it was an entry point into the Kenyan market, like jewellery designer
Elena Muketha who moved to the country from Russia a year ago.
Kenya Fashion Awards organisers say that the industry has amazing talent that should be recognised.
Kyule points out that music and film industries
have their own awards such as the Kisima Music Awards and Kalasha Film
and Television Awards respectively.
“The idea was to really get people in the industry
appreciated. We looked for talent in the fashion industry because Kenya
is becoming the home of fashion. What is necessary is to now look for
fashion designers wherever they are and get to build them.”
Most fashion awards and competitions in Kenya usually seek to discover new talent.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, fashion awards were plenty and they discovered some of the leading designers today.
For the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards
(Kenya), which ran from 1995 to 2002, produced Monica Kanari, Patricia
Mbela and John Kaveke while M-Net’s reality TV show Catwalk Kenya in
2007 brought Katungulu Mwendwa into the limelight.
Although these kinds of high-profile fashion awards
have taken a break, others have come up with the latest being Festival
for Fashion and Arts whose FAFA Insight in 2012 discovered Jamil Walji
and Waithira Kibuchi last year.
The Safari Fashion Runway Show, a reality TV
programme by the Association of Fashion Designers-Kenya, has already
held its auditions and is gearing up for production. African Designers
for Tomorrow, another competition by Fashion Africa started by Waridi
Schrobsdorff, is searching for its own talent.
“The essence of Kenyan Fashion Awards is to
discover new talent, mentor, award and possibly get people to come and
support them,” says Kyule. “We know without support they are just going
to die. That is why are working tirelessly to get the financial support
needed as well.”
The Kenya Fashion Awards plans to mentor young designers as they have done with the models next year.
Schrobsdorff, in her previous interview with the Business Daily,
said that for the African fashion industry to grow, training is needed.
She says she is willing to share her experience in fashion business
with budding designers.
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