Zambia fashion week: a stupendous review

Zambia fashion week 2014

Ah...Zambia fashion week came and went. Honestly, I do not know what makes me happier, whether it came or whether it finally went. I will try to be as objective as possible in my blog as I can be. So I will touch on everything that I saw and witnessed and give tips where necessary..after all I put on clothes..

To begin with..How was it Zambia Fashion Week when it only took three days??? Let someone smart answer that eerie question so we can get it out of the way.

I loved the explosion of fashion, colours, chitenge, Ankara and it was nice seeing all these Zambian designers there like Towani Clark whose father I just adore. We patiently took selfies together with THE Clark. Back to the fashion.
I was given the opportunity to attend two days of the long week which turned out to be just three days at the wooping cost of k100 per night and here are some things I noticed
1. Models
My first absolute hate were the models' SHOES! Like are you serious! All the models were wearing the same exact shoes for almost EVERY collection and that made me cringe! Some of the shoes were not really runway ready let me be honest with you..and some of them looked Kamwala-isc. The shoes ended up killing some of the gowns worn. How could the designers honestly let the wrong shoes affect their collections? Some designers like Debbie Chu actually went the effort and introduced some new shoe pieces into the mess..
The shoes just distracted me half the time and killed some really nice outfits. I thought it was just a rookie mistake and would only happen on Friday night but I saw the same problem saturday night. I
wanted to just get my adidas sneakers and hit myself on the head.!!!


2. Designers
Oh oh..someone has to be answerable to the mess that happened Friday night which I think was inexcusable for a fully paid and sponsored fashion show. How on earth could the promoters let untailored pieces on the runway? Again..designer names her I am not sure but they exhibited friday nights..some of the clothes were way too big for the models and they sagged like Nelly's Jeans from his Nellyville era. Like seriously! I found it scary and depressing..and then it got really uncomfortable when I saw this bridal collection by this sweet looking designer....and models still had bobbing pins on them. How outrageous..there were wardrobe malfunctions in that collection with zips not closing, dirty trains, and cheap fabric everywhere. I applaud the designer for trying to be risque but she just wasn't ready "in my Kevin Hart" voice..I think part of Friday's show was a total disaster and  the only thing that saved it was Nyirongo's kiddie runway and the cute factor was restored. The other thing that managed to save the day was Debbie Chu as well as ISA designs which were ama-zing!

3. Models
Where to start..smh..ok some of them could not walk. Let us get that out of the way..some of the models could not catwalk..it was painful. I blame the shoes at times cause they were terrible..why didn't the organisers or designers come up with shoes for each collection...and then there was this one girl whose posture was that of this symbol: ( / )
The poor girl just couldn't walk upright. I do not know why but she ended up killing some of the outfits. There was this fierce tall dark girl with dreadlocks who was surprisingly fierce and could walk like a supermodel. Sadly, she was underused but when she walked I saw top fashion..Also this certain model with a short natural blonde Afro was amazing..the deaf model..full courage, very pretty and reminded me of Kendall Jenner..so young yet risque..

4. Organisation
I loved the hall..the lighting..the music (ok at times) and also the decor and stuff. But..I was not amused on saturday night when almost all the best seats were reserved! All around the runway, the seats were reserved for 'Zamlebrities’ and other who's whos...it was a bit awkward trying to find a seat at times and we found ourselves in this little dark corner..there was no way Inwas going to seat on those stadium looking stares for the life of me..at a fashion show! Gasp! K100 is so steep that the chairs should have been first come first save and a small section for invited guests...besides, the show did not come with freebies so we deserved to be comfortable...But from where I was seated, I enjoyed watching Gospel musicians Abel Chungu and Pompi watch the models walk by..I had all these thoughts of "which part of the models are they seeing" considered some of the outfits were very...naked. (evil grin)



5. Mustafa Hassanali
Oh lawds! I love that man. We caught up with him on friday night and took selfies with him. The man is so gentle and fabulous, I started calling him "Mu" cause I am a stalker like that. I was humbled to see him..but then he saw some of the disastor of saturday night which embarassed me a lot and then I remembered he was once a starting designer..I was amazed by his collection...he did not use chitenge at all (ankara) which was a relief. Fashion week has so much chitenge that it felt like Saffique had thrown up all over it. He did loads of gowns and yes ladies and meatballs..for PLUS SIZE gayles! I was amazed, perplexed, in awe and excited that he used so much of the girls..I just wished his principal model was a plus size and not Lorna sirname forgotten. But he was great. Only problem was..they should have put him last..the last three designers after him were met with an empty hall which was sad because the best collection in the whole event came from the Angolan designer.....his super stardom sort of left the others in the dark. The next question though is..I caught Mustafa on two occasions all alone and one of those was at arcades..I felt bad. Like come on Zambia. Ok let me stop panting..

I think most of the designers did not bring in that 'shock value' . Like I felt designing is not just using chitenge..more creativity was needed. Like more risks and out of this world design...i love ready to wear runway clothes but I also love more creative stuff..like that Zimbabwean designer whose collection was full of newspaper..it was so artsy and different. But then I will just sip my tea like Kermit...

Awards
Awards and celebrity model walk got a bit boring I will be honest. Esp since some of the wimners were not there. Like how???  And also I did not know half the celebrities and I really wanted Mumba Yaachi to perform and then I wanted to see that dark black male model shirtless again without all those celebrity walks and the gospel music and half naked everythings kept confusing me..The presenter Nancy was great but I think needed atleast 7 outfit changes..when she finally changed everyone was almost gone..shout out to Mulenga Kapwepwe who never ceases to amaze and her speech was short and refreshing...

Shout out to the fashion industry..though much more can be done..and the who bar being outside was sooo inconvenient..plus the barmen had attitude at times. Anyways.....its non of my business.