Designer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rebeccaminkoff.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rebecca Minkoff</a>&nbsp;transformed the four corners of the rooftop terrace at Spring Studios into a completely furnished diorama yesterday evening, each scene reminiscent of New York City’s once vibrant nightlife.



One backdrop mimicked a late-night dress rehearsal at CBGB while another evoked after-hour vibes typical of a swanky lounge in a Tribeca hotel.



“It was all about this boho-rock sensibility that we’re known for,” said Minkoff at her New York Fashion Week presentation. “And it’s about celebrating the cultural institutions that I love that are part of New York City’s fabric.”



The still-life and still-masked models were dialed up in embellished layers and detailed accessories that screamed more badass than boho. Overall, with comforting animal prints, plaid and houndstooth for day, and glitzy sequins and leather for night, her Fall 2020 ready-to-wear collection stayed true to her signature aesthetic.&nbsp;



<figure class="wp-block-gallery columns-1 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex"><ul class="blocks-gallery-grid"><li class="blocks-gallery-item"><figure><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272713112-1024x683.jpg" alt="" data-id="47764" data-full-url="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272713112-scaled.jpg" data-link="https://www.forbesafrica.com/?attachment_id=47764" class="wp-image-47764" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272713112-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272713112-scaled-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272713112-scaled-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272713112-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272713112-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272713112-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption class="blocks-gallery-item__caption">A Model poses during the Rebecca Minkoff Spring 2021 Presentation at Spring Studios Terrace on September 15, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Randy Brooke/WireImage)</figcaption></figure></li></ul></figure>



But she pulled out some surprises. In the sea of clutches and crossbody bags was an unsuspecting accessory.



With a long, black military coat draped over it, a model sported the new&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.rebeccaminkoff.com/products/medela-tote?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpcafruTs6wIViIjICh3vCQ-4EAQYASABEgJ-KPD_BwE" target="_blank">Rebecca Minkoff x Medela Pump and Baby Bag</a>. A breast shield and valve peeked right above the zipper, but even if you have nursed, you likely would’ve never noticed it.&nbsp;



“I wanted to showcase the tote at Fashion Week since a breast pump tote is an essential item for any mom,” says the mother of three. “We moms need a way to keep all our pump parts organized as we’re out and about.”



With the fashion industry in flux, IMG (the event producers of NYFW) and individual designers had to forge partnerships to make fashion shows a reality this season, especially if it was a live show.



In addition to Lowe’s furniture, which provided the furniture and decor for the event, Minkoff tapped Medela as another ally.



“We’ve always admired Rebecca for her passion in supporting breast milk feeding, working parents,” says Melissa Gonzales, executive vice president of the Americas for&nbsp;<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.medela.us/" target="_blank">Medela</a>. “She has been a Medela mom since her first child, so the collaboration was a natural fit for both of us to develop something.”



The versatile limited-edition bag was designed to fit Medela’s personal-use breast pumps. Says Minkoff, “We’ve been working together the last three seasons and I was like, can I design something for you guys? Something that I would love to wear and when I’m done pumping it can be my diaper bag; then when I’m done with diapering it can be my gym bag. Something with multi-functionality.”&nbsp;



She highlights her favorite features: “There’s a removable pouch that you can put dirty parts in that I wish I had because I would always put them in gross Ziploc bags. And there are a ton of compartments to keep your pump parts upright so you don’t have the milk leaking out of the caps.” And there’s nothing worse than spilt milk.



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="683" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272710108-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-47768" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272710108-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272710108-scaled-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272710108-scaled-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272710108-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272710108-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GettyImages-1272710108-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>(Photo by Randy Brooke/WireImage)</figcaption></figure></div>



Minkoff acknowledges that many workers no longer have to trek into the workplace, but that doesn’t mean working moms are sitting idle. She also predicts that the massive layoffs, remote schooling and childcare crises that arose from the pandemic will spur a new movement of entrepreneurs.



“You’re going to see a boon of founders and those are going to be the moms who are so sick of what’s going on right now that they’re going to come up with solutions to make their own businesses, go to work, and homeschool their children,” says Minkoff. “So I wanted to design something that was stylish and that would work for them.&#8221; 



Minkoff has teamed up with Medela in the past but this bag marks the first time she has created a physical product for the breast pump company. In her NYFW show last fall, Minkoff featured a digital campaign starring a Medela pump and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.romper.com/p/rebecca-minkoffs-nyfw-show-paid-tribute-to-pumping-breastfeeding-moms-in-inspiring-way-18734391" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mara Martin</a>, the Sports Illustrated model who made headlines when she walked the swimsuit runway while breastfeeding her newborn. The fact that this isn’t a first-time partnership with Medela suggests this collaboration is Minkoff’s most personal fashion statement yet.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“So much of motherhood is about taking care of other people and not focusing on yourself,” Minkoff says. “I wanted to create something specifically for moms to help them look and feel their best amidst the messy, beautiful, chaotic experience that is being someone’s mom.”



-Tanya Klich, Forbes Staff

Rebecca Minkoff – September 2020 – New York Fashion Week: The Shows

Rebecca Minkoff’s NYFW Fall 2020 Presentation Was An Ode To Manhattan And Motherhood

The small-town designer dressing up the rich and famous.

Matome waga Seshoka wants to take African haute couture to the world.
I meet him at his studio in the leafy suburb of Northcliff in Johannesburg. On this Monday afternoon, everything is running behind schedule. First, I am slightly late for the interview, and then, the model is delayed by an hour and the makeup artist has the wrong call-time.
Delays have always played a big part in Seshoka’s entrepreneurial journey.
He came to Johannesburg 14 years ago to study credit management at Technikon Witwatersrand, (TWR), now called the University of Johannesburg.
“It was difficult for my mother to understand this whole fashion thing. She questioned how fashion can be a career. Where we are from, you have to be a teacher, a doctor, or one of those careers. So I went to study credit management,” says the proud Sepedi-speaking designer.
Seshoka says he disliked it. He dropped out three years in. Although delayed, he swapped it for an education in fashion and has never looked back.
<div id="attachment_37600" style="width: 693px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-37600" class="wp-image-37600 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antherline-842-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antherline-842-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antherline-842-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antherline-842-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antherline-842-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antherline-842-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Antherline-842.jpg 1366w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" />Matome-waga Seshoka with model, Tholakele Mutjideni, in his studio in Northcliff Johannesburg. Photo by Motlabanna Monakgotla.</div>
<blockquote>“Straight out of school, I started my business. The first few years were a bit hectic, now things are starting to look up,” says Seshoka.</blockquote>
Born and raised in Ga-Matlala, a rural area in Limpopo, 370km from Johannesburg, Seshoka has defied all odds to build a successful fashion brand and dress the who’s who of the entertainment industry.
He named it Antherline Couture, after his mother. She raised three boys as a single parent.
It wasn’t easy. Seshoka had to walk about 45 minutes to school every day.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entrepreneurs/2018/05/07/from-football-to-fashion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: From Football To Fashion</a>
At the beginning of his journey, he says he didn’t know where to specialize. He started off doing everything, from street wear to menswear, until he fell in love with African print and haute couture. At the time, African-inspired wedding gowns were in demand. He grabbed the fabric with both hands.
“When I was doing my third year, I received an order for a December wedding. The client saw my work at the Sew Africa fashion show. By the time I graduated, I already had an order. It was a quite a big order and ended up having to ask people that I went to school with to help me, so I hired them. By the time it was done, I had a startup.”
The job paid Seshoka $2,805, enough to buy three sewing machines, one overlocking machine, pay the deposit and rent for a shop and staff salaries for two months.
Kamogelo Rankoko was one of his first employees.
“We were still struggling a little, we used a domestic machine and it wasn’t strong enough for the kind of work we were doing, but we got the wedding done, and they were happy,” says Rankoko.
After this exciting job, more delays. The next three years were the hardest. There were no clients and pockets were empty.
“I ended up having to look for a job, lecturing fashion in parts of Gauteng for a year. With my salary, I could cover rent and staff salaries, because [earlier], I would come back and the lights would be off or the doors would be locked because I didn’t pay rent. If there wasn’t a plan, there wouldn’t be a plan because I was the plan,” says Seshoka.
The big break came when he got his first celebrity client, Tokelo Rantie, a South African national and international football player.
“I remember my first celebrity wedding, I did Tokelo Rantie, then I did Sello Maake kaNcube’s wedding. That’s when people started knowing about us. From there forth, I started doing celebrity weddings,” he says.
The brand blossomed and everybody wanted to work with him.

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The business grew through word-of-mouth and nine years in, it has over 37,000 followers on Instagram and his clients have been named Durban July’s best dressed celebrities for the last four years.
His client list is rich with local and international stars such as Anthony Hamilton, Kenny Lattimore, Oleta Adams, Julius Malema, Nhlanhla Nciza and Khanyi Mbau.
“I met Matome through a friend a year ago; ever since I met him, I have been very loyal to him and he is the only one that dresses me for the red carpet. Matome is one of the people who believed in me when everybody thought I wasn’t big enough of a star to be dressed by them. But he welcomed me into his arms. So it’s Matome or nothing,” says Motsoaledi Setumo, a South African soapie star.
Seshoka’s career may have encountered delays but there is no stopping this small-town lad with international dreams.
&nbsp;

Antherline-876

Taking African Haute Couture To The World

The award-winning men’s fashion designer on the business of fashion and dressing up no less than the South African president.

1. Who you would like to dress and why? 
I would like to dress our [South Africa’s] head of state Cyril Ramaphosa; that would be really good on my CV. But not only that, simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. When you look at ministers and presidents, they look simple yet sophisticated. What people don’t realize is the most simple outfits are the most difficult to make. You can’t over-accessorize, you just can’t over-design. You have to keep it very clean and minimalistic and also in harmony with the person’s character…So I am ready for that challenge.
2. As a designer, when is the right time to start expanding to retail? 
As designers, we all have different business strategies. What works for one designer does not necessarily work for the other. But the best time to start is when as you fully understand the business of fashion and have completed your internship. The one thing I always advise upcoming designers is to not be too much in a hurry to establish their brand, because you will end up being an overnight sensation.
3. What does it take to build a brand like Palse Homme? 
Blood, sweat and water from the moon. It’s a long journey that does not have milestones in between, the reason I say that is that it’s like running a marathon that does not have a finish line. You have to strive to get somewhere and the day you get there, that is when you get to retire.
4. How do you stay disciplined with your money? 
I am very prudent when it comes to my finances. As an entrepreneur, you cannot do it all by yourself… so I have outsourced my public relations and finance services to the experts.
5. What is your most expensive indulgence? 
Sunglasses. I once spent R6,000 ($450) on them. I am a hoarder of good sunglasses; I don’t even know how many pairs I have.
6. What is the biggest challenge you have faced in the fashion industry? 
It’s very difficult for designers to attract potential investors. People don’t understand that to be able to showcase my designs during fashion week, it means we have to pay to be part of fashion week, most importantly, we have to raise capital, and the overheads become extremely insane because you have to come up with money to be able to put together your collection. Simultaneously, when you do that, you are even unable to take orders. You are stressing about that fashion week night that will take only five to 10 minutes. Mind you, while you are working on that, you have overheads like salaries and rent.
7. What do you spend your money on? 
Traveling! I always say to people I enjoy being out of the city and the country. There is something about traveling that just shifts your mind-set and makes you more appreciative of what you have back home [South Africa]…You realize that we have it all, in terms of food to the most amazing hotels; the energy people exude is phenomenal. We live in a very beautiful country.

TLH_1302

7 Questions with Award Winning Designer – Paledi Segapo

Khothatso Laurence Tsotetsi’s office in South Africa’s capital city Pretoria, is a profusion of pink – a beaded pink flamingo stands tall on his desk that’s draped in a pink table cloth; also here are grey couches with pink patterns and a pink mat adorning the floor.
His spacious studio with multiple rooms is just the setting for our photoshoot and interview.
Millennial fashion designer Tsotetsi has made a name for himself in South Africa’s fashion industry with his sophisticated, elegant pieces for women particular about their look, and has had his creations showcased at a number of fashion weeks.
Born in Soweto, a township in the southwest of Johannesburg, in 1988, just before the apartheid era ended in South Africa, Tsotetsi moved around a lot as a child.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2018/05/07/from-football-to-fashion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: From Football To Fashion</a>
“My father was a politician, that’s why we moved from one place to another. We moved from Soweto to the Free State [a province in South Africa]; we lived in the Vaal for some time until I eventually moved to Pretoria in 2009, and since then I’ve been practicing from here.”
As a young boy, he says, his behaviour was peculiar compared to other boys his age. Where they played football, he played with fabric.
He was interested in dress designing and started with some needlework; all this evolved in high school when he figured out that designing was what he wanted to pursue. In tertiary school, Tsotetsi started showcasing at fashion weeks every season.
After graduating with a BTech degree in 2012, and with a National Diploma in Fashion in 2013 from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), he lectured on construction, patterns and creative design at TUT for a few years.
By then, he was already involved in the eponymous business he had started in 2012. Tsotetsi KL, his brand, was doing well.
“2012 was when I got my big break at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Johannesburg when African Fashion International (AFI) brought Alek Wek to walk for my show; from there, I did Black Fashion Week Paris,” he recalls.
This meant hard work, sacrifices and the relentless pursuit of his passion.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2016/08/01/sweet-fashionable-life-boss/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The Sweet and Fashionable Life Of Being Your Own Boss</a>
As an assistant, Tsotetsi packed scraps of fabric for South African fashion mogul Clive Rundle for six weeks, coordinating scraps by color and fabric. Tsotetsi knows it as Rundle’s aesthetic. Rundle has sold womenswear for decades and showcased his work on ramps across the world.
“I taught art and design at a high school in the Vaal for a month and on the weekends, I would work at Clive Rundle’s; after that month, I worked permanently every day at his Johannesburg studio in the [central] business district. That’s when I started helping with the clothing and the shows, and then I worked with David Tlale in 2014 under a mentorship program, the AFI Next Generation,” says Tsotetsi.
The young designer had to shadow famed South African designer Tlale for three months before Tlale’s first New York Fashion Week show.
From both designers, Tsotetsi learned a lot and infused it with his own method, understanding the business side of fashion and not just the creative aspects. He developed a clientele base and streamlined his business into what it is today.
<div id="attachment_36562" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36562" class="wp-image-36562 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-158-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-158-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-158-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-158-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-158-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-158.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Tsotetsi in his spacious offices with model, Fath Mncube. Photograph by Motlabana Monnakgotla</div>
Over the years, he has learned a great deal and gained a lot of experience in the industry, showcasing his creations yet constantly questioning himself about what is more important: money, fame or social media likes.
“Still, why showcase,” he asks.
“As soon as it’s a company, it’s an entity with different principles: human resources, finance, graphics, photography and all of that, but as a small business, you cannot afford those services, you have to step in as the owner and play those different roles, ask for favors, manipulate people, lie, and do all of those things. So for you to be able to maintain the business, you need to be making money and paying staff. Those are the dynamics that have been in place from 2014 until 2018.”
In the eyes of the young creative designer, growth meant making money.
Among many other rich and famous names, Tsotetsi has dressed the likes of Hulisani Ravele, a radio personality and former YoTV presenter; Precious Moloi-Motsepe, a fashion entrepreneur and philanthropist, who runs the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week; and Rorisang Thandekiso, a South African actress, presenter and musician.
“I know Khothatso from high school, so he’s been making me stuff since but my real first was my first SAMAs [South African Music Awards] in 2010, it was amazing and futuristic. This year, I’m at the SAMAs in June doing the red carpet and presenting an award; he’ll be dressing me for both. We did the SAFTAs [South African Film and Television Awards] together. That dress took everybody by storm, and everybody absolutely loved it. It was just beautiful to look at people respond to it,” says Thandekiso.
Tsotetsi KL caters for a market that is distinctively chic and sophisticated.
“It is women that are of a peculiar kind who want to portray classiness in an elegant way. They want to stand out, they have exaggerated style and thoughts and they are one in zero,” says Tsotetsi.
The brand does bespoke and high-end garments and is currently working with Luminance, a fashion and lifestyle concept store present in the upscale Hyde Park Corner mall in north Johannesburg.
<div id="attachment_36563" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36563" class="size-medium wp-image-36563" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-101-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-101-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-101-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-101-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-101-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-101-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Tsotetsi-101.jpg 1366w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Faith Mncube of Fabulousdotcom Models. Photograph by Motlabana Monnakgotla.</div>
The garments seen in the photos are from the 2014 fashion weeks from different seasons. Tsotetsi’s favorite is a ruffle dress.
“It was a highly publicised look from the SAMAs’ [edition] 21. It was a dress that Kelly Khumalo [South African singer, actress and dancer] wore and it was one of its kind at the time; it was bigger than what it is in the image. It was 180 meters before it was tailored. It is one iconic look that we photographed for the feature,” he says.
Tsotetsi KL will be turning six years old in August and is slated to have a spectacular fashion show for Women’s Month, observed in South Africa every year that month. Tsotetsi employs four permanent staff and three interns. They are all hard at work in his studio preparing the next line.
For the lad from Soweto obsessed with needlework, he has his work cut out for him.

Tsotetsi-920

From Packing Scrap To Dressing Up Alek Wek

Don’t be fooled by his infectious smile and designer clothes; beneath his tough exterior is a layered story of depression and despair.
On a rainy autumn morning in Johannesburg in March, we meet Adrian Furstenburg in the small affluent suburb of Parkhurst.
Ironically, he is dressed in black – a symbol of grief – to recount the day when his design studio, including stock and equipment worth R70,000 ($5,800), burned and was razed to the ground.
“The damage was so painfully clear in the bright, winter morning light,” says Furstenburg.
To get to this story, it is important to start from the beginning.
Furstenburg was only four years old when he first said he wanted to become a fashion designer.
“I was at my granny’s house and we were watching a fashion show on television, and as we were watching, that is when I decided that this was what I wanted to do with my life,” says Furstenburg.
However, his father, a farmer, had, other plans – he wanted him to pursue law.
Somehow, Furstenburg found a way to persuade his father to allow him to enter a career not so distant from the fashion industry.
“It was the early 2000s and it was pretty cool to study graphic designing, so he said ‘that’s okay, I will pay for you to study graphic designing’,” he says.
In his last year at college, he specialized in textile design, which led to him crafting a career as a handbag designer.
“I think that is one of the wisest decisions that I have ever made, there are definitely no regrets,” says Furstenburg today.
As part of a college assignment, he was required to do a practical project.
“I weaved this beautiful piece of fabric and then I actually made a handbag. This project is where my passion for handbags started,” he says.
After he graduated, he started freelancing as a designer and stylist, set on his journey of one day being a fashion mogul selling swanky handbags.
But his worst day was lurking around the corner, ready to throw him into a state of melancholy.
It was June 6, 2012.
“The day isn’t etched into my memory. I recall it from a much deeper, more visceral part than that,” he says.
He and his business partner at the time, Nkululeko Msibi, of 2souls clothing, had recently set up a small studio just off Gandhi Square in central Johannesburg, where they produced every kind of clothing and accessory to keep their bank balances and ambitions afloat.
“We landed one of our biggest projects producing costumes for a major dance production. We spent hours planning, designing, sourcing, selecting, sewing, stitching. Their budget was strict and the schedule was even tighter with virtually no room for error,” says Furstenburg.
But a disaster that would discredit him and Msibi was about to blaze through their studio.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2017/03/01/can-burn-face-cant-burn-voice/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: They Can Burn My Face, But They Can’t Burn My Voice</a>
Furstenburg was picking up materials from a supplier before heading to the studio that Wednesday morning when he received a frantic phone call from Msibi.
“Fire was really the only word I got from the conversation,” says Furstenburg.
He describes how surreal everything felt in the bright, winter morning light when he arrived at the studio.
“The thick smell of smoke hung throughout the building. Inside the studio, sooty black licks ran up the walls where the fire had devoured our machines, stock and the rails of costumes for the production,” says Furstenburg.
This was just three days before they had to deliver the costumes to their client. They were also not business savvy-enough at the time to have insurance.
“We sat sobbing on the ashy floor. The nausea swam in my stomach as the reality of the situation gained momentum in my head.”
“I called the client, trembling. The shouting started on the telephone and didn’t stop until they left our charcoal pile with a few pieces that had escaped the flames while stored in another studio,” Furstenburg recounts.
They were livid – understandably so.
“They were so outraged, because I was dealing with their dream as well. It was a costume production. They had a look of utter hatred and disgust on their faces,” he says.
They lost the clients.
“I spent two weeks in a blur of fear and guilt… Almost no one trusted us with their work and the landlord suspected that we were to blame for negligence,” says Furstenburg.
He went home, depressed for weeks, not knowing what his next move would be.
<blockquote>“I don’t have children but my business is my child. I have fought very hard for it. Seeing it die was the worst day of my life. I took about two weeks where I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do this anymore,” he says.</blockquote>
Fortunately, it was soon established that the fire was caused by old wiring. They salvaged what they could and Furstenburg decided to change his focus from production to styling &#8211; that is how he slowly managed to recover from what was his worst day.
He started from scratch, working on freelance projects making very little money.
“It was far from ideal and barely sustainable but somehow my resolve strengthened not to allow this incident to raze me permanently,” says Furstenburg.
The passion for designing handbags ignited within, in 2013, he equipped himself with business training at the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship.
When he completed the three-month training, the center placed an order with him for 70 small, original-design messenger bags to be given as gifts to guests at an event held during one of FORBES AFRICA cover stars Richard Branson’s visit to South Africa.
“It could be said that someone else spotted what I had to offer before I had known exactly, and acting perhaps more in response to a veiled instruction than personal confidence at the time, I started making bags,” he says.
“Amusingly, whatever I might have lacked in self-belief was effectively offset by a desire to wow anyone and everyone and so I almost simultaneously entered the Independent Handbag Designer Awards of that year [in New York],” says Furstenburg.
It took four years of applications before he was accepted in 2016 into the All About the Logo by Guess Handbags category. He was the first South African applicant accepted – and the first to win. This opened doors for him locally and internationally.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2018/05/07/from-football-to-fashion/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: From Football To Fashion</a>
Furstenburg is currently working on a procurement deal with an international airline. If successful, it will be the golden game changer that takes his business to the goal of netting an annual profit of $1 million by 2019.
Six years after his worst day, Furstenburg is not without challenges. But he is continuously taking it one step at a time, ensuring that the fire he has for designing world-class handbags never burns out.
“I must admit that I get a little breathless reflecting on the trajectory that the business has followed in the last 15 months, not least because of the risks we’ve survived and the gratitude I feel to those who’ve guided and supported me,” he says.
<div id="attachment_36258" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-36258" class="size-medium wp-image-36258" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Adrian-087-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Adrian-087-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Adrian-087-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Adrian-087-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Adrian-087-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Adrian-087-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Adrian-087.jpg 1366w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Adrian Furstenburg. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla.</div>

Adrian-033

Burned But Not Broken; The Tale Of Fiery fashion

Born in Tanzania, living in South Africa, and dressing the world, Anissa Mpungwe, is difficult to pin down.
In the end, we manage to do it online.
I look for her on Google Maps, and set out to seek her home address, with nothing but the online search tool. I travel with FORBES WOMAN AFRICA’s layout artist Lucy Nkosi. Luckily for us, just outside her home, which we eventually locate, we bump into one of Mpungwe’s two sisters, a student of architecture, leaving for her classes.
She helps us get in touch with the designer and set up an appointment with her at her Kyalami studio in Midrand, north of Johannesburg.
Around Mpungwe is a melange of color and couture, as she shares her story.
<div id="attachment_35909" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35909" class="wp-image-35909 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2691-1024x683.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="683" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2691-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2691-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2691-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2691-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2691.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Anissa Mpungwe. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla.</div>
Mpungwe has been in South Africa since she was 10, attending junior school, high school and university in the Rainbow Nation. Until the age of 19, she was just another foreigner in South Africa. 
But her career took off after that.
“After graduating in South Africa, getting my degree in fashion and marketing, I went to do my post- graduation in London. They have a good network there, so you get to work with different spaces and [get enough] work experience for you to know what you want to do; and I didn’t know which part of the fashion industry I wanted to be in. So I had to do all those different [types of] work experiences to know I definitely didn’t want to work for a magazine, [and] definitely not in a factory,” says Mpungwe.
Her career kick-started in South Africa in 2008 after winning the Elle New Talent competition, when she had the opportunity to work with fashion retailer Mr Price (MRP). Thereafter, she showcased her creations at fashion weeks in South Africa; however the biggest jump was in 2010 when she showcased at the prestigious New York Fashion Week in the United States.
“For me, it was an odd jump,” she says.
From being a student overseas, coming back home to South Africa trying to figure out where her career was going, to winning a competition, working with MRP to have her range out and then off to another country representing her home country, Tanzania.
That was in 2010 in New York City that she believes was the year that launched her career and the Loin Cloth &amp; Ashes brand.
Her first store opened in 2012 in Maboneng Precinct, a trendy art hub outside Johannesburg’s Central Business District.
Visitors to her store have included international musicians such as Swedish singer-songwriter Yukimi Nagano from Little Dragon, and American singer-songwriter Amel Larrieux.
She has over the years also had the opportunity to dress American singer-model-actress Solange Knowles for the cover of Elle as well as local South African stars such as Lira, Anele Mdoda, Bridget Masinga, and Simphiwe Dana amongst a slew of other celebrities.
In 2013, Mpungwe won Emerging Designer of the Year Africa awarded by African Fashion International.
She worked with MRP producing ranges reaching countries from Nigeria to Namibia, Botswana and stores across South Africa.
Mpungwe was also chosen to gift one of her designs to former American First Lady Michelle Obama during her visit to South Africa in 2015.
<div id="attachment_35910" style="width: 693px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-35910" class="wp-image-35910 size-large" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2450-683x1024.jpg" alt="" width="683" height="1024" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2450-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2450-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2450-600x900.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2450-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2450-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/TLH_2450.jpg 1366w" sizes="(max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px" />Mpungwe dresses a model with one of her designs. Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla.</div>
“That for me was a very proud moment because of who she is, how she operates as a female. I [received] a little letter from her to frame to put next to the accolades. As much as those things excite me, to be honest with you, I think it is the everyday people that make me feel good about what I do,” she says.
Over the last few years, she has worked with corporate brands such as Maserati, Converse and Nestle among others.
Mpungwe operates out of two studios in South Africa and one in Tanzania employing 17 people.
“It has been great, a good learning curve. I’ve learned a lot, in such a short period. I’ve learned the business of fashion and the construction of clothing, the product itself,” says J K Khoza, one of her fashion interns.
Mpungwe is now sharing her experiences and showcasing her creations in the hope of seeing more young Africans traverse the globe spreading the beauty and bounties of African fashion.

Anissa_2066

Designs For Africa, And Michelle Obama

Michael Manaka is a self-made artisan building oil purifying plants from his home garage in Tembisa, east of Johannesburg. He is mature, to say the least. In 2010, when his peers were heading for retirement, the 60-year-old founded Machoroma Oil Specialists following an epiphany in his sleep. He vows to work until his last breath.
“I had a dream visiting my boss Edward Michael Povazan on his farm in Drakensburg. He told me: ‘I have a garden full of grapes. You can have the seeds and make your own garden at home. You will enjoy them with your wife and children’. This is a man who taught me everything, from designing and building machines. I knew the dream wasn’t about grapes but was opening my eyes about starting on my own,” says Manaka.
It all started in 1982, when Manaka, at the age of 25, was working at a company in Johannesburg called Fluidex Engineering. In those days, during apartheid, Manaka was denied opportunities because he was black. Povazan, an engineer from the Czech Republic, taught him everything he knows, including how to build oil purifying machines.
“In 1986, I was sent to Olifantsfontein Trade Test Centre to get a qualification as a machine designer and fitter, and I was the only black man being tested that week. My white counterparts told me I won’t make it. Indeed, I was the only one who failed,” says Manaka.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2018/01/26/meet-young-robotics-entrepreneur-got-dream-deal-apple/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Meet The Young Robotics Entrepreneur Who Got A Dream Deal With Apple</a>
Despite not getting a qualification, Manaka worked even harder for success. It paid off; he was promoted to chief designer until the company was bought by Remex Engineering in 2007.
The new owner promised Manaka shares after he spent two years recruiting and training others. One of his recruits was his nephew Johannes Manaka, who still works with him.
“Johannes is now a designer and a machine builder like me. He learned from the best and my son, Sello, is an academic person, so he is our paperwork guy,” he says.
While working for Remex, Manaka says a Malaysian businessman gave his team work to build machines for export. Manaka went to Malaysia to train people to build and maintain these machines.
“After I worked for two years for Remex I went to remind the boss about his promise of shares, but I was hurt a lot when he told me it was just a verbal agreement. He said I can go wherever, he wasn’t honoring that. So, I pulled out.”
In early 2010, with his teacher wife, Manaka took his pension fund to register his family business Machoroma Oil Specialists. The company designs and builds turbine oil purification plants, transformer purification plants and hydraulic purification plants, for mines and engineering companies.
With the little money he had, Manaka could only design a prototype machine but he struggled to get businesses to buy in. He went to Kelvin Power Station, owned by Investec and Nedbank Capital, with a proposal.
“I went there with piles of paper to show them designs for my prototype machine. They told me they couldn’t help me because they needed to see a physical machine that I can show them. I tried by all means to raise money, I even went to Nedbank for a personal loan,” he says.
Manaka got a R100,000 loan ($7,000). With this loan, and the money from his pension, Manaka built the first machine in his garage.
“I started buying and putting parts together building components until I was in the process of building a prototype plant costing roughly about R300,000 ($21,000),” he says.
But the money wasn’t enough to complete the machine, so Manaka took a job as a maintenance foreman at Baymont Holdings to earn the rest.
On weekends, Manaka continued assembling the machine in his garage.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/focus/2017/12/22/entrepreneurs-born-made/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: Entrepreneurs Born Or Made?</a>
When the machine was built and standing, Manaka says it was difficult for him to penetrate the market. He went back to Kelvin Power Station to show them his machine that produced up to 10,000 liters of recycled oil per hour. Unfortunately, the power station was no longer interested.
Early this year, through the Ekurhuleni Municipality in Johannesburg’s East Rand, Manaka learned of Lepharo, an engineering and base metal incubation center in Springs.
“Manaka is one of over 100 clients incubated for the purpose of assisting with overall business compliance, access to fund and access to market. The workshop he is renting is subsidized by the center, however he can only rent it for a period of 12 months, this is to ensure that he pays marketed related costs to ensure competitiveness,” says Matimba Makaringe, Business Development Manager at Lepharo.
“They are helping us with marketing and paperwork,” says Manaka.
While Manaka is waiting for his payday for his oil purifying machine, he has not given up on his dream of teaching.
Manaka says he is inundated with calls for his expertise, but none have money behind them.
When FORBES AFRICA visited his home in September, Manaka was in his garage designing a new wax water oil separation machine commissioned by ChemSystems, a company in Chloorkop in Kempton Park.
“I call myself an industrialist, because I start these machines from scratch and I make them happen. I am the best man to build these machines to specifications. If I were to build a machine, I need as little as R250,000 ($17,500) to over R5 million ($350,000), for a machine or plant that can be used at a parastatal, like Eskom. But, as a black company and small company, businesspeople are still reluctant to work with us and see how we can help the country move forward,” he says.
Manaka says countries around the world are encouraged to stay away from nuclear and coal-powered stations &#8211; and that’s exactly what his creations are about.
“If I’m allowed the space and resources, we will be able to build machines for Africa and for exporting… The kind of machines that are out there are the same as those I built in 1989, nothing has changed except operations, meaning that they are only changing from manual to automatic. There are no innovations,” says Manaka.
Like his machines, Manaka wants to run as long as he can. &#8211; Written by Permla Ramakobya

The 60-Year-Old Industrialist

Clive Rundle is what many see as a trailblazer in the African fashion industry.
With a career spanning three decades, he has showcased on the scintillating catwalks of New York and Milan, but his entrepreneurial journey unravelled in his parents’ garage at a time when South Africa was still in the throes of apartheid.
We meet Zimbabwean-born Rundle, today the founder and owner of <a href="http://www.cliverundle.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clive Designs CC</a>, and his machinists, at his factory in the grim CBD of Johannesburg.
It’s a designer’s den: around him, sewing machines, patterns, sketches, garments on the racks and order amid all the chaos. Within the confines of the dull and grey walls, a riot of color and creativity.
After obtaining a diploma in fashion design in 1983 from the Gordon Flack-Davidson Academy of Design, in Johannesburg, Rundle spent four years traveling between Europe and the United Sates, learning the styles of preeminent artists there.
For him, it was less about wanting to be a fashion designer and more about having a business that would make him rich.
On his return from the many travels around the world, Rundle started Clive Designs from the garage of his home.
His first client was Wizards, a boutique in Johannesburg who he supplied for three years.
At the time, he juggled between being a designer and waiting tables at Pizzaland, a chain of pizza restaurants in Hillbrow.
“I didn’t even have an overlocker. I did everything myself; the sourcing, cutting, running around and marketing.It was just a one-man show, there was nothing except me and my car,” says Rundle.
<div id="attachment_33480" style="width: 348px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33480" class=" wp-image-33480" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Clive-Rundle-1-200x300.jpg" alt="Clive Rundle " width="338" height="507" />Clive Rundle works on one of his designs with model Yonela Shenxane. (Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla)</div>
The first dress he made for Wizards was sold wholesale for R100 ($7.6) – the price of a small pizza these days. Today, Rundle’s dresses cost from R890 ($69) to R37,000 ($2,847) and more.
“What we sold then we would never be able to sell today, it was too conceptual and now the same designs are just too avant-garde to wear in the streets. We sold it from batch to batch, it wasn’t like we did collections or showcased at fashion shows. In those days, there were no fashion weeks, but more product shows,” says Rundle who looks more rock-star than designer.
In 1986, Rundle was also supplying more than 60 boutiques in South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland.
Two years later, he managed to scrape a few thousand rands and opened his first store in Rosebank Mall, north of Johannesburg. At this time, the United Nations had sanctions on South Africa, which hindered his endeavours to do business internationally.
“That was the height of the textile industry and South Africa was in its own little bubble. The sanctions against us created a very different industry to the one we know today. Products could not be imported from abroad,” he says.
As South Africa celebrated the end of apartheid and welcomed a new democratic government in 1994, the international fashion market opened to Rundle but he laments the downfall of the textile industry in the country.
“When the sanctions ended, everything that had been protected became globalized and many aspects of the textile industry collapsed. You can see from the membership figures of the Garment Workers Union which went from 300,000 members to less than 40,000 in 20 years. We have lost many jobs in the industry,” rues Rundle.
Despite the challenges in the textile industry, there are many designers coming in.
“There is not enough need for designers – there’s no industry to either employ you, even if you graduate from a school in Germany, it’s the same thing. If you are lucky to get a drawing job at a company, that’s a big deal. You don’t get to do fashion shows and collections. You have to do 10 to 15 years interning before you can even think of independently establishing your own brand,” he says.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2017/08/02/success-bag-entrepreneur/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Success Is In The Bag For This Entrepreneur</a>
Rundle is critical of design schools that overemphasize the glamor of being a fashion designer rather than focusing on the technical expertise needed for the industry.
“Students think it’s all about the celebrities and the drawings of long-flowing gowns trailing along the red carpet. But that’s the picture painted by the fashion industry. You need to understand that it will take another 15 years before you are truly ready to make it into the global sphere,” says Rundle.
The industry needs people who have manufacturing and technical skills in addition to design.
“Not everyone should be taught to be a fashion designer; there should be schools for tailors, pattern-cutters, graders. We need to refocus on the schooling; at grade 10, people should start learning the trade.”
This seems to be a lucrative industry abroad. Rundle says in Europe, to showcase at the Paris Fashion Week, costs a lot. A designer has to produce the show, pay the models, the producer, pay for the lights and the technical production team.
“It’s okay if you’re just happy to be in the industry for making clothes and you love sewing but it’s tough when you want to be on top of the league,” says Rundle.
<div id="attachment_33481" style="width: 610px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-33481" class=" wp-image-33481" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Clive-Rundle-factory-e1505375700938-300x200.jpg" alt="Clive Rundle" width="600" height="400" />Model, Yonela Shenxane, wears a Clive Rundle design in his factory in Johannesburg. (Photo by Motlabana Monnakgotla)</div>
Rundle and his team of four people; a grader, pattern-cutter and two seamsters, work long hours before the fashion weeks. They have to design and prepare three months before the show.
“We start with a tiny sketch of a technical aspect of a garment, for example, the shoulder seam or a collar. We focus very much on the technical challenge. That requires a very good pattern-cutter and synergy between the pattern-cutter and designer. As mentioned, this is difficult to find because everyone wants to be a fashion designer,” says Rundle.
“We need time to resolve technical problems, then look at the bigger picture which is you’ve got 15 models coming down the ramp, how are they going to look. We’ve started cluster development where the whole collection is held in one pattern. It can take us five to 10 working calicos. We have to keep evolving the holding capacity of one pattern to develop one collection.”
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/entreprenuers/2017/07/07/first-africa-world/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">First Africa, Then The World</a>
To his staff, Rundle is more than an employer, but a patient mentor.
“I’ve learned everything I know today from Rundle, when I came here I didn’t know anything about the fashion industry. I have friends who have been working in other companies for 20 years but still can’t sew. Rundle sees the potential in a person and allows us to learn,” says Nobantu Dube, a grader and an assistant pattern-cutter who has worked with Rundle for 28 years.
“We live in hard economic times, if Rundle were to close down his business; we’d be able to continue on our own because we have the necessary skills, which he taught us,” she says.
Vusi Mpofu, who worked with Rundle for seven years, says: “Here, we have to think and apply our minds all the time. When one of us makes a mistake and we pick it up, we all help to rectify it.”
Clearly, Rundle is not happy to be at the top of the fashion industry on his own; he wants other Africans to stand by his side.
Trends and fashion tips for 2018: by Clive Rundle
<ul>
<li>Handcrafted – clothes with handwork which distinguishes you from generic brands.</li>
<li>Individuated – you would either have the style or individuality to transform a piece into a unique something for which it may not have been intended, for example, a dress becomes a head piece.</li>
<li>Home sewing – in order to individuate or handcraft, you need to be able to transform your own garment for example, sew a bit, paint on it, cut it.</li>
<li>Gender neutral – an overlap between what is perceived as masculine or feminine.</li>
<li>Collectables – build your wardrobe with pieces forever. If you don’t want to wear them, then your children should want to get into them at some stage.</li>
</ul>

From Pizzas To Pizzaz

Amidst a flurry of designer gowns and sexy stilettoes, the Lagos Fashion &amp; Design Week (LFDW) is off to a ritzy start at the Federal Palace Hotel in Victoria Island, Nigeria. As is expected, it’s big on style and selfies.
Seated in the front row for the Ejiro Amos Tafiri show, high-profile personalities and celebrities sipping champagne from long-stemmed glasses soak up the glitz and glamor of an event that celebrates African fashion.
This year, 42 designers hit the runway to showcase their interpretation of what is new and chic in African fashion, and as the runway transforms itself in bright colors juxtaposed with velvet material and sheer fabric, personal shopper and fashion buyer, Mohammed Dohan, is right where he needs to be – in the front row.
“I have been coming to this event each year since it started in 2011 and the quality of designers and the types of African brands has improved dramatically. There is a great demand for authentic African pieces all over the world,” says Dohan.
Working for high-net-worth individuals and luxury boutiques in the United Arab Emirates, Dohan knows a thing or two about the latest fashion trends and LFDW is an inspirational hotspot for him.
Like Dohan, everybody is here for a piece of the growing garments industry in Africa, and no one knows this better than the founder of LFDW, Omoyemi Akerele.
“Currently, the value of garments, apparel and leather in sub-Saharan Africa has been tapped at $30 billion by Euromonitor, so the market is huge and if Nigeria is the single-largest market in Africa due to the sheer size of the population, then we are sitting on a gold mine,” says Akerele.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32119 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2016/12/IMG_6116.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="800" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_6116.jpg 550w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_6116-300x436.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_6116-206x300.jpg 206w" sizes="(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px" />
“We realized that there was no fashion industry when we started and decided that there has got to be a semblance of an industry. Number two, we have talent in Nigeria, but there is no commerce backing that talent, so we had to get to a place where we asked ‘what do you want to do first? Do you want to focus on the commerce or do you want to focus on the creativity?’ Creativity seemed like a good place to start, hence fashion week.”
With a degree in Law from the University of Lagos and a master’s in International Economic Law from the University of Warwick in England, Akerele knew from an early age that she was going to follow her father’s footsteps in the legal profession.
“Law was firmly what I had my heart set on until the day I stopped. Initially I thought it was because I didn’t want to work in that particular law firm. I thought I was going to get married and go back to law with a different organization but it took being at home for me to realize I did not want that. I asked myself ‘why are you going back to something you don’t love’,” recalls Akerele.
She knew it was time to make a change.
“For you to have a career and thrive in it, it has to be something you love and that is what pushes you and makes you go beyond the extra mile to be able to give it your best. So that is what I realized was missing from my career as a lawyer.”
She began her new career as an image consultant and fashion stylist. Her first role was as contributing stylist for Truelove, however a partnership with a friend ignited her passion for the creative arts.
Her friend at the time, Bola Balogun, moved back to Nigeria, so they met and started a company together called Exclusive Styling, moving on to do styling jobs in Nigeria from Big Brother Africa to MTN Project Fame and Idols.
Soon, she was at a point where she needed to go back to the drawing board again.“I thought going back to school would do the trick, I thought doing a master’s in fashion would be the next phase so I went to three different schools which were the best in Europe and they asked for my portfolio and they asked me ‘why do you want to do a master’s, do you mean you want to teach’? They said your portfolio looks really good so half of the things we will be teaching you, you have already done in practice so this course is not for you,” says Akerele.
After some soul-searching, Akerele had her moment of clarity.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-32118 size-full" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2016/12/IMG_5880.jpg" alt="" width="533" height="799" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_5880.jpg 533w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_5880-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/IMG_5880-200x300.jpg 200w" sizes="(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px" />
“The problem was not to learn a bit more about creativity. The problem is about the environment we are in and how do I contribute to creating or being a part of things that can create change and sort of expand the industry a little bit. And that is how Style House came into it. I realized at the time that one of the problems we had as designers was getting access to clothes.”
With greater accessibility, a deeper understanding of how creativity can turn into commerce became a focus for Akerele and her new company, Style House.
Soon, her creative platform, LFDW was born. Conceived in 2008, Akerele also set up avenues for master classes, capacity building and skills development that could take young designers from where they were to a completely different level.
“Collaboration became our most powerful ally. How do we collaborate with people within Nigeria, how do we collaborate with people outside Nigeria and corporate organizations too to help bring this vision to life because it is very expensive,” says Akerele.
In just five years, the organization has grown to be the leading fashion event in Nigeria and for Akerele, the focus is not only about providing an access to market platforms for young and emerging entrepreneurs but more importantly driving the conversation and key issues that affect fashion in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.

Omoyemi2-Photo-Credit-Lakin-Ogunbanwo

Haute And Happening

His bow ties may be small but his dreams are big. Neither could have been born if it was not for the sight of his mother slaving over a hot stove.
On a balmy afternoon, we meet 21-year-old Emmanuel Mohlala, a bow tie designer, at his studio in downtown Johannesburg.
Mohlala is surrounded by a collection of his velvet and leather bow ties.
Entrepreneurship was always in his blood. He made his first buck selling fatcakes in high school to help his mother’s spaza shop. Selling fatcake after fatcake, he realized his love for the world of business.
Then he suffered the heartbreak of seeing his mother baking at 1AM.
“At the time, I felt so useless. But I always knew that I’d make her proud,” says Mohlala.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-5150" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Emmanuel-017-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" />
In those lean times, his dreams kept him going.
He was born in the dry and dusty Ga- Mampuru village of South Africa’s Limpopo province and grew up in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg. He is the fifth of six children.
After matriculating in 2013, Mohlala took a year off for soul searching.
“I needed to learn the ropes of business,” he says.
In May 2015, he teamed up with his eldest brother to start the Clanman brand.
“I started the business with an old tie I got from home; I had to use it to make a bow tie which I sold to get enough money to buy one meter of fabric,” says Mohlala.
“For me, they are exclusive. It’s something that should be worn on special occasions.”
Mohlala needed money to start his business. Unfortunately, no one was willing to invest.
“I was turned down at various shops around Joburg CBD for months.”
“My turnaround happened when I got a Theatre boutique at Eastgate Mall, that’s when I started to see a way forward in my business,” says Mohlala.
Though the business hasn’t made a lot of cash, Mohlala thinks it will grow into a profitable one.
Currently busy with a collection of bow ties, under his business, he has dressed South Africa’s Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, and celebrity Maps Maponyane.
Mohlala’s advise to his peers?
“Do thorough research. Know the pros and cons of the business you’re going into, so that you can tackle challenges when they surface.”
“When I started, I thought everyone would be supportive of my business.  Soon I learned, to succeed you have to sacrifice a lot, and that friendship and business don’t go hand in hand,” he says.
He hopes to have at least a collection of watches and sunglasses under his belt by 2020.
And he would like to design a bow tie for Nigerian entrepreneur and Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote. If he continues to dream big, he will.

The Entrepreneur With Success Tied Up

Andre Fourie left the lecture rooms and aboratories behind to become the chief executive of Poynting Holdings; the largest wireless antenna designer and manufacturer in South Africa.
Fourie founded his business while he was a lecturer at a university in South Africa. Today, the company focuses on four main technology segments: monitoring and communications antennas, commercial cellular end user antennas for 3G, LTE and WiFi consumer antennas; cellular coverage solutions for operators and cellular infrastructure providers as well as digital television solutions to TV broadcasters.
Since leaving his academic path, Fourie has never looked back. The new path led him to the helm of a R387-million ($33 million) company, as of January, and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s AltX board. The AltX provides smaller companies with access to capital while providing investors with exposure to fast-growing smaller companies in a regulated environment. Poynting’s share price is up 82% since 2008.
When he was a boy, Fourie’s father, a bank manager at the time, advised him to never work for a salary.
So, while he was still at school, Fourie would buy old radios, fix and then sell them. It was a skill he learned from his grandfather who was a farmer.
“I grew up in an extremely Afrikaans environment, including the typical army conscription at the time. And there I got advised by a guy, I think I got a very multicultural exposure which I think people missed about the military background that all of us were forced to take. And secondly, he said, ‘You must go to an English university, you can’t be this Afrikaans,’” says Fourie.
With this recommendation, he chose to study at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg.
“It was a strange thing for an Afrikaans boy to do. At that time, they’d just burned the flag [the old South African flag used during apartheid] and that was a wonderful experience for me. It opened my eyes to how well you can do if you mix different cultures together,” he says.
Fourie graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering.
“Within one year of doing my fourth year, I started lecturing because my lecturer immigrated to the United Kingdom and, at the time, I was the only guy who knew something about antennas; you can imagine not that much,” he says.
He completed his master’s degree and was appointed as a research officer for the engineering department. In 1991, he also decided to work on a PhD in engineering.
“So I started building a research group and in the nineties we formed a company and started with consulting work. The company operated for about 10 years from Wits,” he says.
This company was Givati Fourie and Associates. It invented and designed its own products as well as provided specialized design services to the industry.
In 1996, the company was disbanded and Poynting Innovations was formed, with a similar business model and Fourie as chief executive. Four years later, Fourie says the company wanted to start manufacturing low-cost antennas and so he founded Poynting Antennas. With this, his staff increased from eight to 124 employees.
Though getting his company on its feet was not easy, Fourie got a helping hand from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), the Department of Trade and Industry and the military.
“I credit the government for helping to start our business, they really helped us in the beginning,” says Fourie.
Ten years after receiving his PhD, he became an assistant professor but decided he should focus on Poynting fulltime. In 2005, Fourie delivered his last lecture and ended an 18-year  university career.
Today, Poynting is a Pretoria-based company with a manufacturing facility in nearby Centurion, where he has a modest office on the ground floor. Their products are aimed at large international military systems integrators and distributors who contribute about 80% to Poynting’s turnover.
In April, the company released good results for six months to December 31, 2013. Its revenue increased by 27.4% to R53.5 million ($5 million) and after-tax profit increased 72.7% from R2.2 million ($200,000) to R3.8 million ($347,000).
The 50-year-old Fourie says the company is positioning itself as a leading player in the triple-play future. This is the convergence of television, voice and the internet on one digital platform.
Poynting acquired 100% of the issued share capital of the Pretoria-based African Union Communications (Aucom) in March for R49.5 million ($4.6 million). It was funded by the issuance of 66 million Poynting shares.
Poynting’s chairman, Coenraad Bester says this is the company’s first major deal since listing and they anticipate that it will more than double its turnover.
The acquisition increases the distribution of Poynting’s digital television products into the African markets.
Aucom works with a lot of broadcasters in Africa, where digital migration is creating a huge demand for solar-powered systems that enables the viewing of new channels on new platforms.
Fourie says the deal will significantly increase the market share of both companies and facilitate the raising of additional capital for the development of projects to meet the needs of the growing African digital television market.
In July, the company acquired two more key acquisitions including Radio Network Solutions (RNS) for R110 million ($10 million). According to Reuters, the deal will be settled by a cash payment of R60 million ($6 million) and the issuance of 18.2 million new Poynting shares at 275 cents each.
The company also acquired Poynting Europe, which distributes the company’s commercial antenna products in Europe. Fourie says these two acquisitions will help turn the company’s fledgling commercial and cellular coverage solution (CSS) divisions to profitability.
Fourie says Poynting remains focused on acquisitions to improve international sales and contribute to the current defence, telecommunications and digital business.
Not bad for an Afrikaans boy who started by selling radios.

How A Farmer And An Old Radio Made An Entrepreneur

I don’t speak English well,” confesses Aya Konan at the other end of the line. The long-distance conversation does no justice to her well-known effervescent personality. To most Ivorians, she is as famous as their country itself.
Yet, it’s not often that one gets to speak to a designer from Côte d’Ivoire, that beautiful West African country where people speak better French than English.
From her interrupted, reluctant rendition of the English language, you realize that Konan’s real expression is her art form. That her medium is metal, and she is a master story-teller when she works with it.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29691" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/46_17-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/46_17-199x300.jpg 199w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/46_17-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/46_17.jpg 377w" sizes="(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" />
Konan’s life has been a confluence of French and African culture. Her father is Ivorian and her mother French, specifically Alsatian. Born in France, Konan grew up in Côte d’Ivoire from the age of five and left her country again for her studies at the age of 18. By then, she had already dabbled in design. Attending fashion shows as a child, she had seen women wearing only European jewelry. She was determined to change that.
Konan acquired a degree as a computer technician to “please her parents”, but her interest lay in the creative arts. She returned after 12 years to Côte d’Ivoire to craft modern jewelry infusing African traditions. Her inspiration is ancient Akan jewelry and the royal courts, which she aptly captures in her Makeda line of jewelry. Today, she sells wearable art and home décor to clients around the world.
An ardent admirer of Maya Angelou and Miriam Makeba, Konan is a mother of three, married to an architect. She speaks from her home in Abidjan about creativity, Côte d’Ivoire and women in Africa:
&nbsp;
Why is Akan art an inspiration?
I am very inspired by the clothing and jewelry of the ancient Akan royal courts in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.
&nbsp;
What medium do you mostly work with?
I work with metals imported from France to respect international standards. After the conception of a masterpiece on metal, I add beads, rhinestones and shells.
Who is your target audience?
My initial target market was ladies over 30 who dressed in traditional African fabrics. Today, I have a line targeted at a younger clientele. My daughters have inspired me. There are accessories, bags, belts, T-shirts etc. I am very careful to be competitive about the prices, to reach as many people as possible, but Makeda is still a premium product.
&nbsp;
How big is your business?
Makeda gathers several activities. The structure has grown and the most important division is Makeda Deco, which has our highest turnover. It produces decorations for events such as weddings and galas. I love everything that is creative. We have a decoration shop where we provide everything for an event such as flowers, rhinestones nd chocolate candles.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29690" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/34_24-199x300.jpg" alt="" width="199" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/34_24-199x300.jpg 199w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/34_24-300x451.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/34_24.jpg 377w" sizes="(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px" />
Where do you retail at the moment?
I opened my first shop in the Place des Victoires in Paris in 1994; at that time, I was manufacturing my jewelry in Paris. Then in 1997, I decided to go back to Africa where I mounted a foundry to be self-sufficient in the production. Later, I opened a showroom and then a few years later a large shop.
&nbsp;
How are female creative entrepreneurs viewed in Africa and the rest of the world?
I think the female entrepreneur has her place just like a man. In fact, I have never considered the question in those terms because I never felt a barrier because I am a woman. That could be the advantage of a creative profession. These are trades where only creativity and emotion count. Dreaming and creating dreams are most important in my line of work.
&nbsp;
In terms of creativity, what sets Côte d’Ivoire apart from the rest of Africa?
My answer is biased because I love my country. Creativity is everywhere in the city, at every intersection, and in even the most remote towns and villages. Ivorians create all the time and even in the most absurd and most terrible ways, as during the post-election violence that hit our country. Many have painted and, particularly, sung on the theme of the crisis. This is a country which is very open to art of all types. So, everything is possible.
&nbsp;
What is the future of women
in Africa?
For me, women play an important role in Africa; they are very enterprising as they are often the pillars of their families. In Côte d’Ivoire, for instance, it is thanks to women that food markets are supplied. I have daughters, and I admire how their generation evolves with tremendous confidence and grand ambitions. I am confident about the future of women.
&nbsp;
What is life like in Côte d’Ivoire?
Life is very nice, as long as there is no political unrest of course, as in many African countries. Abidjan is a city where attitudes are changing and there is tremendous potential in many industries. Cultural life is becoming increasingly important and you see all sorts of occupations, just like you do in large Western cities. Fashion plays a very important role here.

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French Notes From The Creative Coast

There are a few ways to tell an African story and Nigerian designer Patience Torlowei chose to say it with fabric and paint.
Torlowei’s story, named Esther, is in fact a flowing gown in raw silk, chronicling, in acrylic, the real issues of Africa, from the militancy crisis in the Niger-Delta region to the rebel concerns in Central and Eastern Africa.
The artist, who seeks to use her work as a medium to tell stories, also conveys the environmental catastrophes the continent faces, using the imagery of dead fish in the polluted waters of the Niger-Delta, and mass deforestation, among other pertinent topics.
The dress has obviously made an impact. It made its way from the airport in Lagos to the fashion runways in Washington DC, and finally to a pride of place at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29586 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-042-Esther-dress-001-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-042-Esther-dress-001-225x300.jpg 225w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-042-Esther-dress-001-300x400.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-042-Esther-dress-001-600x800.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Oct-Nov-042-Esther-dress-001.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" />
It’s the first piece of African haute couture on permanent exhibition at the museum.
It all started in February when Torlowei was invited as one of nine African designers to present her collection at a fashion show at the Smithsonian.
She had, amongst other creations, also presented her focal piece, Esther.
Following positive feedback for her work, the museum requested to purchase it from her. She instead donated it to them.
Otherwise, Torlowei is the founder of Patience Please, a design label producing quality lingerie. Her first line was launched in 2006 with Patience Torlowei BVBA, a bridal wear company. In two years, the brand supplied wedding and cocktail dresses across six countries in Europe. Torlowei also began to explore the possibilities in her home country Nigeria.
“I came to Nigeria with the heart to transfer the skill of lingerie manufacturing to my people. I have always been of the strong belief that we are fully capable of manufacturing good clothing on a large scale… My dream was to make Nigeria the hub of lingerie manufacturing in Africa.”
Torlowei seeks to use her art to generate awareness about issues threatening the future of her country and the world.
“Through works such as Esther, we aim to encourage conversation on topics that hit close to home, and play our part in promoting positive development,” she says.
And in turn take African culture to the world.

History On A hanger

Italian fashion designer and Lagos-resident
Caterina Bortolussi can be mistaken for a home-grown Nigerian. She fits in seamlessly with Lagos’ thriving social circuit and is always on the VIP list at sought-after city events.
She is the founder of the ethical African fashion label Kinabuti, dedicated to sustainable development in the Niger Delta, and popular among fashionistas, Afropolitans and Nigeria’s entertainment elite.
<div id="attachment_29490" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-29490" class="size-medium wp-image-29490" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-600x400.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-003.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Lagos (Nigeria) Kinabuti Collection 2012</div>
“I believe it was God who guided me towards this idea; I just had a dream of designing clothes. I never thought I was going to live in Africa or Nigeria. I didn’t have formal education in fashion and didn’t even know how to sketch but I have been lucky to come across so many amazing personalities that inspired me with their vision and drive,” says Bortolussi.
She had been working in the strife-torn Niger Delta since 2007, when a state of emergency was proclaimed, and there were ensuing kidnappings, curfews and police blocks. She compiled a paper called Peace and Art and saw in art a vehicle to spread peace and inspire the youth.
“This propelled me to start the Kinabuti fashion label in 2010 with the focus of using it to go into areas described as highly unsafe and populated by militants, to provide training [for women and youth] in modeling, silk-screening, cutting and pattern drafting.”
And what does Kinabuti mean?
“It is my nickname. As a little girl, I found it hard trying to pronounce my lengthy name. I used to call it Kina [short for Caterina], and Buti [short for Bortolussi], so when people asked my name, I told them I was Kinabuti.”
Before landing in Lagos eight years ago, Bortolussi was with an investment bank in London. After that, she moved to shipping, but she was on the look-out for something more exciting and creative.
“I have made several career moves, from selling advertising to setting up my own communications agency. But the direction was clear: to set up my own fashion label,” she says.
Bortolussi says settling in Nigeria has not been easy. A lot of capital is necessary to invest in Nigeria due to high costs of starting a business, limited access to credit, lack of power, and market insecurity.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29489 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002-200x300.jpg 200w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002-300x450.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002-600x901.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/FWA-2014-Aug-Sep-074-075-Kinabuti-002.jpg 682w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
“There was a time when I lost all my money and was threatened to leave the country but I never lost faith. Nigeria is not an easy place, but teaches you to endure, to be fearless and most of all to have self-belief. Nigeria has plenty of opportunities, in eight of my years here, I have felt its transformation and development and consider myself lucky. Nigeria is a place where dreams can become a reality.”
Through Kinabuti, Bortolussi is also passionate about training young entrepreneurs. She has taken her drive to the ghettoes of Port Harcourt in the south of Nigeria.
South African apartheid activist Nelson Mandela is an inspiration, as she quotes him: “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.”

Lagos (Nigeria)Kinabuti Collection 2012

Ghetto Glamor

Archel Bernard sits on a bar stool in the middle of her little boutique in downtown Monrovia as a handful of customers drift in and out. Pieces of West African lapa hang over wooden ladders and colorful African-Western fusion designs sit on either side. A sign beside the counter that is made up of bamboo stakes reads ‘Life is Too Short to Wear Boring Clothes’.
The 25-year-old designer and businesswoman moved from Atlanta in the United States (US) in 2011 to her family’s hometown for a job at the government’s oil corporation, and now moonlights as a fashion designer in her spare time. Bernard established a fashion label called ‘It’s Archel’ and set up a shop called Mango Rags in downtown Monrovia, with her business partner Tania Abraham, who also grew up abroad, mainly in the United Kingdom. The shop celebrated its first anniversary in February and is among a small number of boutiques specializing in contemporary African designs, in a country where small fashion businesses are just beginning to emerge over a decade after the civil war, when shopping for clothes was a luxury many could not afford.
Mango Rags, now a polished little shop located in Bernard’s grandfather’s compound that was formerly a car garage, had less glamorous beginnings. Bernard would chug around the city in a white pickup truck driven by her mother Brenda Bush, a producer and writer for CNN, with a tape measure and notebook into which she would jot down her customers’ measurements. Building up a collection of tailors from the workshops spread throughout the city, she dropped off fabric and sketches of designs in between working her nine to five job producing multimedia for the National Oil Company of Liberia (NOCAL). Bernard began to save money to open and fit the shop; now with a steady stream of mainly expatriate customers, she is looking to expand.
Born and raised in the US, but always identifying as Liberian and African, Bernard grew up in Atlanta, one of the few black kids in her community of Marietta.
When her mother did carpooling, she dressed in funky African clothes and head wraps.
“Can you dress like the normal mums do?” she had asked her, but later grew to appreciate her style. Named Archel, after her father Archie (a cultural quirk in Liberia), few of her schoolmates could pronounce her name, and so her label is ‘It’s Archel.’
When she was 16, Bernard returned to Liberia after the war to visit her grandfather, a businessman who had stayed throughout the 14-year civil war, despite the family’s insistence that he leave.
“When we landed you could have fried an egg on the runway because there was nothing. It was just a stretch of huts and then you approach the city and there are more concrete structures, but it’s still not America,” says Bernard.
She says the government offers few incentives for young educated Liberians to return, but chooses to stay because she wants to help change Liberia, and transform from a chronic charity case to a ‘place to be’ in Africa.
Now a Liberian returnee, self-described “third world socialite”, designer and government worker, Bernard has capitalized on her social networks, family connections and sense of style to build up her business in a climate that is challenging for entrepreneurs and where a fashion scene is fledgling. Three fashion weeks have been held within the past five years, with the most recent being Monrovia Fashion Week that was held in December, and only five designers have boutiques throughout the city.
“I still kind of feel like a fraud in this; I never went to fashion school,” says Bernard.
Most of the local designers haven’t studied fashion and draw on West African lapas and traditional fabrics and the flamboyant Liberian style as inspiration.
“Liberians really like to dress, they always want to have the nicest thing on,” she says.
Bernard’s main buyers are expatriates; she wishes she had more Liberian customers, but a strong bargaining culture coupled with a lack of respect for intellectual property make things difficult.
Like many Liberians who lived in exile with their families in the US during the war, Bernard returned to her family’s homeland in search of opportunity. With only one subject left to complete of her Science Technology and Culture degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Bernard decided to head home to Liberia to work in the local media. She harbored dreams of being Liberia’s Oprah and wanted to create a lifestyle series that focused on the more positive side of the nation that would air on local television stations.
Liberia wasn’t quite ready for a ‘queen of talk’, so instead Bernard worked for Monrovia’s controversial former mayor Mary Broh, and presented updates about the Monrovia City Corporation’s work through short broadcasts, and dressed up in African-inspired fashion. One day, Bernard went to her tailor to pick up a dress she had designed for a show and found the designer both wearing it and stitching it together for another customer. She decided to go out on her own and founded her label ‘It’s Archel’.
While Bernard says Liberia has offered her great opportunities that wouldn’t be available in America, she must juggle the business and a full-time job and has found it impossible to export her clothes due to the high shipping costs. Expanding her business beyond Liberia’s shores still poses a major challenge as it does for most Liberian businesses.
“We can’t be global if it costs so much. People are not going to see the point in paying so much for a little piece from Liberia. We used to make cigarettes, we used to make cans for the goods we made here. We are so small scale here,” she says.
Chid Liberty, the founder of Liberty and Justice, Africa’s first fair-trade-certified apparel manufacturer says that although the business climate is improving, lack of access to finance and the presence of “small manufacturers that can produce international quality” remain ongoing challenges for Liberian designers and the expansion of clothing manufacturing.
“I’m actually quite proud of the job Liberia is doing to make things better but we have a long way to go,” says Liberty.
Liberia’s economy is a concession-based economy with natural resources such as rubber and iron ore making up the majority of its GDP. Critics argue the government has done little to move the nation’s economy from the old plantation style model that has dominated throughout its history.
While signs of change are visible in Monrovia, new shops and office complexes have been constructed, roads repaired, the city is a shadow of the one Bernard’s parents grew up in. Access to steady electricity and running water comes at a high price and many buildings stand in a state of disrepair.
The Wealth of Liberia, a short film shot in the 1970s during the rule of President William R. Tolbert, depicted an image of modern Monrovia and industrial development – factories manufacturing paint, cigarettes, soap, windows and cement – a place where tourists flocked and the Liberia in which her parents grew up. While Bernard acknowledges the major developmental challenges ahead for one of the world’s poorest nations and is concerned about the capacity of her business to expand beyond Liberia’s borders, she is confident she can play a role in changing the image of the small nation and first independent republic in Africa.
Inspired by Louis Vuitton’s partnership with iconic alcohol brands Moët Hennessy, Bernard hopes to create a small sewing shop and African cane juice bar in the room next door.
She also has aspirations of going global and sending Mango Rags stores to Brooklyn, Cape Town and even Maui and develop a range for Swedish multinational retail giant H&amp;M and take Liberia to the world.
“We’re still dreamin’ and working,” she says.

Tag: Designer

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA