An Insider’s Look behind
Fashion Haus Rwanda
It’s a comfortable 75F degree weather, and I’ve decided on a whim to head out to the market for an early afternoon snack of avocados and papaya. After a brief verbal Ping-Pong with the driver to come to a “fare” agreement, I hop onto the motto-taxi and prepare myself for the rolling roads of this “land of a thousand hills.” In Kigali, Rwanda’s capital and largest city, the scene can quickly transition from looming buildings of downtown establishments, gated communities owned by the wealthy, to humble homes where intermittent outages are the norm. Regardless of the social standing, everyone is dressed beautifully! Welcome to a world of vibrant & bold ibitenge waxed prints, custom-tailored accouterments, creatively repurposed clothing from “international donors” (ie. the Salvation Army), locally supported sericulture, manually manipulated embroidery, and other artisanal accessories. And with a growing Fashion industry, this East African evergreen country may be soon be dubbed the “land of a thousand fashionable opportunities”. -VF
Shops specialising in just colorful waxed fabrics (ibitenge) can be found in almost every neighborhood as its still pretty common for many of the locals to design and make their own clothing attire.
This is the lovely seamstress who made two of my dresses, which you can see below.
Here is Eric designing something for one of our friends — he was a new friend who took us around to the local digs, and always dressed extra sharp.
Traditional embroidery to fabric that’s to made into a shirt.
Me and my travel girls — we got all dressed up in our new dresses to go celebrate Nidhi’s birthday.
This is my second dress at the Rwanda Cultural Fashion show — I’m really love this green flower print over black, super elegant.
A few of the kids from the non-profit organisation that I joined in support of environmental conservation in Rwanda. We were taken to Akagera National Park as means of experiencing the local parks, where we learned about the conservation efforts post genocide when trees were destroyed for survival.
Having a meal with the ladies at an organic community farm — this was probably one of the most epic all-vegetarian meals that I had in Rwanda.
Mix and match — mother carrying her child on the roads somewhere in Kigali.
Evening attire at the 2014 Rwanda Cultural Fashion show.
Traditional Rwanda evening wear for the royalty made out of local silk.
I got to sit next to the beautiful Miss Rwanda of 2014 - love her accessories.
Aren’t these the cutest matching suits — this was shot at a celebratory dinner for the completion of a music video developed around solar light access.