{"id":11718,"date":"2012-06-21T23:37:17","date_gmt":"2012-06-21T21:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/06\/dakar-glamour-show-rides-wave-of-african-fashion\/"},"modified":"2012-06-21T23:37:17","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T21:37:17","slug":"dakar-glamour-show-rides-wave-of-african-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/dakar-glamour-show-rides-wave-of-african-fashion\/","title":{"rendered":"Dakar glamour show rides wave of African fashion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

By David Lewis<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

DAKAR, June 21<\/span> (Reuters) – When Adama Ndiaye quit banking in
\nEurope for life as a young clothes designer back home in
\nSenegal, there was no show in town at which she could show off
\nher wares. So she decided to put on one of her own.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“We offered a ticket, we were renting boats, we were renting
\ncamels,” she said, explaining how she lured other designers to
\nthe dusty, vibrant city of Dakar jutting out into the Atlantic
\nOcean. “It was one day of shows and three days of fun.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But with African fashion growing bigger and bolder at home,
\nand starting to register on the radar of design houses and style
\nmagazines abroad, Dakar Fashion Week, 10 years on, a
\nthirteenfold increase in budget and 30 designers coming from
\nacross the continent, is now a far more serious affair.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Now it is just fashion,” Ndiaye added, between fielding
\ncalls in preparation for the night’s show. “In the last few
\nyears, you can feel that African fashion is getting bigger,
\nstronger and better.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

In an effort to make the extravaganza more accessible, the
\nweek kicked off with a catwalk erected on Dakar’s Boulevard
\nCentenaire, more accustomed to parading soldiers celebrating
\nSenegal’s independence from France than sashaying models.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Designers displayed outfits drawing on influences from
\nacross Africa and further afield, mixing modern styles with
\ncolourful improvisations of traditional dress. Drab residential
\nblocks were lit up with orange, yellow and blue lasers as
\nthumping music drew hundreds out of their houses.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“This is great. We all love fashion. They have never done
\nthis before here,” said Mbarka Mbodji, a street vendor doing a
\nswift trade in beef skewers and plastic sachets of chilled water
\non the street corner overlooking the makeshift catwalk.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Shows wound up at the other end of the spectrum, in front of
\nDakar’s booted and suited elite gathered on the manicured,
\npalm-fringed gardens of one of the city’s most expensive hotels.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By David Lewis DAKAR, June 21 (Reuters) – When Adama Ndiaye quit banking in Europe for life as a young clothes designer back home in Senegal, there was no show in town at which she could show off her wares. So she decided to put on one of her own. “We offered a ticket, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-11718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}