AFRICAN FASHION DESIGNERS - ENTER ELLE RISING STAR 2014

Let’s talk 2014 ELLE Rising Star Design Award! Entries open today (8 July 2014) and this year the search is not just countrywide –it’s continent-wide. Yes, ELLE and Mr Price are casting our fashion net wider and have opened up the competition to young designers across Africa – and so the search begins for Africa’s most talented young fashion designer!

So if you dream of a career in fashion, launching your own label and to be mentored by ELLE and Mr Price, this is for you.

This year the ELLE Rising Star Design Award in association with MRP is presented by African Fashion International at the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Joburg 2014, where our finalists will show their designs. Hoping to follow in the footsteps of previous winners David Tlale, Tiaan Nagel and Anisa Mpungwe and most recently Nicholas Coutts? We’re passionate about nurturing talent and giving Africa’s young designers the tools and the platform.
Like what you hear? We thought so. Entries are open, so download the entry form below and get going! You have until 11 August 2014 to submit your entry, that’s five weeks left to catch our judges’ attention.

DOWNLOAD ENTRY FORM: ELLE RISING STAR DESIGN AWARD 2014

PLUS, here’s what you can win (and for more on prize details, click the entry form for the full scoop)
A cash prize of R30 000 from Mr Price to help the winner launch his or her career in fashion.
An extensive mentorship programme – with ELLE and Mr Price;
The opportunity to redesign a pre-determined range in collaboration with Mr Price to be sold in select Mr Price stores;

The opportunity to show at the AFI’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Joburg in 2015, plus R7 000 from Mr Price towards the cost of creating the range.

The winner will be featured in, and receive a year’s subscription to, ELLE.

Source: ElleMagazine.com

TeKay Designs Set to Make Dazzling Debut at Couture Fashion Week New York

 

Houston-based design label TeKay Designs will present its latest collection of evening and bridal creations at Couture Fashion Week in New York City. Marking the label's first showing at the prestigious event,  the fashion show will be held at 6:00 pm on Sunday February 16, 2014 in the Grand Ballroom of the New Yorker Hotel, in the city’s Fashion District.

TeKay Designs is a renowned international fashion house that offers couture bridal and formal gowns, pageant dresses, statement fashion jewelry, and trendy ethnic designs. TeKay Designs specializes in handcrafted pieces that appeal to clients who appreciate elegance with a contemporary twist. The inspiration for TeKay Design's signature Queen of the Brides collection is the monarchies from historical civilizations around the world. The gowns are based on women of royalty and power throughout history and are accessorized with high end fashion necklaces, headpieces or veils. 

With more than 16 years in business, TeKay Designs has been featured in numerous print publications including The Knot, Bridal Guide Magazine, The New York Times, Self, and Get Married Magazine. TeKay Designs’ statement necklaces have been worn by celebrities including tennis superstar Serena Williams, and actress Ashley Rickards. The company facilitates design and production in Houston, Texas and Ghana, Africa. Designing high quality products is TeKay Designs’s pledge to their customers.

 

For more information visit: www.tk-designs.com or www.queenofthebrides.com

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Couture Fashion Week is a multi-day event showcasing couture and luxury fashion. It also includes exhibits of luxury brands and fine art as well as world-class entertainment and receptions. The event is held twice a year in New York City and is attended by upscale consumers, invited VIPs, the press and high-end store buyers. Couture Fashion Week offers unique promotional opportunities for luxury products and services.

 

Visit the event website for more information: www.CoutureFashionWeek.com  

CLIENT FEATURE: Top Liberian Designer Chris Collins showcases at Monrovia Fashion Week

Designer Extradonaire- Mr. Chris Collins

New book on African Fashion by Jacqueline Shaw launches this February

There is a fashion renaissance going on in Africa – from street clothes to luxury wear.

Recent years have seen a flurry of new design collections from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Diane von Furstenberg, Junta Watanabe and more, all inspired by Africa’s vibrant colours. Increasingly, designers create collections locally in Africa, ranging from the ASOS Africa apparel collection, through to Vivienne Westwood’s bag collection made in ethical workshops in Kenya, to the collaboration between denim urban street brand Diesel and Edun (the brand label of Bono and wife Ali Hewson). And more designers are sourcing and manufacturing their work in Africa, selling them locally and in international markets.

 

In Fashion Africa Jacqueline Shaw showcases 40 of these designers, across the whole continent from Kayobi in Ghana to Brother Vellies in South Africa and Namibia, with specially commissioned photographs and revealing interviews.

The designers are honest about the challenges of producing in Africa; poor infrastructure, especially transportation; lack of specialized machinery; gaps in the supply chain that mean, for instance, that Africa grows 12% of the world’s cotton but exports 95% of this because there are not the mills and factories to process it.

 

But they also enthuse about Africa’s potential: on a creative level, the variety of fabrics, colours, craft techniques, and artistic and cultural influences. At a business level, the fashion industry can be an engine for economic growth because it’s relatively cheap to set up shop, and the brand values can centre around ethical standards that compare well to the world’s image of sweatshops in Asia.

At a time when Africa is enjoying unprecedented economic growth and a rapidly expanding middle class, fashion offers both a creative and a business opportunity.

 

Read more