Cape Town Fashion Week: Designers showcase pieces with African cultural themes

World
Europe

01:47

South African audiences were recently treated to some breathtaking collections by fashion designers from the continent. Emerging labels from several countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and South Africa showed off their newest lines at the Cape Town Fashion Week.

A Journey Back Home, I am Africa, was the theme for this year's Africa Fashion International's Cape Town show. It was a bold and daring display of exquisite collections from across Africa.

ARINOLA OLOWOPOROKU NOLA BLACK, NIGERIA "We felt the need to accurately depict our lives in Nigeria, and accurately depict our influences so we don't necessarily feel the need to go the reams of colour or anything like that because we're super curious of light, and just the absence of colour gives us more to work with."

Aphia Sakyi is well known in international circles. Her designs recently caught the eye of music star Janet Jackson. Sakyi's new line was inspired by the inhumanity African people endured over many centuries.

APHIA SAKYI GHANAIAN DESIGNER "The latest collection is called 'Still I rise'. So, it's 400 years after our ancestors were taken into slavery, when they passed through the gates of no return, never to return again. So, this collection is to inspire the generations that no matter what we've been through, we will still rise."

African designers have come a long way over the last decade and are certainly making their mark on the catwalk.

DOREEN MASHIKA TANZANIAN DESIGNER "We're no longer just the designers who are just decorating the runways, but we can really walk on the international stage and show what we do."

JULIE SCHEIER CAPE TOWN, S. AFRICA "The African fashion scene is changing. Younger, vibrant designers are quelling a hunger for garments that are unique. And there's a shift from bigger labels to more trendy and expressive pieces. JS CGTN CT SA."