fashion industry - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

This runway model is campaigning against gender-based violence in the fashion industry

ENTERING Watamu town in Kilifi County, north of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, it is immediately apparent that an awareness of gender-based violence is widespread. The ‘RED CARD CAMPAIGN FASHION SHOW’ advertised loudly on a billboard at the town's entrance displays an image of international runway model Sharon Okubo. The RED CARD campaign is a symbolic call-out to get the wider society to get involved in penalising gender-based discrimination and violence. Started by the non-profit African Renaissance and Diaspora Networks (ARDN), Okubo is an ambassador for the campaign, working closely with models and designers who are survivors of gender-based violence.…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Supermodel Halima Aden exits the fashion world

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO FASHION model Halima Aden has quit modelling and the fashion industry after realising that she felt “zero excitement” overseeing her face on magazine covers and felt as if she was losing her identity as a Muslim woman. Aden left the fashion world at the end of 2020 because she found it difficult to “see herself” on the covers of fashion magazines and felt that fashion was never for her. "I had zero excitement because I couldn't see myself. Do you know how mentally damaging that can be to be to somebody? When I'm supposed to feel happy and…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

NKWO looks to a sustainable future of fashion with new collection

BEAUTY AND FASHION

MPHO RANTAO THE world is only two weeks into 2021, but talks have already resurfaced regarding the ever-growing concern on climate change and the damaging effects that the fashion industry has on the environment. In a report published in Business Insider, the production fashion is responsible for 10% of total global carbon emissions, is considered to be the second-largest polluter after oil, and uses up to 1.5 trillion litres of water at the risk of the planet’s biodiversity. The Gerewol Jacket from a 2020 collection. Picture: Instagram/nwko_official The staggering reports released by environmental organisations, along with the wide-spread criticism from…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Black designers lead push for a more diverse fashion industry

BEAUTY AND FASHION

THIN LEI WIN and NELLIE PEYTON BRITISH-BORN Ghanaian designer Samata Pattinson taught herself to sew, launched her own label before the age of 30 and now runs an initiative showcasing sustainable fashion on the Oscars red carpet. She has found success in a cut-throat industry, but has never been allowed to forget her differences as a Black woman surrounded by mostly white executives, designers and models. "You feel like you're in the room, and then there's another VIP room and you can't get into that one," Pattinson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview. "There's pressure because you're…