Kenyan Designers Debut in New York Fashion Show

Kenyan denim-wear designer has caught the eyes of international fashion trendsetters, and it is their voguish stitch trench coats, jeans, boyfriend jackets that have booked them a slot in the upcoming African Fashion Week New York that celebrates African-American and Afro- Caribbean clothes makers.

New York, Paris, London and Milan continue to be the big cities of the fashion industry and for Blackbird Designs’ jeans and denim outfits to be showcased in these towns, lifts them to a new level above the rest of most Kenyan designers.

Blackbird Designs’ clothes have been worn by some of the leading entertainers in Kenya, musicians Gabu of P-Unit and Sauti Sol are some of the customers, and is likely to be seen on the streets and clothes shops in New York, Paris and other world cities after the July exhibition.

The four-year old fashion house, owned by Zeddie Lukoe and Sidney Owino, will be the first male designers from East Africa to take part in this prestigious fashion week in one of the most influential cities when it comes to fashion. “It will be our first international platform to show our designs,” says Mr Owino.

“This is a great opportunity to grow our house,” he said. The Blackbird Designs house specialises in African urban fashion street wear with their primary fabric being denim. They design and stitch trench coats, jeans, half coats, boyfriend jackets and print t-shirts on demand for both men and women.

The African Fashion Week New York started in 2008, with the slogan “Where Fashion Began”, and is held every year in July. It is a luxury multi-day that include runway shows, vendor exhibition, and industry networking events, with the sole purpose of raising awareness of African fashion and entertainment professionals all over the world.

The event attracts world clothes buyers and industry influencers who get a chance to talk one-on-one with the African designers as well over 2,000 people in attendance. “The buyers will be looking for talent. So we have to make sure that the designs are different and on point,” said Mr Owino.

So how did they manage to get an invite to the African-much admired fashion show? While attending a local music event, the two designers met an American lady who works at Calvin Klein – an American design house that has revolutionised the way the world thought about jeans. She challenged them to design and make her something that she would not find in New York, where she lived, or anywhere else.

They made a trouser, she was impressed and asked them to send photos of their work. Then next thing they got in their e-mail was an invite to showcase their work in the African Fashion Week New York along with KikoRomeo, another well known local designer. The event has 25 designers showing including the winner of Origin Africa Designer Showcase that was held in Mauritius in March of this year, Fikirte Addis from Ethiopia.

Blackbird Designs plan to show a collection of 15 garments; five for women and 10 for men. The fashion house makes 70 per cent men wear and 30 per cent ladies wear, targeting young professionals. This being their first international platform, they sorted the mentorship of John Kaveke to put their collection together. Mr Kaveke is one of the leading male fashion designers in Kenya and has wealthy of experience in putting together runaway collections.

For Mr Lukoe and Mr Owino, who met in high school in a fine art class, fashion has give them the chance to practise what they love most— art. In fashion, they say, the cut is what is the art bit and is the fundamental part of any piece of clothing. If the material is not cut well, the end result will be an appalling garment.

Having known each other for a long time, the partnership works well because they have learnt to listen to each other. They usually come up with designs together. They love for denim shows in their non-denim outfits like the riveting the pockets. This is a common detail in jeans and denim jackets.

“You can do so much with denim it is so volatile and unisex,” says Mr Lukoe.

Working from Nairobi’s Kenyatta Market stall 550, the Blackbird Designs’ business strategy is made to measure clothes to get the size of a client just right. “We hate counterfeits and something that doesn’t fit,” says Mr Lukoe.

To protect their designs from copycats, they do not upload all of them in their Facebook pages (Blackbird Branded and Blackbird Jeans) or their blog. Blackbird Designs partners say they will soon be featuring on the Swahili Fashion week in Dar es Saalam and Ethiopian Fashion week as well as Fafa – Festival for African Fashion and Arts.

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