It’s been exactly a month since Afreximbank’s Creative African Nexus (CANEX) programme’s debut partnership with Portugal Fashion Week which saw them platforming 20 African designers from the continent on the Bloom and Main Runways, as well as in the accompanying brand showroom. AMAKA has been covering this fruitful collaboration and are happy to present the final instalment — a Q&A with two of the three emerging designers who showcased on the Bloom Runway; from Tunisia, Anissa Meddeb, Founder of Anissa Aida, and Doreen Mashika, Creative Director of eponymous label from Tanzania. We learn about the stories behind their latest collections, their unique design philosophies and both labels’ plans ahead of the new year.
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AMAKA: What was the story behind your latest collection?
Anissa Meddeb, Founder of Anissa Aida: My brand is about the dialogue between Tunisia and Japan. I have a fascination with Japan, Japanese designers, and Japanese aesthetics. When I started the brand, I did a lot of research about traditional clothing from different areas of the world and I realised that in North Africa and Asian countries like Japan, there were a lot of similarities in the geometry, construction, and texture. So, this really inspired me. I'm also inspired by Japanese minimalism. This collection is also very minimal in a way, very geometric and the colour palette is inspired by the sea. Tunisia is right by the sea, so it's inspired by the shades of the colour of the sea; greens, blue [and] white.
Doreen Mashika: The inspiration behind Doreen Mashika basically, is always about the local print, Kanga, and how to bring it into something contemporary that makes women feel beautiful and confident. I used to import fabric but then I realised, it's best that I work with what I have. And also at the same time, I get to support the people around me, like the small traders. I like to shine but I like to ensure that you know, my shine really goes beyond myself, so that's always been my inspiration. And of course, all things Zanzibar.
AMAKA: How would you describe your design philosophy?
Anissa Aida: It’s a flow fashion brand, we design and produce everything in Tunisia and in very limited editions. We use natural fabrics such as linen. There was a lot of linen because it was the Spring/Summer Collection. We have a history of producing linen in Tunisia so this is something that I'm quite comfortable with, and also, I'm mixing much natural fabrics with technical fabrics like neoprene so there’s a mix between tradition and modernity. I get inspired by traditional shapes but I want to produce very modern clothing that you could wear anywhere in the world and but doesn't look like folkloric. I also want to show through my clothing that you can be inspired by different cultures and fuse them together to create something peaceful and that cultures can go together well.
Doreen Mashika: Well, our designs are really inspired by women who are between the age of let's say, 27 to above 70, and we're very proud of that. Because we make a look that works for anyone and that's something that it's not easy to achieve, but the person that we design for, to be honest, is anyone who understands and likes handmade in Africa, you know, [and] the unique skills that we possess. So, that's the kind of person that we're looking at.
AMAKA: CANEX is all about platforming emerging designers, how would the fashion industry need to change to best support you?
Anissa Aida: It was great. We really had, this time, diversity in the casting of the models — I think it should always be this way. I think it's a great thing that consumers are already considering being more respectful and consuming less from fast fashion, and companies being more aware of how things are produced. As designers, we should kind of educate the consumer, we should tell more stories within our social media communication about how we produce the things we produce, the whole process of designing it, doing the shoots, so they get to really understand what's behind that. Because also sometimes, for example, some consumers will be like, ‘Oh, I'm just gonna get this thing from Zara because, I mean, it's less expensive and, and you're a Tunisian designer, you should be less expensive than Zara’. And it's crazy, like, okay, I'm a Tunisian designer, I'm an African designer but I produce things — from a design point of view. And, there are consumers who do understand, and consumers who don’t understand, but I think it's also the role of a designer to educate and to let the people know about the whole process and the value of the design, which takes work.
Doreen Mashika: I think there's so many ways. First of all, it starts from investment. It starts from support in trade. Sometimes, it's not the money, it's just getting to have the connections that open your door because you're ready, you're ready to take off but then the doors are not opening. So, I think Africa's industry struggles with that because we are fairly at our infancy if you're comparing to the north. So having a similar set up, like how the West does it, obviously, they've done [it] for years, and they've corrected it, so we have a better avenue to look at how they've made it successful and for us to adapt that, and include slow fashion, because Africa is really about slow fashion most of the time, and then we're good to go.
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AMAKA: Where do you hope to see your label in the next 5 years?
Anissa Aida: We just opened our first showroom. It's in Tunis. And in one year, I would like the showroom to be more known as a place to stop whenever people are in Tunisia, and also to make the brand known here locally. In a few years, I would like to have more exposure. Maybe I can have another showroom somewhere else in the world — could be Japan, could be somewhere in Africa, could be New York — not sure yet.
Doreen Mashika: I hope to see Doreen Mashika expanding within Africa, meaning more accessibility because right now, people can access me much easier in Europe than within Africa, and that system needs to change. The United States, Europe, Asia can access me so quickly but someone in Benin struggles, it starts with payment systems, it starts with deliveries, delays on clearance — all the hurdles that are unnecessary although everything has been filled out. That includes corruption. So when these systems can be put into place, corruption can be reduced, I would say, or eradicated, then trade will be much easier. Trading with Europe is much easier, but trading within Africa is not and with all the reading I'm doing, we see that in Africa, by 2035 we're going to have a population like China today. So, imagine how much business I'll be losing when foreigners recognise this and are coming in and grabbing that, just because there’s no investment on the ground. So yeah, this has to all be ironed out to make it easier to trade.