Style Inspiration: Huong

NAME: Huong Nguyen

HOMETOWN: Hanoi, Vietnam

CURRENTLY LIVING: Hanoi, Vietnam

OCCUPATION: Vietnamese teacher and entrepreneur

I first met Huong at a nightclub in Hanoi and immediately loved her effortless style. With her bowl haircut and loose white dress, she stood out like a sore thumb in the glitzy club full of pumping electro beats, tight skirts and towering high heels. 

I was lucky enough to become close friends with Huong and found out that she is every-bit as down to earth and friendly as she first looked. When my friend Sarah and I randomly bought her an Angry-Bird cake for her birthday, Huong, despite her initial bewilderment was incredibly happy and gracious about it.

Huong always has a million plans up her sleeves and has this incredible drive to make things happen. She left Vietnam at the age of 18 to spend, what would turn out to be the next ten years, studying and working in Beijing and Shanghai. Upon returning to Hanoi she started her own company selling handbags. And her brother is a magician (true story! Check him out here.)

I’m not sure if it is the long time she spent overseas or her constant search for adventure that inspires her unique style. In any case, Huong’s blend of timeless grace and casual nonchalance has been an endless source of inspiration for Madame Tây. 

     

     

Photos by Allie Le and Karen Knauff.

West African Inspiration: Sisters of Afrika by Helene Daba

Like most young creatives in Dakar, Helene Daba doesn’t have an academic background in design or fashion, but pushed by a lack of beautifully made modern garments available in Dakar, she decided to launch her own brand, Sisters of Afrika (SOA), in 2013. Six months later and her business is booming – she has a large range of clientele in Dakar that come to her for the contemporary silhouettes and bright colours she uses so tactfully. Helene uses wax print, normally sourced from her travels in Benin, but also traditional West Africa bazin and pagne tissé.

Helene’s boutique on the majestic Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar is also home to the work of other young African designers. Helene is determined to promote the creative work of her African ‘sisters’ (hence the name ‘Sisters of Afrika’) and in doing so to raise the profile of the West African fashion industry.

Helene is very proud that her entire collection was designed and made in Senegal. As many of the young creatives I met in Senegal remarked, in a country where tailors who can easily copy garments abound, creating a fashion business can be difficult. Despite this, Helene is persisting and believes that young Dakarois are slowly learning to ‘consume local’ and to value items ‘made in Africa’. Given the success of SOA since its launch, it looks like she might be on the right track!

If you’re in Dakar, you can find Helene at 1 Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop or on +221 77 541 82 40 or +221 33 821 21 09. You can visit the Sisters of Afrika site to see more of Helene’s creations.

All photos courtesy of Sisters of Afrika.

West African Inspiration: Anne de la V by Anne-Marie Diatta

Today we're continuing our series profiling Senegalese creatives with Anne-Marie Diatta - the creative director and designer behind the label Anne de la V. Not only does Anne-Marie make beautiful contemporary garments, she also has a lot of exciting ideas about the direction of the textile industry in Senegal.

I met Anne-Marie Diatta by chance when I was in Dakar last year – and what a lucky meeting it turned out to be! Having spent a good part of the last few years working in garment sourcing in France, Anne-Marie has a wealth of knowledge about garment construction, including an incredible technical knowledge of fabrics, stitching, patternmaking and design. After studying fashion in France, Anne-Marie began working for some large fashion retailers and acted as the intermediary between these retailers and the manufacturers of their garments in Asia, namely in India and China. Talking to her about this work was fascinating – the amount of detail and care that went into each garment she oversaw is incredible. She also had a lot of in-sight into production in these workshops, and explained that this is, in part, why she returned to Senegal to begin her own label.

What I like most about Anne-Marie’s work is her attention to detail – she only works with the best tailors, and often sews many of the garments herself, and has a very broad knowledge of the local textile industry and goes to great length to source the best quality fabric, including beautiful silk, delicate chiffon and bright wax print from Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana.

 Anne-Marie also has some really exciting plans to begin her own garment production factory in the South of Senegal, where she is from. She recognises the capacity and capability of Senegal to become a big player in the global fashion market – not only does the country have a wealth of natural textile resources, but is also close to the European market and Anne-Marie passionately believes Senegal could compete with the likes of garment producing giants Bangladesh and China to make quality, affordable garments in ethical conditions.

Anne-Marie hard at work altering a stunning wax print gown.

  

If you are in Dakar you can find the Anne de la V boutique in Ouakam, Cité Asecna, near Brioche Dorée. You can call Anne-Marie on +221 77 606 6162, the store is open Monday to Saturday, 10am to 7pm.

West African Inspiration: Omar Victor Diop

I was thrilled to meet Omar at an exhibition held at a swanky new hotel in Dakar in December - I had seen his images online, and was particularly struck by the African remake of Frida Kahlo's 'The Two Fridas'.

Omar is relatively new to the art of photography, but has quickly developed a huge following in Senegal and abroad, and is in demand for designers and artists when it comes to promoting their new creations (Senegalese fashion labels Bull Doff and SERAKA have both had their recent collections shot by him).

 SERAKA by Omar Victor Diop

There is a real depth to Omar's work - he has a masterly eye for composition, and a wonderful aesthetic for all things textile and texture. He describes his work as lying somewhere between fashion and conceptual art, with a very modern edge. Working with French photographer Antoine Tempé, Omar created a series of cinematic posters which reference classic American and French cinema for the 'Onomollywood' exhibition. The below shot is an 'African remake' of the poster for "American Beauty".

Whilst my meeting with Omar was very brief, what struck about his work is how dedicated he is to promoting 'africanity' and 'normalising' the African continent by steering away from cliches images often associated with the continent. He acknowledges that 'Africa' suffers from a deficit of positive images, and even though it is important to be clear about the realities of life, it is equally important to show the normal, less-dramatic side of life on the expansive continent. He underlines that for him, it is important to highlight his experience of living in Senegal, because it means his work is authentic, and it gives a voice to the country, and to the continent in whole. 

Omar Victor Diop

Below are some photos from my favourite collections - Wax Dolls, which cheekily references the growing popularity of wax print fabric amongst the 'afropolitans' of West Africa. Given the history of wax, particularly in Senegal where the bright fabric is generally reserved for day-to-day wear, Diop cleverly plays with wax print's recent reemergence as a contemporary fashion staple.

All photos from Omar Victor Diop Photography

Style Inspiration - Elise

NAME: Elise Perriel 

HOMETOWN: Nante, France

CURRENTLY LIVING: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

OCCUPATION: French Teacher 

I met Elise last year when we shared a house together in Hanoi. It was Elise who helped to first spark my interest in tailoring clothes in Vietnam - she would often go on trip to the fabric market, where she would come home with these beautiful patterned fabrics, which her tailor Van would make into beautiful dresses. Elise has a fairly diverse wardrobe from casual sundresses to funky jumpsuits to ornate and elegant dresses. One of my favourites though is Elise's version of the peekaboo dress below - very modest from the front but slightly cheeky from the back! And, if you are flipping through these photos are wondering about her beautifully smooth skin - here is Elise's beauty tip - using old coffee grounds as an exfoliate!

         

Style Inspiration - Jessica Finch

NAME: Jessica Finch

HOMETOWN: Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia

CURRENTLY LIVING: Melbourne, Australia

OCCUPATION: Visual Merchandiser

Finchy and I first met briefly through some mutual friends during our first year at uni. We cemented our friendship later when our pathes crossed while waiting for an art history lecture, we chatted and munched on chocolate covered coffee beans and we've never looked back. I've always admired Finchy's ability to pair simple basics with cute design features - she has a natural flair for choosing beautiful, unique accessories and wears bold colours and prints with aplomb. Finchy's style is distinctively cute and fun, but has an air of elegance about it. When we were choosing pieces to produce in Senegal, she served as a great inspiration as she embodies the look we aimed to recreate - elegant, casual and fun.

West African Textiles: Indigo

Malian Woman Producing Indigo in the
Dogon Country

Beginning this project in Ghana, where African-produced wax print is ubiquitous, I thought sourcing locally made textiles would be as simple when I arrived in Senegal. Once I started visiting markets and speaking with textile importers, I quickly realised it would be much more difficult to find textiles for Madame Tây that had been produced in Senegal, if not impossible.

As we were developing this project, we realised we had the unique opportunity to be able to explain how our garments were produced. For us, ethical production starts with the materials used to create a garment, but as Steph remarks in her earlier posts about the cotton industry (All About Cotton - Part I and Part II), the production processes involved in creating the fabric we purchased are completely closed off to us.

Working in West Africa, where most young people prefer buying mass-manufactured clothes imported from China, or second hand clothes imported from all over the world,  this was particularly poignant for me as I hoped that Madame Tây would not only be able to support Senegalese artisans, but also the local textile industry. When I realised that there was no local textile industry in Senegal (You can read more about  the wax print used to create Madame Tây garments here), I started looking further abroad.

West African Inspiration: Nio Far by Milcos

One of my favourite things about producing Madame Tây garments in Senegal was meeting young Senegalese creatives working in fashion, photography, graphic design, music. cultural promotion, theatre….everything! Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, is such a buzzing, vibrant city with a really tight-knit creative scene. This kind of atmosphere has bred a whole range of innovative and clever artists, and over the next few weeks I will be sharing with you the work of a few of these emerging creatives.

Nio Far by Milcos

El Hadji Malick Badji wearing Nio Far
Photo by Djibril Dramé 

El Hadji Malick Badji, like many young Senegalese designers, fell into his work in the fashion industry. Driven by his love of natural fabrics like linen, and disillusioned by the lack of such fabrics in contemporary Senegalese fashion, Malick soon realised that if he wanted to wear linen shirts, he’d have to make them himself.

 Luckily for Malick, his sister owns a fashion boutique in the leafy suburb Liberté 6 in central Dakar, and she was quick to help him learn the basics. Working closely with his sister and her tailor, Malick was able to design a range of beautifully detailed shirts, pants and dresses. Malick spends hours trawling through markets all over Dakar (his favourite is Colobane) to find high-quality linen to make his pieces. Nio Far’s aesthetic is perfect for balmy Senegalese nights, and features a lot of beautiful neutral colours with accents of marine blue, dark sea green and warm orange hues. Malick tends to favour contemporary silhouettes – most of his collection consists of loose fitting mens shirts and pants, and a few casual dresses, but he also creates traditional Senegalese outfits with his trademark Nio Far linen at the request of his friends.

 

For more information and to see more of Malick's creation you can check out Nio Far's Facebook Page

If you’re in Dakar and you’d like to meet Malick and visit the Nio Far boutique you can contact him on 77 251 32 81 or 77 456 21 88.

All photos courtesy of Guillaume Bassinet, Skillzography, Djibril Dramé and Djibril Ciao

Style Inspiration - Sara Rhoufrani

NAME: Sara Rhoufrani
HOMETOWN: Rabat, Morocco
CURRENTLY LIVING: Paris, France
OCCUPATION: In charge of privatization at Le Comptoir Général

Cara and I first met Sara more than five years ago back when we were studying in Paris. You can't help but notice Sara because she has this unique style which falls somewhere between high fashion and tomboy. She often mixes different standout pieces and then pairs them off with a pair of comfy sneakers. We love her style because she is a constant reminder the fashion and comfort do not need to be mutually exclusive!

Top two photos courtesy of Sara Benbrahim.