Hot on the heels of a successful designer pop up and fashion showcase in Finsbury Park, Fashion4Africa is rolling out the red carpet for its signature event later this month (26th October 2019) in Islington.
The Fashion4Africa showcase is an initiative that supports emerging models and fashion designers of African origin in the UK and across the African continent through mentoring, training and development projects funded by fundraising events.
This year’s event will see one of five designers representing Zimbabwe, Malawi, Eritrea, Ghana nations crowned Designer of the Year. Voting for this competitive position is open to the public until 12th October, click here for more details.
The Faces competition starts on Friday 4th October 2019 and ends 23rd October 2019.
The winning designer will receive a skills mission to Ghana in 2020 sponsored by the highly acclaimed Global Mamas. This is a chance for the crowned designer to learn more about the ethical processes used by Ghanaian women employed by Global Mama in creating handmade products of the highest quality.
“These female artisans are great examples of how African women are using empowering strategies to create wealth for themselves and their families,” said British-Gambian founder Anna Njie. “Fashion4Africa was launched in 2010 and was driven by a cultural interest in African fashion tourism. It is therefore fortuitous and in keeping with our ethos to support and encourage the sharing of expertise to benefit African communities across the globe through this exercise.”
Anna added: “We are proud to be showcasing African/Black entrepreneurship, design and beauty in Islington, which has a strong and established Black community, and during our national celebration of Black History Month UK too. Never has it been a better time to be Black and British.”
Last year, Massassi Batique won a skills mission to the Gambia and has been able to enhance their branding and marketing restructure their business model and price margins as a result of the visit.
The Fashion4Africa showcase will also celebrate the fresh faces of new and established Africa models with one male and female model crowned the Face of Fashion4Africa during the event. To date, over 500 young people aged between 17 and 34 have been mentored by Fashion4Africa.
Past winners, which has included models originating from Ghana, the Gambia, Nigeria, Somalia and Uganda, have gone on to further develop their careers. Alfredo Carreiro has been gracing our TV screens every Saturday night as a judge on TV entertainment show All Together Now and Ndey Manneh continues to excel as a commercial model. Both were winners of Faces of F4A 2017. Last year’s winner Charlene Jemicia is now carving a name for herself as an editorial model.
Companies showcasing at this year’s event include fashion label Massassi Batique, and beauty brand Karen Messam. Model Cece Essono will be showcasing her online retail store Cecefinery.com as well as a range of accessories, health products, books and music from emerging and established African entrepreneurs. However, the best news is yet to come.
The full judging panel will be revealed but Fashion4Africa can announced that the following judges will be at the event. They are Anna Ellis from Centre for Fashion Enterprise at the London College of Fashion, Benjamin Kitoko, celebrity hairstylist Dionne Smith, and chief judge and luxury designer Adebayo Jones. Adebayo will be closing the show with AFRICANA cruise/summer 2020 collection more surprises to be revealed soon.
Fashion4Africa is organised by ANEMP & Co Solutions and is supported by modelling agency MiLK management. Tickets for the show are available via Eventbrite here. Doors open at 7pm at Gracepoint, 161-169 Essex Road, Islington, N1 2SN.
Contacts
- For more information, contact Anna Njie on:
- Website: https://www.fashion4africa.com/
- Mobile: 07474731503
- Facebook group: Fashion4Africaltd & faceoffashion4africa
- E-mail: team@fashion4africa.com
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