The style ship has sailed towards the biggest night sidelined for the celebration of everything incorporated in the archives of fashion, Glitz Style Awards.
Marking five years since inception, the September 14 slated event will dash out 18 style plaques to contenders who stood out the most in the year under review including the African Designer of the Year category. Three leading women; Aisha Ayensu (Christie Brown), Sarah Diouf (Tongoro Studio) and Loza Maleonbho (Loza Maleombho), plus a formidable gentleman Tokyo James (Tokyo James) secured the final space in the category which had over 20 nominations rooting for designers across the African continent.
Attempts of making one brand bigger or lesser than another is absolutely impossible, looking at their unmatched end products with fabrics and equal audience they all receive in a coterie full of fashion and style enthusiast.
In a lead to orient our cherish Style Awards followers on the works made by the fantastic four designers in the African Designer of the Year category, scroll down to get educated by the journey so far.
Projected as one of Ghana’s biggest names in the fashion industry, Aisha Ayensu is the brain behind the fashion house Christie Brown. Under her creative direction, Christie Brown has recorded a huge number of clients, which has within its circle names such as; Genevieve Nnaji, Jackie Appiah, Sandra Don-Arthur and many other African A-list of celebrities. For her international influence, Aisha credits her work with the ‘Mrs. Carter Show’ world tour, where Beyoncé’s dancers wore a collaborative African print designs made by Christie Brown and Katrina Hernandez of Illustration by KH. On the designs, Katrina lauded the Christie Brown fashion house in statement, working with the design team at Christie Brown for Beyoncé’s Mrs. Carter World Tour was an absolute dream come true.”
For anyone who has been doing much of a Glitz Africa Magazine reading would have probably chanced on the 22nd issue, which had cover stars KiDi, King Promise and Kwesi Arthur wearing the signature Tokyo James look. The trio paired their black ‘pleather’ two pieces with jewel encrusted mauve jackets. For years running, the designer under his eponymous brand has powered everything wearable that ‘a modern man who wants simplicity with an edge’ to look like in the fashion space. Tokyo’s recognized works has cemented his non-stop collection releases to get a feature spot on international fashion sites such as Vogue and Elle. A recognition that adds more value and selling noise to the Tokyo James brand.
Less than a month ago, Sarah Diouf, creative director of Tongoro Studio formed part of the four African designers to have worked on costumes made ready for Beyoncé’s ‘Sprit’ music video. In both costumes and accessories, Sarah was the force that commissioned the T earring shaped under the Tongoro initial ‘T’ alphabet, which represents life balance, the Bamako suit and Cairo facepiece, all wore by Beyoncé. The Senegal-based fashion house not only equates Beyoncé as a huge fan of the clothing and accessories, but the likes of retired supermodels, Iman and Naomi, together with multiple Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys have all passed through the get-me-something-to-wear books of Tongoro Studios.
“There are no rules in fashion but one: Recycle your clothes,” Loza told H&M in an exclusive documentary back in 2015. Born Ivorian and transforming the Ivorian fashion industry with breakthrough collections, which are obviously not a trend follower, but a trend setter, the Loza Maleombho creatives have exceeded the normal African Style of making designer wears into becoming a world of its own, with a touch of class and elegance to anyone who wears it. Note: the Beyoncé formation era was a huge patron of Loza Maleombho as the queen of pop chose pieces from the fashion house for the ‘Formation’ video shoot.
