Cameroon: Fashion designers meet in Buea to Showcase knowhow and culture through design

Some fashion designers from different African countries are convening in Buea, Southwest Cameroon, to showcase their work and culture through design.

They are meeting under the program, African Heritage Fashion Week and Award, which is being organized by one of Cameroon’s celebrated fashion designers, Nuvi Gana, founder of Nuvi Creative, a fashion house.

The event which is taking place at Pinorich Villa around Buea Central Market, is to celebrate their works, thereby creating a unique platform where they can all meet, network, and teach the younger generation.

According to the organizer, Nuvi Gana bringing in all fashion actors in Africa as designer models is also to boost our local designers, models, and fashion actors. 
The event, which started this week, will span four days.

So this 2nd edition of the African Heritage Fashion Week and Award is focusing especially on the experiences of African multiculturalism, which is tailored as an arena, a carrefour, and particularly a salad bowl for a meeting, while diagnosing some of these key issues and barriers in the African milieu of fashion, acting, music, and entertainment as a whole, which are the main melting pot for fashion business in Africa.

“AHF Week 2024 sets out the platform for all fashion actors’ know-how and regard for their creativity. It’s geared at breaking through the walls that have kept designers, models, artists, bead makers, and fashion buyers limited in their success in their respective domains.” Nuvi Gana, organiser of the event, told MMI.

According to him, the attempt to outline the challenges faced in the private sector is also another important way of calling on the state of Cameroon, on the other hand, to make it easier for young entrepreneurs, to grant credit for the creation of enterprises, and to equally promote the clothing and haute couture industries. 

This concept, he said, is also tailored to encouraging commendable initiatives for the training of young people and the creation of decent jobs.

Nuvi said organizing the event is also another way for him to give back to the industry. He has been in this sector for more than 20 years. It will not help if he keeps the knowledge he has acquired to himself.

At the AHF ongoing in Buea, several activities are taking place. They range from model master classes to fashion exhibitions, seminars, and awards.

“A day has been allocated to celebrate our cultural heritage, as the event name says, and that night is tagged “Toghu Sanja Night,“ where we celebrate our highly valued cultural outfits, and another night has been allocated for African countries to their cultural designs and styles,” Nuvi told MMI.

Matene Annie Chancelle, founder of Annie’s EmpowerWear is one of those who showcased her special Toghu designs in the 2023 edition of African Heritage Fashion Week and Award. It was the first of its kind in Buea and Cameroon as a whole, and Nuvi says the event has come to stay.

Mimi Mefo Info