Africa Designs was born out of the success of the Face of Africa competition, in which African models competed for a lucrative modeling contract with the Elite model agency in New York. The effect of Africa Designs was to introduce African models and young designers to the global communitry. This is a platform for Fashion Week, so you are judged on designs and that's all. And for me, a good design, whether it is Japanese or Indian, is a good design. It should inspire the same reaction as art.
Fashion is known to be both fickle and controversial.
But what is less known about fashion, is that it is a business, and that in order to make it, a designer has to have both considerable skill, business acumen and the ability to market themselves. Deola Sagoe of Nigeria, pictured to the left, has stunned audiences with her innovative creations, and won the Africa Designs 2000 competition, as noted above. She has been designing for ten years. Africa has added color, and in this new millennium more and more designers in the West are turning to African color and beadwork. In this picture to the right, you can see Ms. Sagoe finishing a last minute fitting with model Benvinda just before her showing.