Ethiopian up-and-coming designer showed off a range of her designs at the Africa Fashion Reception which was held at the UNESCO headquarter in Paris on November 7.
The 26-year-old designer Selamawit Mulugeta was selected to represent Ethiopia at the prestigious event, organised by a Nigeria-based company called Legendary Gold in collaboration with the African Union. Seventeen African designers were represented in the show and the event brought together fashion designers, dignitaries, diplomats and media.
Selamawit told Ethiopia Observer that this was her first ever runaway show and she was proud to represent Ethiopia. She said she was overwhelmed by the thought of her work featuring at such global stage and the response it received. The designer combines her Ethiopian culture’s organic materials with innovative finishes in the women’s ready-to-wear dresses and scarfs. “I make it a point that it celebrates my sense of identity and honor our traditional beadwork and motifs with modern cut,” she added. Her dresses are made from 100 percent natural fibres and local raw materials, except for the threads which are imported from China, she explained. She says she takes care to choose quality garment and employ simple and light colour combination. For her latest show, she used mostly orange or silver colors.
Professionally working as highway engineer since the past three years, Selamawit finds spare time to pursue her passion. Born and raised in Addis Ababa, Selamawit studied clothing design for seven months at the privately-owned Miracle Fashion Institute in Addis Ababa and has launched her own label and online store, Ethio-Kesem Design, which she is trying to push into the spotlight. But she is quick to admit that it is not as easy as she thought it would be.
Challenges for young designers
She says young designers face undeniable roadblocks, such as difficulty securing capital and reaching consumers and name recognition. Materials and textiles are becoming expensive in Ethiopia and at times shortages of threads occur in town, she said. Low-cost and fake traditional motives are being reproduced using chiffons mostly by Chinese, upsetting the local authentic garment market. Copyrights are not always respected and getting design patent is almost impossible, she said. Selamawit, however, said there has been some good developments such as the opening of Ethiopian Institute and Fashion Technology at Bahir Dar University andincreasing participation at such events that would also help to bring young designers to wider limelight.
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