Kenyan Designers Shine at the Mercedes Fashion Festival

You may never have heard of Niku Singh, Muna Yemane and Mirjana Deletic but that should be about to change. All three are Kenyan fashion designers that have been hand-picked to participate in the lavish Mercedes Benz African Fashion Festival in Ghana, due to be held on 24^th and 25^th of May.

In order to ensure that you don’t get caught with your pants down the next time someone in the know is talking about Kenyan fashion, we have briefly outlined everything you need to know about these innovative designers, their styles and what makes them stand out.

Niku Singh’s early years have been creative episodes of artistic intermissions. Born in what he calls a creative family, his childhood arts and crafts dabbling fell into place when he studied interior design. After juggling managing his family’s engineering business and the arts, he settled into Jewlery and Fashion design. The engineering came in handy in regards to the attention to detail required when creating the beautiful aluminum hand-made brass beads for the Kenyan company Kitengela Glass and London based Fashion brand & company “Made”. Niku’s most recent event was the Tribal Chic 2013, Tribe Hotel Nairobi.

Muna Yemane is a testament to the adage that sometimes, talent cannot be taught. She experimented and created making garments for her friends and grew her confidence in designing bespoke garments. Her passion led her to study the technical Applied Fashion Design and Technology in Australia. Her ultra feminine garments are timeless and accentuate the female and male form. She merges different fabrics and African aesthetics in a palette of hues. What makes Muna stand out is the use of clothing to structure origami-like silhouettes with an elegant finish.

Fashion is nothing without taking risks and the rectangular boxy bags made by Mirjana Deletic, founder of DELETI are edgy and have won her regional acclaim. The angular bags made by Mirjana, handbags ring of a futuristic flair with their geometric shapes. Merging beauty and functionality, this Montenegro native’s bags are inspired by Africa and are the perfect accessory for any occasion.