Foxxy By FoxxyGinnah Turns 1 in Style

She has the fiercest walk and has graced plenty of fashion campaigns in her days as a fashion model but last weekend, Georgina Kandjeke celebrated the one-year anniversary of her own fashion brand.

It’s been exactly one year since the leggy entrepreneur made the move from model to designer and she is the proud owner of Foxxy by FoxxyGinah – a fashion brand that she has been hard at work on since last year.

“When I was 13, I had just entered a pageant and had no gown to wear. I only had two days left, so I used some of my mom’s old fabric and hand stitched it. It wasn’t great, but I won so it must not have been bad either,” says Kandjeke of the early manifestations of her talent for designing.

As a model and beauty pageant participant, Kandjeke would often make clothes for herself, with the very first garment she made for a pageant being a hand-stitched satin dress in rich gold.

“I’ve been in the fashion industry for some time so making the move from model to designer was actually easy. It’s like a promotion, I’ve been watching designers for so long that when it came my time, I knew a lot more than I would have if I had just started out as a designer without the modelling background,” she says.

Besides her background in fashion, she also highlights the meaningful connections she made in the industry while she was a model. “It helped that I knew a lot of people in the fashion industry as a model that when I decided to make the move, I had so much support and help.”

Last Saturday, she showcased a full collection under her brand, showcasing what she has been working on during her first year as a designer.

Seasoned fashion designer and Namibia Fashion Council member Ingo Shanyenge was impressed by Kandjeke’s debut. “For someone who hasn’t gone to fashion school or had any training, she is quite innovative. She’s brave and her looks were good. The only negative thing I would say is that she should stay away from stretch fabric. There’s no craft in using that kind of fabric and as an upcoming designer who wants to show competitiveness, you need to do away with that,” he advises.

While she’s still at the beginning of what will likely be yet another flourishing career in fashion, Kandjeke’s work so far is representative of how far she has come and how much growth she has gone through in the execution of her craft. Foxxy By FoxxyGinnah’s first collection is lively and colourful and contains many bold pieces that are made for the daring woman who knows what she wants. With more time and practice, the young designer has a bright future in fashion and who knows, maybe she’ll bless us with another collection at fashion week.

On what she thinks of her very first show, Kandjeke says that with the highs and lows of the event, she’ll only learn from the experience. “I didn’t expect it to go so well, there were a few glitches but it went better than I expected. I first wanted it really intimate and fun with just invited guests and the who’s who of the fashion industry but ended up making it open to the public as well. I’m probably hard on myself and would say it definitely could have been better, but for a first show, I think it went well,” she says.

Looking to the future, she reveals little, telling us: “I’m always trying out something. Some things work out, some I learn from. All I’m going to say is I hope Foxxy by FoxxyGinnah is something that’ll work out”.

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