LIGHTS, cameras, metres and metres of runway with the best on the African fashion scene, from celebrated fashion designers, top models and fashion lovers.
Somewhere in the middle: the young and talented model Luis Munana.
With only a few years in the industry, Munana has proven to be a major force to be reckoned with, competing with the best in the industry to feature in adverts of some of the biggest corporations in the world and some of the most sought after fashion weeks and fairs in South Africa, rocking the exclusive looks every model will commit a year of green salad to.
At age 22, the fashion model managed to make his presence felt in the fashion industry, from the day he first stepped foot on a runway, putting himself among the elite models and becoming a must-have for all major fashion festivals, fairs and weeks in South Africa.
It is safe to say that Namibian-born and bred Munana within two years, has become a household brand in the African fashion industry and it comes as no surprise that he expanded his horizon to advertising too.
He did not expect his career to rocket, as it did, and this has helped him to keep his feet firmly on the ground.
The last of six children, Munana attended Noordgrens Combined School in Rundu and completed his secondary school at Academia Secondary School in Windhoek. His perfect physique is no surprise as he always enjoyed going to the gym.
He also writes in his free time.
“I was never interested in fashion, I always wanted to be a chartered accountant and my ticket out of Rundu, out of Namibia, was to go study in South Africa,” Munana said.
He also proved to be the true definition of the saying, “if it is meant to be, it will be”, as he could not escape the fashion industry, no matter how little interest he showed at first.
“In SA they have a period they call ‘The Season’, and this is the time major events happen. In my first year I was scouted in the middle of the street and I refused, I told them I was there to study.
“The second time some agents saw pictures on Facebook of me taking part in Mr Cape Peninsula University of Technology; again I told them I was not interested. The third time I was not as conservative and I was not close-minded either, after being exposed to different cultures and I took the opportunity,” he said.
With his first agency, Durban-based Iindoni, Munana immediately shot to the stars with major gigs such as being the face of Durban Fashion Fair last year. He continued to make waves by being the face of Pepsi for this year’s Africa Cup of Nations as well as appearing in an Etisalat, a Nigerian telecommunication network advert.
“I do not have to go for castings, when they call you and even offer to pay for your flight then you know you are doing something right,” he said.
Freshly graduated from business school, Munana said that modelling introduced him to a whole new world and thus his idea of an 08h00 to 17h00 chartered accountant job, has been amended.
“I want to move in the media and broadcasting direction. Also, I want to do something big for the industry here in Namibia,” Munana said.
He explained that the Namibian fashion industry has the potential to be big if only the mentality around it would change.
“Fashion is a multi-billion dollar industry in the world. If Namibia realises that the industry is thriving and given time and people who love the industry and who have passion, the Namibian fashion industry can be big,” he said.
He added that models like Laimi Erastus, Joel ‘Archie’ Kalipi and Anna Muller, to name a few, are evidence that Namibia has the right faces, and by what people in the global industry outside say, there is something special about the Namibian people.
The new face on the ‘Yo Music Countdown’ is back in the country but will soon fly to different corners of the world with scheduled modelling-related trips outside the African continent. He is also working on plans with fellow fashionistas to grow the Namibian fashion industry.
“Being a pioneer for something so great is just a blessing,” said Munana, who wants to use his experience and influence to plough back into the local fashion scene.
Who would have known that a walk in the streets of Cape Town and a night out with the boys on Long street, could get this young man to the top of the fashion food chain, making him a name and face that lifts eyebrows.
A true true jewel from the land of diamonds is shinning on the runways of Milan, Paris and New York.
