Trends galore at WFW

Popular annual event Windhoek Fashion Week (WFW) has become a pleasure to attend, not only because of its reputation for bringing fashion designers, models, media and fashion fans from across Africa together, but also because of the latest trends showcased.

This year, fashion week was held from 5 to 9 November, and kicked off with a talk titled ‘The Future of Fashion in the Retail Industry of Tomorrow’ by Petro Oberholster. On 6 November, a welcoming party was held by Simply You Magazine at the Marigold Hotel.

Day three saw well-known trendsetting designer Ingo Shanyenge hosting a private off-site show.

On Friday evening, student fashion designers from the College of the Arts opened the show at Maerua Mall. Alongside them, labels such as Waga Waga, Pom Couture and House of Poulton graced the stage.

Closing off the week’s event, Saturday evening boasted an exciting line-up with slots titled ‘Style for Every Story’, ‘Power in Style’ and ‘Fashion Domination’. Big names in the industry such as //Concept, Maison De Rouge from Zimbabwe, House of Cyndie, Nkanda Yaut from Zambia and Foxxy took the limelight.

This year, WFW featured 34 emerging and established designers. For the first time, the University of Johannesburg’s fashion students’ work was also showcased.

Kalistu Mukoroli from the WFW team said he is pleased that the event was a success. “It went very well. This year we had more sponsors. This means that our companies are acknowledging the platform and are willing to assist in its growth. They believe in the fashion industry and want to help it. There’s so much work and money that goes into such an event and they assisted tremendously,” he said.

Despite the improvements of a bigger venue, more designers and more models, the event was plagued by electrical issues on Friday evening. This caused the models to walk the runway without music, which looked quite odd. “The generator tripped twice and we could not pinpoint on the problem. This problem still occurred although we tested it during the day before the event. We resolved it Saturday morning when we brought in a new and bigger generator,” Mukoroli said.

Member of the audience Martin Swartbooi said he does not regret attending the event. “There were some don’ts on the runway that should never have happened such as unironed clothes, however, the designers who were selected are very talented. I learnt a lot about the latest trends.”

Mukoroli thanked everyone who worked hard to make the event a success. “We would like to thank the designers who showcased, the models and the public. Thank you for helping us grow the industry year by year.”

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