(one pork taco)

swahili fashion week: martha jabo

(images via hfa)

so i’ve been perpetually saying how vexing it is that we’re just not getting much information on so many of the designers presenting at the african fashion weeks opt has been taking a closer look at of late, but perhaps in martha jabo’s case it kind of makes sense. in one of the few articles i found on her s/s 2013 range presented at dar es salaam’s swahili fashion week, i learned that she’s only just out of school.

a native of uganda, according to the ugandan daily monitor, the site explained that ms. jabo was “a fresh Makerere University Industrial Arts and Design graduate,” and quoted the designer as noting that in her collections, “I aim for the high end customer. My clothes are fashion forward but also practical.”  and indeed, although she definitely played with some intense volume and some bold prints, she also included some monochromatic pieces in her short show, such as a lovely, high-waisted, silky fluttering black skirt, or a sharp and uber-lean black pencil skirt accentuated with thin silver chains at the waistline.

but that isn’t to suggest ms. jabo isn’t about taking risks, either. for example, when she seemed to want to get amped up, we saw a long-sleeved bodysuit with the very same chains at the waistline (and demure long sleeves, though that was about the only thing that was) featuring bold, wide bishop sleeves and a scratchy banana yellow and blue-black print. and there were a couple of fully sheer long black skirts and an evening dress that would presumably only be for the bravest of girls, featuring as it did an almost bondage-like brace circling the neck.

there were hints enough of both the eighties and the fifties, i’d say, and it was when she was in this more retro state of mind that i’d argue ms. jabo did her best work. particularly enticing to me was a little bandeau top teamed with a high-waisted a-line school uniform-style skirt, both of which were done up in a yellow-and-black circular graphic print that said just enough 1950’s beachwear to be charmingly vintage, and yet showed enough skin with its strongly defined lines to be definitively modern, as well.

swahili fashion week: eskado bird

(images via sdr photo)

so we last saw designer doreen ‘zia’ noni’s label eskado bird presenting its s/s 2012 range at johannesburg’s south african fashion week, and for the s/s 2013 season, it appears that the english-tanzanian label has come home to show at dar es salaam’s swahili fashion week. excellent.  and we’re quite lucky, because unlike many of the other houses we’ve been talking of lately, eskado bird got a little more critical love than we’ve come to expect.  waa-hoo. score for us, non?

titling the spring collection ‘evolution,’ the blog zen magazine africa described how this season the designer “goes all ‘bad girl’  with this collection, expressing her ‘freedom’ with her nude netting and crochet ensembles. Loose fitted, low-waist pants accessorized with feminine netting, maxi pencil skirts bunched around the waist and mid-riff tops,” while, similarly, the blog missie popular did a lot of exclaiming over the sheer elements in the show, which, for my part, i’d like to say read a lot better in the close-up, detailed images, in which one got to see the finer quality of the work.

finally, we got a nice analysis from the blog designing africa with diana opoti, writing that “(t)his collection bares a resemblance to the 1700 nude netted pieces won by the French demi-mondaines. Evolution is all too revealing of the ‘innocent - wicked’ personality. Dominated by nude netting, crotchet pieces and animal print, the collection cleverly interchanges the see through fabrics. In some pieces, the nude netting is used as the main fabric to cover the wearer and crochet fabric as the undergarment. In other pieces, Doreen uses crotchet as the main fabric and pairs it with a crop top in animal print.”  it was definitely a switchup from where we left the label a year ago, but that doesn’t mean i’m not pleased with the, er, evolution.  and yeah, you can smack me for that one.