While American men fought tooth and nail to get their own fashion week in New York City, Africa has hosted multiple events dedicated to menswear, in July alone, according to WWD.
One of the fashion weeks takes place in Cape Town and is sponsored by Mercedes Benz. The major sponsor for Cape Town Fashion Week has allowed designers to move into a new venue where under the radar local talent was spotlighted. "We always look to provide a platform for up-and-coming designers to enhance and drive their careers in fashion," the group marketing executive of African Fashion International Sizwe Nzimande, told WWD.
A separate event, South African Fashion Week, also took place in July, right in between men's fashion weeks in Europe and New York City. Both the timing of the event and it's laser-focused presentations free of superfluous bells and whistles has garnered international attention. "We’d like to think that we cut through this by offering the first focused platform, and it appears this has worked, especially due to the way the media locally and internationally have viewed the shows," SAMW co-founder Simon Deiner told WWD.
The third and final fashion week to take place in Africa was the Democratic Republic of Congo's Kinshasa Fashion Week. Although founder Gloria Mteyu admitted there hasn't been a ton of interest, she was encouraged by a growing audience and any opportunity for DRC designers to showcase their work. "We have nevertheless seen a positive effect pouring over in the local communities," Mteyu told WWD. "We have seen a change in their outlook of the profession, which was not really considered a serious profession before."
Still, African designers are still hesitant to use their heritage as a gimmick. One designer spoke about using a British-sounding name, Goose Homme Prorsum, instead of his own for his label. "Using my own name as my brand is not part of my strategy for getting famous," designer Snorley McLarean said.
