NEW YORK, Feb 4, 2010 / FW/ — Returning to Bryant Park for the third time, ARISE magazine selected top African designers Black Coffee, Loin Cloth and Ashes along with Deola Sagoe to showcase Fall/Winter 2010 designs during the publication’s AFRICAN COLLECTIVE PART III Mercedes Benz Fashion Week runway presentation.
Slated on Saturday, Feb 13th at 8:00 PM at the Tent, the African Collective Part III show will be held in an elaborately designed stage that mimics a living African landscape. Models will walk through a virtual day and night on the great continent flush with excitement as South Africa gears up to host the FIFA World Cup.
Fresh from Berlin Fashion Week and receiving the Mercedes Benz South Africa Best Fashion Award 2009, Black Coffee designers Jacques van der Watt and Danica Lepen are new to a US audience. “It’s a great experience for us and a little bit of a treat in a business that is a great deal of hard work,” said van der Watt.
Lagos-based Deola Sagoe will be returning to New York Fashion Week after a decade. “To have come this far ordains a measure of success that I could not have imagined for myself. I am thrilled and honoured to be showing in New York.”
For the first time, an emerging designer, Loin Cloth and Ashes, from Tanzania, will also be part of the collective ensuring a triumvirate of African Design is represented. “My one dream was always to show my work in Africa,” said Anisa Mpungwe. “I would have never for one minute thought that I would ever show overseas, let alone in America, I am grateful to ARISE Magazine for this incredible opportunity.”
In addition to the New York show, ARISE Magazine will present during Paris Fashion Week on March 5, 2010, and host a Fashion Rocks! event in Johannesburg on July, 9, 2010. The highly-anticipated event will feature a fashion show and simultaneous performance by an uber, American songstress.
