South African fashion label Stoned Cherrie will take to the fabled tents of Bryant Park for New York’s autumn/winter fashion week next month, writes Lynley Donnelly.
In a coup for African fashion Stoned Cherrie, with fellow African designers MOMO and Tiffany Amber from Nigeria and Xuly Bet from Mali, will showcase as part of the Arise/This Day: African Fashion Collective 2009.
The show, scheduled for the first night, February 13, will follow big name designers like Nicole Miller.
For Stoned Cherrie founder Nkhensani Nkosi the show is an opportunity to take the label to a new level. ”We are entering the American market at quite a rough time so we have to be sober about how to approach it,” she said.
”I have no illusions about what this opportunity could mean for Stoned Cherrie, however we are going to ensure that it translates into growth for our brand.”
The label will show a ready-to-wear range, forming part of their winter 2009 collection. Said Nkosi: ”There’ll be lots of South African iconic symbolism in the form of prints, Stoned Cherrie bespoke fabrics, organic cotton T-shirts and our new range of bags and accessories.”
As to what she will bring to the New York catwalk Nkosi said ”an afro-urban aesthetic, SA street confidence, a celebration of African icons and a whole lot of pride!”
The timing, says Jan Malan, who will produce the African collective’s show, couldn’t be better — not least thanks to the US voting in their first black president. ”With [Barack] Obama more attention is being paid to African people in general and that includes African designers,” Malan said. Of his plans for the show’s production Malan would say only that it is going to be ”incredibly modern” and subvert expectations of what an African fashion show is.
The collective is the brainchild of Nigerian media baron Nduka Obaigbena, This Day publisher and editor-in-chief of Arise magazine.
Ghanaian Kate Menson, the 2008 M-Net Face of Africa will also be making her New York catwalk debut, while Mozambican Dino Moran will be musical director for the show.
