Tanzania Fashion Festival

TANZANIAN FASHION FESTIVAL

Be stylish, be

unique - African fashion slogan

Tanzania Fashion Festival is an annual event that brings together day time fashion shows with a summer theme, Live jazz music, Bongo flava and dance. The 5th edition of Tanzanian Fashion Festival was held in the city of Dar Es Salaam, at the Terrace, Slipway hotel.

The fashion festival has been organised by Fashion entrepreneur and former Fashion presenter Deogratius Kithama since 2018. The platform gives young designers a chance to present their collections. The idea of creating a beautiful event has grown into a largescale project.

Guests were ushered in an orange and gold decorated venue that set the tone of opulence from the get go! Those in attendance included Italian Ambassador - Marco Lombardi and Indonesia Ambassador - Tri Yogo Jatmiko.

Credit To: Fashion Association of Tanzania and Swahili fashion week

The show was opened by iconic Tanzanian Top model based in France Miriam Odemba, who accompanied founder Deogratius as they opened in front of an elite crowd.

Then Host Bhoke Egina called one designer after another as they paraded their summer ready designs. In between the fashion shows guests enjoyed some funky jazz tunes, and later a surprise performance from Damian Soul performing Hit song ‘Mapopo’ drove the crowd into a frenzy before reigning Miss Tanzania 2022 Halima Kopwe closed the show in a red knee-high slit and glittery crown as she gave an audience a run for their money.

A total of 21 designers participated, 17 new, 5 wellknown designers such as Waiz, Bahati, Victoria Martin.

She showed off some of her most iconic pieces, like the kaftans and

One of the most outstanding shows was the Noor Design fashion show. Italian Guia Martinotti opened the Tanzanian fashion brand Noor Design, inspired by Tanzanian culture, especially the traditions of the Maasai. The Maasai are an East African tribe, one of the most famous in Tanzania.

recycled shirts that are always present in her collections, but the real highlight of the show was her interpretation of Maasai shuka. The traditional way the Maasai wear their shuka is to wrap it around the body and secure it in place with a belt.

Shuka is traditionally worn by Maasai men, but Noor Design thinks the fabric looks great on women too. Shuka’s past is still a mystery, but it’s poised to conquer the future. Before the colonisation of Africa, the Maasai wore leather clothing, and only in the 1960s was it replaced with cotton fabric.

Currently, Shuka fabric is commonly produced in Tanzania, Kenya, China and Indonesia. There are many variations of Shuka, the heavier Maasai blankets, and the more typical square plaid striped pattern used by many designers around the world.

At Noor Design, we love tubular chokes, which are mostly handcrafted without the use of modern machinery.

The goal is to transform the traditional men’s shuka into trendy urban wear, also for women, and if we succeed, we will preserve the heritage, as well as create increased demand to support local producers.

Fashion Festival is a celebration of beauty, joy for the audience, and promotion of talented designers.