Chic Street: Zim fashion house breaks new ground

IN 1954, Audrey Hepburn, regarded as one of the most chic women of all time, starred in “Sabrina”, a comedy-drama.

Edith Head, the then doyenne of Hollywood costume design, put Hepburn on the map as a style icon and won multiple Oscars for her costumes.

On Hepburn’s dress in “Sabrina”, Head claimed: “If it had been worn by somebody with no chic it would never have become a style.”

Since then, the word chic became part of style. In Hollywood and on the fashion ramps of Europe, if you are not “chic” you are nobody.

Now a Zimbabwean, Jacqueline Suzanne Manyonga, a 22-year-old former Hotel Management student at the prestigious Les Roches Hotel School in Switzerland, has brought chic to Harare.

Having always had a keen fashion sense, Jacqueline realised that fashion was her true calling and not hotel management, especially after rubbing shoulders, befriending and socialising with some of Europe’s most fashionable and wealthy people from Italy, France and London.

With the encouragement and support of her mother and older brother, she decided to be bold and establish her own fashion and beauty house.

“As the name would suggest, Chic Street Clothing is a marriage of European and African fashion, and urban “street” trends. It is also the avenue where high fashion meets beauty. Jacqueline wanted it to be very Zimbabwean, yet very international.

“Very affordable yet having fashionably high quality garments. All clothes are designed in-house and manufactured at a factory in Harare using local and imported fabrics.

“There are two stores in Harare, one at Travel Plaza and the newest branch, which opened last month, is at Newlands Shopping Centre,” said Tatenda Mutseikwa, the marketing director.

“Chic Street also houses cosmetics and a professional make-up studio for skincare consultations, makeovers and facials. It also sells different products for women. Women with skin problems ranging from acne, hyper pigmentation to spots, can come into the studio for a full consultation and treatments. Make up for weddings, pageants, events etcetera is also available,” he added.

Currently available at the Chic Street stores are the Sahara Sands, J Suzanne and Corporate Inc lines. The three collections are completely different and allow for individuality and diversity all under one stable.

Chic Street also offers an online store with shipping available for both local and international shoppers with VISA, EcoCash, TeleCash, NetCash, ZimSwitch and Mastercard payment platforms available.

Said Mutseikwa: “The Sahara Sands collection showcases African prints. The designs are all modern designs that incorporate various African wax prints and shweshwe fabrics in diverse ways. J Suzanne offers unique, elegant, casual and smart wear for the woman who likes to experiment with fashion.

“It is quite a daring collection that plays with bright colours, bold prints and designs.

“Corporate Inc offers corporate attire for women of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds. It is for the working woman and is a very sophisticated and clean cut collection.

“Chic Street has also recently begun manufacturing clothing for men; beginning with shirts and suits in African print designs, and looks to have a fully-fledged collection for men in the coming months.”

Jacqueline believes that African cultures are no different from other cultures in that “we develop our own styles and traditions but complement them with imported ones”.

The photo shoot by Kudzai Chakaingesu, showcased here, epitomises all that is Chic Street. The diversity of Zimbabwe — black and white, Bantu and Euro all juxtaposed onto the modern day Harare Metropolis. The artistically arranged styles bring out the perfect balance of daring, bold and subtle all in well-constructed lines and flows.

Established in 2013, Chic Street is a wholly owned Zimbabwean clothing manufacturing company.