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Millicent Andile Dube, Showbiz Reporter
The Fashion Council of Zimbabwe (fCoZ) will be hosting its first meet and greet for all fashion creatives from across the country at the Impala Lodge on Thursday.
It is open to fashion creatives, makeup artists, bloggers, tailors, accessories, designers, graphic artists and fashion photographers.
fCoZ was officially launched in 2022 to create a space where fashion creatives could get recognition and assistance in their working platforms. It represents the coming together of fashion creatives, designers of apparel and accessories, fashion bloggers and editors, fashion stylists, models, and model agencies.
fCoZ chairperson, Joyce Chimanye said the meet and greet was the beginning of the building of a fashion empire in the country by promoting local brands.
“Out with Western labels and in with local labels. With the meet and greet, we are basically bringing in all fashion creatives into the same room to get to know each other. This will give exposure to all creatives so that they know who’s who in their line of work under a friendly networking atmosphere,” said Chimanye.
The fCoZ launched a Wear Zimbabwe campaign to encourage Zimbabweans to buy locally designed clothes in 2022. This was to bring more people to buy local and wear local clothes so as to support local clothing productions and to do away with buying from second hand clothing (amabhele). As part of the initiative, locals were encouraged to wear local labels every Friday.
Chimanye said fCoz will once again run with the #WEARZIM campaign in May as a strategy to harness the beauty of local productions.
“We have done such a campaign before and doing it again shows how much impact it had on the fashion industry. The emerging creative industries are taking their space in the spotlight. The Wear Zimbabwe campaign is our opportunity to show our nation who we are by way of our creativity.
“This amazing initiative is driven by and for the love of all things creative, made by Zimbabweans for anyone who loves design, fashion, photography, film and much more,” she said. She said fCoZ came as a realisation that the fashion industry in Zimbabwe had been sidelined for far too long and someone had to change the narrative.
fCoZ vice-president, Paidemoyo Chideya, said: “In the space of 2023-2024, we seek to reach all provinces and make this more impactful to the fashion industry. There is a need to put value in fashion productions and it also needs to be an industry that is recognised for its work like the music industry. This will help grow all fashion practitioners that are starting out so they know where and who they can approach.”
“Everyone is invited to grace the meet and greet, as this is a shout to the nation that such an initiative is running to support all the local designers. Bulawayo is one city that has been growing with more people taking up space in fashion production with labels such as Urban Culture, City of Kings, Ndebele crush and many more.”
Online Reporter