African fashion is more than just patterns and traditional garb, and contrary to popular opinion, is modern and evolving. This is how fashion entrepreneur Nisha Kanabar, a fourth generation Tanzanian and graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York, sees it and is bent on changing the prevailing narrative from her base in Dar es Salaam.
When she started her career, this view of African fashion, or any, was almost non-existent, or if anything, painted with broad brushstrokes. There was almost a need to deconstruct Eurocentric standards, engage with cultures outside of homogenous cliches and curate to fit locations and audiences.
Throughout her tenure working in the fashion industry abroad including for reputed fashion magazines in the United States, India and the Middle East, she noticed how storytelling could connect audiences to creatives.
This was the genesis of Industrie Africa, her global retail destination for contemporary and luxury African fashion born in 2018, drawing on her upbringing in Tanzania and her views on diversity, identity and culture, which she deems inherently pluralistic.
“What hopping around different markets taught me was the potential that the media has in transforming perceptions,” says Kanabar, who has worked both in fashion editorial and commercial fashion.
Her first experience in an emerging market, while at Vogue India, opened her eyes to the value of detail and context as the powerful voice of creatives and designers.
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