If you attended Windhoek Fashion Week, you know you’d have experienced awesome moments as well “oh no” moments. We break down 10 of our favourite experiences at this year’s Windhoek Fashion Week.
1. Informative Talks
Attending fashion shows is great but being able to attend free workshops that will contribute to your business or journey as a fashion enthusiast is even greater. Windhoek Fashion Week, alongside the fashion council, Vaultz connect, Simply You Magazine, ZeroNineNine provided a platform that had industry players, local and international, speak to emerging designers and models on crafting their brands. The team also had Dr Josephine Barbe from University of Berlin speak to us about Sustainability in Fashion. All very informative talks. Kudos to the team for putting that together.
2. Inclusivity
It’s great that in 2018 we can say the fashion industry is pushing for diversity by having and advocating for the marginalised. The runway saw models from the plus size community, beauty pageant winners, musicians and the LGBTQ community. A fashion week for all. We stan.
3. Effort from the WFW Team
Take it from us, we know how hard it is to put together an event, a 3 day event at that, but a week? That must have been a lot! We loved seeing the WFW team at work trying to make sure everything went right. Knowing that they are doing the best they can is all we need. Excited to see what they pull in the next years. Congratulations on their 3rd installation!
4. Streetstyle
Our favourite part of any event! It’s safe to say Namibians came through this year too. From bloggers, to influencers and fashion enthusiasts, they all came out to play. Which makes us happy, because Namibians are putting in the effort! Keep it up guys!
5. Fashion Politics
Fashion is great but have you ever used it to send a message? Our favourite message this season was from Melisa Poulton’s Fashion Fiesta collection. She told us to go “Climb a cactus”. We’d like to go out on a limb and say it’s directed to the haters and anyone who deserves it.
6. FASHUN
Fashion Week wouldn’t be without the collections, without the designers! This moment is for the designers that actually brought something different to the runway. We are just going to go ahead and call out Synedgy and Concept for that brilliant take on streetwear. Both collections were something we don’t always see on our runways. Fresh, to say the least. Emerging designers Nicole Schmidt and Libi also brought a refreshing take on soft and elegant silhouettes. Ria Namibia was a great way to end fashion week. Maria Nepembe’s Boss collection is definitely one for the win, the earthy and pastel tone collection with a cool twist on power suits is surely Maria’s best collection so far.
7. The Bold and Beautiful
It’s not fashion week until someone comes in something talk worthy! This year Kimberly Shiyagaya wore a Rita Ora inspired ensemble to the Friday shows. Instagram and Twitter went off on whether it was appropriate or not. A great look or not. Fashion is about expression, we think. What Kimberly pulled off here is starting a conversation that questions the extent at which people will accept individual expression. We love envelope pushers. We stan!
8. Trips and Falls
If you can walk a trip Namibian fashion show stage you can walk anywhere. Our biggest fear about walking on a runway is tripping and falling, this is the sole reason we are not models. We saw a lot of that at this year’s shows. We are not exactly sure what was a miss with the stage or floors but there was a lot of it. What we loved was how the models swiftly came back from that split second of a mishap to walking graciously like they didn’t almost plummet to the floor. Our models are ready for the international market for sure.
9. Attendance
We love that fashion industry came together to support each other. We can’t say if the attendance was better than last year just yet (while we wait for confirmations from the WFW Team) but we are glad people showed up nonetheless. We hope that in the future, everyone from the arts and entertainment industry show up too.
10. The Fashion Soirée
Our favourite fashion trio owned Windhoek Fashion Week 2018! From the runway, to the LEWKS to hosting the coolest party! We can’t wait to see their brands evolve. They deserve it!
What was your fashion week highlight? Share with us!
