Fashion Week engraved as sterling success

’MAPALO NKHELOANE

MASERU – The prestigious Lesotho Fashion Week took place on May 3 to 5 at the Mpilo Boutique Hotel, Maseru.

The three-day long event showcased spring/summer 2019 collections for men and women by designers from all over the world.

The whole idea behind establishing Lesotho Fashion Week was to expose Lesotho in the fashion industry. It also serves to provide designers a global platform to showcase their designs to international markets thereby also offering an opportunity to work with western retailors.

Among the international designers present at the event were Abby Ikomi and daughter Dola Ikomi. They are the duo behind the fast growing fashion retailer based in Lagos, Nigerian fashion called “House Of Irawo” and their mission is to make every customer shine with elegance and class.

Carol Motolo; author of a book Survivors Tales and founder of the Motolo Foundation and Virtue Magazine was also present at the event to witness history in the making.

Motolo indicates that the Fashion Week was one of the best events Lesotho has ever hosted. She explains that everything was well articulated, from the planning, the food, the models, and the photographers to the presenters.

“Everybody really tried to bring the A-game. Mojabeng Senegal, Keive, and Tsepiso Isabella really did an awesome job presenting the show. Everything was honestly well-done and it was a beautiful experience for me. I hope they will do a beautiful job again next year or even better,” Motolo says.

She further commended the models for being well-organised and showing professionalism at its best. She also emphasises that this year’s Lesotho Fashion Week really set the bar too high and hopes the next time she gets invited to a fashion show it will be as elegant as the Lesotho Fashion Week.

She indicates that she mostly loved the end when the Nigerians rapped up the show. She says every designer received positive response from the audience but the response to the House Of Irawo’s was just on another level.

Malisema Motelle, a 23-year-old professional plus size model also indicates that she had the tie of her life at the Fashion Week.

Motelle is a model signed under Tgee Modelling Agency; an agency that is a platform which recruits models of both sexes to become professionals by boosting their self-esteem, confidence and morals to make modelling a defined career.

She indicates that the presence of international designers showcasing their crafts was a blessing as it offered her and other models an opportunity to network. She also states that her performance was everything she has ever dreamt of.

“We were not only walking but we had the opportunity to also dance. The fact that I have never danced on stage was really a challenge for me at first but our choreographers were patient enough. We therefore gave the people more than they had expected,” Motelle explains.

Six collections from fashion designers were showcased, namely: Pattern Nation (South Africa and Canada), Tailored by Hessini (Lesotho), Forever Grey Fashion Gallery (South Africa), Dihdah (Botswana), Wild Laelia (Lesotho) and House of Irawo (Nigeria)

Lesotho Fashion Week was founded in November last year by Mahali Granier and last year the event was held at the Thaba-Bosiu Cultural Village where designers showcased the Autumn winter women’s wear and men’s collection from all over Africa.