João Adriano
The fifth edition of the Katutura Fashion Week took place last weekend at the Franco Namibia Cultural Centre in Windhoek, showcasing both Culture and Creativity with beautiful designs from designers all around Africa, including Zambia, Angola and Botswana.
For the first time, the Rob Foundation came on board and exhibited their pieces, the Mboma Streetwear collection, bringing different outfits of the highest quality. The Mboma Street Wear Collection was inspired by Namibia’s golden girl and Olympic athlete Christine Mboma, dubbed as the fastest women athlete in the country.
“The reason we participated in the Katutura Fashion Week was to create awareness of the Mboma Street Wear and just showcase our products to the people to expand our brand,” said Designer Robert Maseka, founder of Rob Foundation.
According to Maseka, Mboma is very passionate about the youth and is willing to help the youth through initiatives that benefit them.
The Rob Youth Foundation recently signed an agreement with Christine Mboma, where the athlete pledged to give back 10% of every item sold to the Rob Foundation National Sanitary Pads drive to support the Namibian girls.
“It was a good experience having to exhibit the brand at the Katutura Fashion Week, and we look forward to doing much more and taking part in more fashion shows like this one,” said Maseka.
The Katutura Fashion Week is a platform that embraces Culture and brings people together to take pride in who they are through the exhibition of clothing designs, giving designers the opportunity to create awareness of their work and create a networking environment for designers to engage and build collaborative relationships.
Robert further said they are both working hard to expand the work within the youth to reach out to other young creatives.
“After the next Olympics, Christine Mboma plans to expand and initiate a High School Beauty Pageant, which will focus on young women who have dreams in fashion to inspire and boost their confidence,” explained Robert.
First and second-year fashion designer students at the College of the Arts (COTA) also presented beautiful, colourful designs that took the audience on a creative tour.
“Having to be part of the designers in the Katutura Fashion Week felt like home because, as a young, upcoming designer, this experience is a huge motivation for me,” said Denis Andila, a COTA student.
She further said the opportunity would impact her career positively, as the showcase served as a stepping stone to entering the fashion industry and brand recognition.
The Katutura Fashion Week event believes in creatives in the fashion industry and hopes to bring more designers in every single year, said Robert.
The Namibian fashion industry has rapidly evolved into a very creative industry – from designing clothing pieces of different textures: silk, cotton and nylon – to crocheting.
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