Eta Lambda Omega 2017 Souvenir Journal | Page 27

Fashion Designers KUTULA by Africana KUTULA means “to step into” or “leap forward” in Lozi, a Bantu language spoken in Zambia. The KUTULA brand—originally known as Africana Imports—has been making quality-craqed, inspiring, luxury designs since 1971. With a celebrated focus on the beauty and expression of our origins in Zambia, Nigeria and Los Angeles, they have spent more than 45 years as one of the most established bouHque retailers in the U.S. for globally-inspired texHles. StarHng in the early 70s by the original owner Francesca, the original flagship locaHon was on Slauson and Crenshaw in Los Angeles where the brand and business was a vibrant and thriving establishment flowing with life, history, and culture, that has amassed loyal and beloved customers, as well as leading Hollywood actresses and actors, musicians, arHsts, poliHcians, world dignitaries over the decades. KUTULA’s designs were featured in both the opening and closing scenes of 2016’s #1 grossing blockbuster, Marvel Entertainment’s Captain America: Civil War, featuring Black Panther, the first black superhero in American comics played by Chadwick Boseman. Most recently, KUTULA has also exclusively dressed actor, David Oyelowo and family for the full mulH-city movie premiere of Disney's Queen of Katwe (2016) as well as Hollywood actors and musicians such as honorary AKA member,