Program Success 22 October 2017
ABIDJAN THE CITY OF HIGH FASHION IN AFRICA
Nimba Monnemu Tokpa Abidjan , Cote d ' Ivoire October 2017
Abidjan , the largest city of Cote d ' Ivoire ( Ivory Coast ), has always been a mecca of fashion in Africa . Even though for the last 10 years , the fashion activities have slowed down in the metropolitan city of Abidjan due to the politico-military crisis , Abidjan remains one of the vibrant cities in the world in term of fashion creativity where you can some of the most talented young designers . Cote d ' Ivoire as the rest of Africa , is also richly endowed with the raw materials , impressive talent and affordable labour that gives it the edge to build a multi-billion dollar luxury clothing and even footwear industry . It just need to be a well coordinated , and well organized sector with a PPP approach between the government and the private sector .
Abidjan in its high glorious days before the crisis , has played host to no fewer than 12 big fashion trade shows every year where many African designers were coming to present their works to the public of Abidjan . Several fashion nights were organized all across the beautiful city of Abidjan . Many high figure African designers such as Alphadi , Pathe ' O , and many others , is from Abidjan that they have been worldwide recognized .
The Abidjan runway 2015 with the presentation of the new collections of the Ivorian designer G . R . Toure . Those beautiful luxury Ivorian designs are made with 100 % African fabrics .
Today , the city of Abidjan endowed a lot of young talented designers who are working hard to make a name for themselves . Abidjan is coming back slowly to its initial path as the mecca of fashion shows in Africa . The African designers from Cote d ' Ivoire are known for making extraordinary designs with always the African root with the mixture of
the " modernization ". They value the African fabrics ( the rich Kita , pagne , Kente clothes , etc ... ). We have young talented designs such as my Ivorian sister designer by the name of Pathy who uses our rich and delicate Yacouba , and We " ethnic " fabrics by doing some unique , and beautifully made embroidered clothes , handbags , and footwear products . The fabrics she uses to make her designs are 100 % made by hands locally sourced in the region of Man , Facobly , and Duekoue .
The unique preferences , tastes and cultural environment of the Ivorian and west African consumers have served the lvorian designers as aspiration needed to make uniquely African value proposition designs . Abidjan can go further than its curent recognition in term of fashion . It is a matter of good investment in the fashion industry . A lot of of luxury African contemporary brands can be nurtured from Abidjan due to the immense pool of talented young designers . They really make clothes that truly complement your feature . Our fashion and beauty ideals are driven by strong sense of cultural and valuable affinities and high appreciation of African aesthetics by producing very good luxury quality products .
More fashion events will be launched in near future in Abidjan with the participation of many young talented designs from Abidjan , and from others African countries . Those upcoming fashion events are to showcase the super creative talent of young designers at the same time expose the Abidjan ' s emerging fashion industry . There is an untapped growth in term of fashion in Cote d ' Ivoire and others African countries that is not fully leveraged yet . Abidjan is the place where all the talented African designers can come together and seize those opportunities where we can create a potential growing African luxury market for the African and international audience .
By Nimba Monnemu Tokpa , CEO and Creative Director of NIMBA ( An Abidjan-based luxury clothing company ). He is also an African Market Development Specialist .