Cameroon Annual Show Fashion Week: A Premier Black Models’ Fashion Event

Runways, catwalks and fashionsitas are terms that are becoming common in Cameroon these days as fashion festivals are increasingly popular. Throughout the year, events are held not only in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé, but also in secondary towns such as Limbe, Buea, Bamenda, and even Bafoussam. Cameroon is gradually establishing itself as the fashion hub of the Central African sub-region. The flagship event of this hub, you guessed it, is the Annual Show Fashion Week, the first fashion festival in Cameroon, which aims to become the first sub-Sahara African festival of style and fashion for black models.

For its sixth edition, the Cameroon Annual Show Fashion Week ran from November 26 to December 1 2012. Designers, model and African artists from Abidjan, Dakar, Douala, Yaoundé and France converged on Douala in order to put on a show. During this period, Douala experienced an exuberance that spread even beyond the national borders through international media coverage evidenced by the presence of outlets such as Fashion TV UK, CCTV, France 24, Africa Magic and rfi.

Held at the luxurious St. Johns Plaza, the 6th edition of the Annual Show Fashion Week was enhanced by the presence of HE Ambassador Diouma Diakhaté Dieng of Senegal, the of

ficial sponsor of the festival. Mrs. Diouma Dieng is a widely recognized designer who has dressed many African First Ladies. Buoyed by the presence of Mrs. Dieng, designers and models, thousands of visitors stormed the festival site for 6 days, which became the favorite spot for fashionistas, stylish men and women or just people looking for sensations. They came not only to admire the original outfits created by fashion designers such as Diouma Dieng (Shalimar), Dio Ali, Gilles Toure, Ciss St Moise, Olivia Ervi, Black Giraffe and Mireille Nemale. They also wanted to admire the more than 95 sensual and authentic models who, adorned with these outfits, performed the catwalk on runways on the beats of the most contemporary popular music known to all. They also came to enjoy live performances from artists that performed for the occasion. In fact, the 30 musicians who performed (especially feature acts and that were Chantal Ayissi and the Nigerian
duo Bracket) wowed the crowds.

All this was made possible thanks to the tremendous efforts of Mr. Grégroire Piwelé, great supporter and promoter of fashion in the sub-region, and his team who braved enormous difficulties in order for the festival to be held as scheduled. Thus, the Annual Show Fashion Week took a small step closer to achieving its goal, which is to become the premier fashion event for all black models around the world. Mr. Piwélé invites serious sponsors and potential partners to joint his efforts in order to make this event a bigger and more successful one in the future. The hope is that the event finally becomes annual as its name suggests, and is inscribed on the international fashion show calendar. In the meantime, see you at the 2014 Annual Show Fashion Week.■

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