Juxtapose Paris and fashion. Now tell me what immediately creeps into the recesses of your mind? I’m sure Paris Fashion Week and names like Balenciaga, Christian Dior, and Hermes among others occupied most of your thoughts.  However, no matter the number of fashion houses that litter the arrondissements of Paris, none of them seem to speak to the plethora of Africans that call Paris home. Time immemorial, the cultural nuances of African dress fail to be expressed in a consistent vein in Paris fashion, even during the reign of Ozwald Boateng at Givenchy. 

To render this situation, a few wise patrons at AfrikEvents (link the words “AfrikEvents” to this url: http://www.afrikevents.net/) coined the moniker “Labo Ethnik” and subsequently established the first universal fashion showroom to commemorate “African designers who use African fabrics” and to ultimately fill that void that is absent in the Paris fashion scene. From its humble, but visionary beginnings, the “Labo Ethnik” show is now ticketed as an official program event in Paris Fashion Week. 

The creative forces of coordinator Yvette Tai have made the “Labo Ethnik World Fashion Show” a fertile ground for African designers to launch themselves into spotlight and potentially garner critical acclaim and buyers for their wares. 

Taking place around late February (this year’s event was on the 25th, 26th, and 27th), the three day “Labo Ethnik” event takes places at the pulse of Paris’ unveiling of its customary fall collections thus it gives the designers that window of opportunity to be amongst the thick of things in Parisian fashion. In its second year now, this year’s showroom showcased fifteen designers who draw inspirations from a myriad of African countries and the cultures, such as France, that they have come to know. Niger, Martinique, Rwanda, Mali, Cameroon, Morocco, and Togo are just a few of the African nations represented by the designers that were selected for “Labo Ethnik.” 

Now the amalgamation of cultures often comes with a sense of experimentation and a search for a mutual appreciation of those cultures. For many of the designers, experimenting was captured through spirited trysts into fabric technique while striking a consonant chord between African and Western silhouettes served to fulfill the cultural cohesion. None other than self-taught, Rwandan fashion designer, Bill Ruterana, personified these two themes with his innovative foray with umugwegwe or formally known as sisal hemp. Ruterana utilized sisal, a plant that grows in abundance in his native Rwanda and largely considered a weed, to orchestrate some spectacular, vibrant pieces that cemented his name at the “Labo Ethnik” show. By processing the plant, Ruterana was able to extract the sisal fibers that are akin to flax or raffia and color them with vegetable dyes. The end result was a breathtaking slew of colorful head-dresses and inconceivable wedding dress that drew rapturous responses. For Ruterana, flexing his creative license ensured that he met head-on with the foresight that “Labo Ethnik” has for African fashion and its recognition. 

So the next time your in Paris for fashion week, please do your eyes a favor and appreciate the splendor that continues to emerge from the multitude of African designers in Paris and the world over. 

More information on Labo Ethnik:

Some of the collection of designers at Labo Ethnik show on Daily Motion - 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4w4jk_video-book-2-labo-ethnik_creation

Labo Ethnik on Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/laboethnik

- Ikechukwu Onyewuenyi.