Emerging African Fashion and setting your own rules of dressing

Photography Manuela Manoliam

It’s a hot day right in the middle of summer and I can almost feel the meditative state of people walking past me. I am heading for an ice cream at one of my favourite places on Europa Alee when I hear a voice: You girl look damn hot in that dress….

As it turns out a couple of lemonades later, the girl who complimented me on my dress is as passionate (and nerdy) as me about new fashion and artisanal accessories. More importantly, we both like playing around with styles and using clothes creatively to convey our mixed cultural identity.

A few weeks later, Meli and I are sitting at a small café near the same Europa Alee and I have a suitcase full of clothes I’ve borrowed from the same designer whose piece gathered her admiration. Nana Kwame Adusei released his first fashion collection 5 years ago. His line Charlotte Privè is represented and available in Switzerland thanks to the Swiss Agency for African Fashion Design Hanimanns.

Those who know me well know that I have the enthusiasm of a 4-year-old about new fashion and innovation in clothing. I am therefore willing to do whatever is in my power to let the world know about Charlotte Privé and inspire my friends and followers to make better choices when buying their next fashionable pieces. That’s how I find myself in the early hours of one of those hot summer days in July chatting to Meli and another friend, whom we have invited to photograph us, about friendship, Urs, the new cool drink that every fashionista should be buying now, and the best blow dry for unruly hair in the city. But let’s get back to Charlotte Privé.

Born in Ghana, Nana Kwame Adusei is not an African designer in the classical sense. He doesn’t use so many African wax prints. His pieces are a wise mix of his African identity and the global “working woman” style. I can see his clothes worn by confident and mature women with a strong sense of personal style. The boxy pockets in combination with the unexpected slit at the back of the dresses create an interesting mix of feminine sensuality and unapologetic determination. I would say the Charlotte Prive woman is the hero of her own story.

Let’s now ask what the designer has to say about his own work:

Tsitaliya: Did you always want to become a fashion designer?

Nana Kwame Adusei: No, as a child I wanted to play basketball and when that didn’t work out I started modeling. That’s when I started spending time in designers’ ateliers where my interest around fashion came.

Tsitaliya: You grew up in a family with three sisters. What did you learn about women that influenced your work later?

Nana Kwame Adusei: It’s interesting because my sisters weren’t that different as a body type or structure, yet their personalities and everything about them required different cuts, colours, and styles. This made me think about women differently and I started paying attention to all kinds of details besides just the body type.

My sisters were also very bold with colours. I remember one of them layering red on orange, which at the time was regarded a little crazy. It came out really good on her considering she used sheer fabrics. These colours are till today two of my favourites.

Another thing I learned from my sisters was that ultimately the clothes have to be comfortable and practical. I’ve always looked at women as strong, intelligent, sexy, godlike people with things to do and places to be. They need to move effortlessly through their day without anything holding them back and yet looking good. I am not a fan of garments that look good in photos but in real life are uncomfortable.

I also like to use pockets whenever I can because for some funny reason I believe when a woman takes a minute to put her hands in her pockets she’s coming back stronger.

Tsitaliya: You’ve been designing clothes since 2012. How has your style evolved or changed through the years?

Nana Kwame Adusei: I started with custom-made garments, which was the hardest job for me. I had lots of clients and each one of them would come in with four different fabrics in hand, with a screenshot of Beyoncé on their phone and really high expectations of me. I found myself explaining all the time how long it took Givenchy to make that dress for the singer and would it be impossible if I simplify it? I was praying to the universe to eventually take me out of the hands of such clients.

Tsitaliya: What was the first piece you designed?

Nana Kwame Adusei: I was at fashion school and my first garment was a Guy Laroche ruffled dress and it was the loveliest thing.

Tsitaliya: What woman did you have in mind when you were designing your latest collection?

Nana Kwame Adusei: My Christmas collection was designed based on fabric availability. For instance, I had jungle-printed fabrics, some dyeable cotton laces, some printed chiffons. At this point, I imagined a woman on vacation in the tropics of course.

So normally the process goes like this: I would imagine her leaving the hotel, crossing the lobby and reaching the bar, where she would wait for her ride. The movement for me is everything. If a dress is well-cut, then the way it moves would attract immediate attention. I am very conscious of how the garment falls.

Tsitaliya: Who is your role model and what do you admire about her or him?

Nana Kwame Adusei: My grandmother. I remember her waking up at 4.00am every day and growing up with her I just acquired that same habit. I think waking up early makes a whole lot of difference. Waking up early to do the right things though.

Charlotte Privé is available to buy online via Hanimanns