Taking Over Ghana Fashion and Design Week Twitter Handle

PhotoCredit: Yaw Pare

I had the privilege of taking over the twitter handle for Ghana Fashion and Design Week 2016 a few weeks back. This simply meant, I was in charge of sharing all that was happening during the fashion week, from the business seminar, backstage, runway, exhibition and all that took place during the period.

This year’s event took place at the Labadi Beach Hotel from the 21^st to 23rd October 2016.

Themed the “Neo Africa”, the event had a runway presentation of new season collections from designers shaping a new Africa fashion in the mix with other international designers and presentation which paints and shows the new season trends.

The 3 days event started off with a business seminar held earlier in the day with seasoned speakers who shared insights on critical and creative thinking in business innovation and brand development.

The 2 days fashion show had mostly young emerging designers showcasing their to the admiration of attendees. Interestingly, these young fashion talents such as Sama Flether, Steve Frenchie, Tutuwaa by Afua Biney, BLVCK St by Shika Odamtten and Owusu Kofi will be a force to reckon with in the near future in our fashion industry.

Other designers who were also impressive on the runway with their collection, fabric and design finishing were Bello Edu, Hazza Official, Ayo Van Elmar, Amarelis and Nomades.

Ghana Fashion and Design Week has positioned itself as a globally recognized contemporary international platform for commerce, envisioned to direct, lead and promote both emerging and established designers and creative entrepreneurs in Ghana and Africa to a global audience.

I hope fashion entrepreneurs as well as fashion students will take advantage of these opportunities such as the business seminars and event to expand their knowledge on the business side of fashion in order to build successful brands that transcends the barriers of this country and continent.

As one of the fashion events to look out for every year, I hope next year will get bigger as designers will be able to participate and showcase their designs to a larger audience in order to grow our fashion industry.

With all said and done, take a look at all my outfits for the 3 days event fully sponsored by @Totally Ethnik. I am looking forward to 2017 already.

And ooh thanks to GFDW for my Mercedes Benz Exclusive ride throughout the 3 days. 

Day 1 look

 

With Marie, Totally Ethnik Designer

Photo Credit: Nana Asempa Retold 

Laurie Frempong,(Model and Blogger), myself and Marie

With Asempa, Photographer(Nana Asempa Retold) 

Wish this car was mine

Day 2 look

While i wait for the show to start

Day 3 look

Photo Credits: Nana Asempa Retold & Yaw Pare

Faith Senam Ocloo 
Fashion Public Relations 
Fashion I Beauty I Lifestyle I Arts

TOTALLY ETHNIK's New Collection is Simply Refreshing

Totally Ehnik "Dolce Vita"

There is really an inner joy to see hard work pay off. This recent collection by TOTALLY ETHNIK has got us hyped up. From the Model (Julee) to the photography (Dextdee Photography), the Makeup Artist (Pretty Touch_gh), to the one who directed most of the photography (Marie Patrice, Mareep Production) to the location (Aqua Safari) , this lookbook is simply refreshing.

Dolce Vita means “Living the sweet life”. It was themed with the famous Dolce & Gabbana lemon print which expresses the sweet and beautiful life through an array of sunshine filled with stripes, crepe, chiffon, lace and raffia.

Each piece was pulled together "to define our creativity beyond barriers and culture. It’s a statement of how luxury blends Western and African Trends; our versatility and warm personality anywhere at any time." Marie Kipre, designer explained to me while I was drafting the press release for this collection.

Dolce Vita is Totally Ethnik’s expression of beauty, elegance, happiness and resourcefulness

Dolce Vita: Living the Sweet Life.

Designer                    : Marie Kipre

Model                         : Julee Djoulde Bocoum

MUA                           : Prettytouch­­_gh

Photography          : Dextdee Photography

Directed by             : Mareep Production 

Fashion PR            : Faith Senam April

Check out thfull collection below:

Which of these would you love to wear? You can simply own one by contacting Totally Ethnik via their social media handles and website :

Website: www.totally-ethnik.com   Facebook: Totally Ethnik     Twitter: @totallyethnik

Instagram: Totally.Ethnik


Faith Senam Ocloo 
Fashion Public Relations 
Fashion I Beauty I Lifestyle I Arts

My simple thoughts on Glitz Africa Fashion Week 2016

The 2016 Glitz Africa Fashion Week took place last weekend at Kempinski Accra Hotel amidst all the excitement from many fashion lovers.

The 3 days event held fashion shows for established designers, emerging designers as well as graduate designers from both Ghana and Nigeria who took on the runway to showcase their most recent collections from womenswear, menswear and accessories.

Designers as well as stylists took the opportunity to also exhibit their creativity beyond barriers to visitors among who are fashion buyers, retailers, local and international press, bloggers, editors and style influencers.

Designers such as Mai Atafo, Totally Ethnik, Selinabeb, Swarovsky fashion show by Ophelia Crossland and Abaya Dake were my favorites from the runway.

Other designers such as Okahari, Annesi Bespoke, Ejiro Amos Tafari, Jessica Torks, Amarelis, Lumiere Couture, Melanie Crane, Sima Brew, Tokyo James also showcased very amazing pieces.

There was a “Fashion for Help” fashion show which saw some celebrities such as Nanaakua Addo, Victoria Michaels, Adina, Vanessa Gyan, James Gardener, Nikki Samonas, Harold Amenyah and Joey B strut the runway in designer outfits that will be auction to raise funds to support charity. I think this was really a great idea to help a good cause.

Day 1 had very few attendees as I believed people did not turn up because it was a Friday and a working day and they were tired from work however day 2 and 3 had much more attendees.

Candidly, anticipation was high for Glitz Africa Fashion Week 2016 as there was a no show last year. I was expecting to see many well-known designers from many other African countries when the schedule was out as I believed designers needed the platform to showcase their collection to all who matter in the fashion industry. This wasn’t the case as many known designers especially in Ghana did not showcase at this year’s event.

All the same, I believe it was a good show especially after they missed out on last year and trying to pick up the pieces again. I hope next year gets better for both designers as well as the event organizers.

Myself on the last day

Faith Senam Ocloo 

Fashion Public Relations 

Fashion I Beauty I Lifestyle I Arts

Ghana’s Turn of Fashion Weeks Comes off this October

If you are into fashion, then you should know by now that the 4 big cities of International Fashion Weeks took place in September from New York, London, Milan and ended in Paris last weekend.

Clearly it’s the turn of Ghana’s Fashion Week spread through the month of October as we have 3 major fashion weeks coming up. Glitz Africa Fashion Week and Accra Fashion Week are both slated to take place during the same weekend from October 6-9 at the Kempinski Hotel and Trade Fair respectively and Ghana Fashion andDesign Week is scheduled to take place from October 21-23 at the Labadi Beach Hotel.

With these fashion weeks ahead and expectations varied from various attendees and designers, what should we be expecting from fashion weeks here in Ghana?

Fashion shows or weeks are trade events that are critical for the apparel industry everywhere. It offers designers the platform to communicate or showcase recent fashion trends to various audiences. It also gives creative entrepreneurs an opportunity to be exposed to retailers and buyers of interest, influential media both local and international where designs are showcased. In essence, it’s a platform that connects designers to all several consumers.

With the increased number of street style photos and glammed up front row attendees at fashion shows, don’t be deceived into thinking it’s all about partying, meeting friends and taking nice photos. Fashion week is a place of work; a place where you need to maximize your business and networking abilities to lock the best deals for the next media feature, brand endorsement, pre-orders amongst others. 

As designers, it’s the best place to impress attendees with your creativity as you present your collection to them.

So who attends fashion shows? Editors, Buyers, Stylists, Fashion Journalists/bloggers, Style Influencers, Creative Directors, Fashion Publicists, Models, Photographers and Fashion Consumers.

These varied attendees at fashion weeks have major roles to play in how designs will be reported or featured after the event. It also determines which one of them will be interested in buying, stocking or working with a design off the runway.

So planning on attending any of these fashion weeks coming up? Hope you find yourself in any of these categories of the attendees above. Nonetheless if you don’t belong and still want to know what’s happening there, then do follow their various hashtags and handles on social media to get all the updates from the seminars, backstage, runways and red carpets.

Photocredit: +Totally Ethnik

Faith Senam Ocloo 
Fashion Public Relations 
Fashion I Beauty I Lifestyle I Arts