Over the centuries fashion has been the center of cultures, traditions, and trends, it has been used to communicate status and distinguish cultures from each other, all these aspects have greatly contributed to the creativity and uniqueness of fashion.
Rwanda has had her share of this expressive aspect of culture and enriched it with style specific to gender, marital status, social status, events etc.
As generations pass, new trends emerge, made in Rwanda fashion of this era has embraced every aspect of the artistic Rwandan culture and embedded it in the present day fashion.
Fashion is a sprouting industry in Rwanda steadily growing over the years and filled with creatives who will stop at nothing to bring great innovative styles to life, right from clothing, shoes, jewelry, shoes etc.
Of recent in 2015 fashion designers in Rwanda identified the need to work together towards the growth of the industry and decided to form an association (Rwanda fashion designers’ association) whose first elected chairperson was Joselyn Umutoniwase founder of Rwanda Clothing after whom Uwera Karen founder of KarSSH Collections was elected and is the current chairperson.
The association of fashion designers has over thirty members and is steadily increasing membership as the industry gains new creatives now and then.
Taarifa spoke to some players in the tourism industry and found that many tourists come to Rwanda but always find their visit incomplete because they couldn’t explore the variety and uniqueness of Rwandan fashion, this was confirmed by the association chairperson Karen Uwera when approached about the topic, “we have a variety of genres in the industry where almost all the designers integrate Rwandan ancient art or cultural aspect in their creations and I think this is an untapped opportunity, a hidden gem for the tourism sector” she said.
She also said they have established collaborations with some tour operators to add made in Rwanda fashion tour to their packages and urges all the tour operators to tap into the opportunity.
