Top Model Africa

African Fashion had a powerful showing at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week courtesy of media mogul Nduka Obaigbena. The This Day/Arise Magazine African Fashion Collective was a display of African haute couture and contemporary African-inspired designs.

The event’s tented village in mid-town Bryant Park was the setting for the first African Fashion Collective 2009, starring the singer, Grace Jones, and featuring the collections of four designers: Xuly Bet from Mali; Nkhensani Nkosi who designs Stoned Cherrie, the South African label; Fati Asibelua of Momo, and Tiffany Amber, both from Nigeria.

The designs were modeled by a United Nations roll-call of girls from more than a dozen countries, including Ethiopia, Namibia, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Russia, China and the Netherlands, along with Tyson Beckford, the most celebrated African-American male model, and catwalk superstars Alek Wek, from Sudan, and legendary model Iman.

Xuly Bet showed contemporary sportswear in denim and corduroy and T-shirt dresses printed with President Obama’s face. Tiffany Amber’s collection featured silk shantung and traditional ‘Ankara’ fabrics, with intricate shell and bead embroidery. Alek Wek closed Nkosi’s Stoned Cherrie collection in a shadow-dyed, burnt orange-to-earth toned, silk chiffon gown with an elaborate, jeweled collar, while zebra, leopard, giraffe and snake patterns, printed on hand-woven taffeta, cashmere and metallic silk, in shades of pewter and gold, were the feature of Asibelua’s Momo collection.

The African Fashion Collective was jointly sponsored by ThisDay, one of Africa’s largest daily news outlets, and Arise, the glossy style magazine devoted to African global achievement. It was timed to mark the inauguration of Barack Obama as President, and First Lady, Michelle Obama’s championing of young, culturally diverse designers.