Native Style Designer Anifa Mvuemba Is aware of No Limits

Native Style Designer Anifa Mvuemba Is aware of No Limits


The web is likely to be designer Anifa Mvuemba‘s best asset. In 2020, her Pink Congo Instagram Dwell runway present despatched 3D fashions, mimicking femme bodies, down the runway carrying her curve-friendly silhouettes. The present went viral, turning the style trade on its head. Not solely did it create better pleasure round her Hanifa model, nevertheless it additionally inspired the trade to rethink digital displays of vogue collections. A 12 months later, as soon as the ban on in-person occasions was lifted, she did it once more by remodeling the Nationwide Portrait Gallery right into a whimsical actuality for her first ever in-person present. The present, titled Goals, provided a meditation on her profession journey since launching Hanifa in 2011 and showcased her dedication to the D.C. space.

All the time forward of the curve, Mvuemba was exploring the digital world of vogue previous to the pandemic and was in search of out the best scenario to mix her love of graphic design with know-how. The 30-year-old all the time loved exploring the various aspects of design, and digital actuality, she notes, was naturally the subsequent realm to beat. And conquer she did. Following her 2020 Instagram present, Hanifa noticed will increase in gross sales and an expanded viewers base.

Though New York is taken into account America’s vogue capital, Hanifa is headquartered in Baltimore. Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Mvuemba migrated to the nation’s capital along with her household in 1993. Whereas attending Gaithersburg Excessive Faculty, the place she took half in a vogue program, Mvuemba started to develop her vogue perspective. In the present day she credit her highschool program director for uplifting her profession within the vogue trade. However her examine of vogue really took flight in Baltimore, the place she enrolled in vogue programs at Morgan State College and realized to stitch.

Shortly earlier than her birthday in 2011, Mvuemba tells Metropolis Paper she was unable to afford a brand new gown. As an alternative of carrying a recycled outfit for her get together, she made a chartreuse tube gown. She shared—and modeled—her work on Instagram, and instantly requests began flooding in. Her pals needed Mvuemba clothes and Hanifa was born. 

A decade later and the model is shaping the trade, from how collections are showcased to who wears Mvuemba’s designs. In the present day, Hanifa is worn by A-list celebrities like Beyoncé, Gabrielle Union, Ashley Graham, and Sarah Jessica Parker. Nevertheless, girls of all physique varieties and financial lessons are carrying her designs, because of its inclusive sizing and accessible worth factors. The costs of her newest assortment vary from $179 to $2,400. “We take into account the match and life-style of on a regular basis girls for every of our collections. Now we have extra in frequent with one another than social media might painting,” she says.

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