Locals to strut their stuff at Canada AFW
Lekopanye Mooketsi | Wednesday August 6, 2014 16:12
The trip is fully sponsored by the Department of Arts and Culture as part of the incentives for winning the best model and best fashion designer award contests.
The two models, Lingani Shadreck (female) and Kesegofetse Senna (male), left for Toronto yesterday in the company of fashion designer, Boitumelo Seboko from Ramotswa.
The Francistown-based Shadreck said she is excited about the trip because it will enhance her career as a model. She said that she is looking forward to the show.
Shadreck said she will use this opportunity to network and establish contacts with others in the industry.
An ecstatic Seboko said she is equally delighted because this will be her first overseas fashion show.
She is also uneasy because she is not sure what awaits her. She, however, said she is fully prepared for the show.
Seboko feels that the show is will be an eye-opener for her because she will learn how things are done in the industry. She is also happy that she will meet other fashion designers to exchange ideas. The young fashion designer said she would also utilise the opportunity to market herself.
Seboko said she would be showcasing the same products that she exhibited at the finals of the presidential competitions, and more. Seboko’s range of products include mateise that are mostly sky blue, depicting Botswana colours. There is also a mogagolwane amongst her products.
Seboko has exhibited at the Angolan fair where South Africa Development Community (SADC) sponsored her. She still maintains contact with some of the fashion designers from Lesotho whom she met at the fair.
An official at the Department of Arts and Culture, Monica Sello, said this is the second time they are sending participants to the Canadian fashion show since last year. She added that the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture would cover all the expenses.
She added that local fashion house, Black Trash, will also be showcasing their products
Sello said the Africa Fashion Week (Canada) is for emerging fashion designers who are interested in establishing their presence in the North American fashion market.
“It is an opportunity for us as Batswana to establish ourselves,” she said, adding that it will make the local industry grow.
Sello revealed that the Department of Arts and Culture is going to have a stall at the show, exhibiting Botswana’s cultural artifacts like the Okavango baskets. She said this would be another way of promoting local artworks.