Farai Simoyi puts Zimbabwe fashion on international map

Unfortunately, she is largely unknown in Africa, and in her country of origin, Zimbabwe. Last month she debuted her Spring/Summer 2011 collection at the New York City Fashion Week under the label Farai.

Born in London, England to Zimbabwean parents, Simoyi lived in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she got her first taste of textiles and fashion, from her aunts lingerie company at age five.

Her aunt would give her scraps of fabric, which Simoyi sewed together by hand to make clothes for both her and her dolls. And, thus, her passion for fashion was born. Leaving Zimbabwe as a 10 year old, Simoyi headed to Morgantown, West Virginia, US where she eventually attended West Virginia University. While there she studied fashion and design and her debut at the NYC Fashion Week is clear testimony of her talent and passion. According to the online FashionAfrica.com magazine, the brand Farai is designed for the urban cosmopolitan.

The clientele includes young fashion forward women who are worldly thinkers and are aware of global issues that are changing the fashion, music, and film industries among many others. No stranger to the eclectic style of the New York fashion scene, the look is fresh, edgy, unique, and represents a diverse view that is sure to set new trends for this season, the magazine noted.

My inspiration comes from a mixture of different cultures. I design as if Im a musician on a world tour and each destination inspires a different idea. My Zimbabwean roots are instilled in me and yes, my culture has a strong influence on how I design. My culture is very colourful and so are my collectionsyou probably wont catch me designing an all black collection; there always has to be a splash of colour, said Simoyi in a recent interview with africanawardrobediary.com.