Fashion enthusiast and PR consultant Diana Opoti found a way to turn her passion of fashion into a business and along the way has discovered innovative African designers working creatively with texture, form and color and defying cliches about African fashion. This inspired her to launch her 100 Days of African Fashion campaign, which features some of her favorite collections.
“I had so many mixed messages about what people perceive about African fashion and what status it had,” Opoti said.
Opoti tried to focus on fashion for real women, in part by using the same model (herself), taking pictures (mostly) in the same spot, and avoiding stylized makeup or hair.
Most of the clothes featured in Opoti’s campaign came from her own closet — emphasizing the everyday. “There’s a set of people who walk around feeling, ‘I want African fashion, I want a designer label, I want a fashion statement piece.’ Some people live life like hat, but the vast majority of people buy what they like. They buy clothes so that they’re not cold, or they buy what suits their body.”
“Nothing is photoshopped” — another way of keeping the focus on fashion for real, everyday people.
“It’s not just about print as we usually see it.”
“I knew I had enough clothes to pull this off because this is just how I dress.”
