Another week of glamour and beauty in fashion design returns as Elegant Resources, organisers of the Malawi Fashion Week (MFW), have said the second edition is on this July. With the venue yet to be confirmed, the organisers say all is set for the week-long event and, for the first time, only the cream in fashion design will participate. The event will allow designers to showcase various accessories and attires. Themed ‘Fashion Grace’, the event will only have 10 elegant models and the locals will have to work extra harder to be shortlisted as they will battle it out for space with regional and international designers. “Tight competition results in high quality standards and that is what we are after. We only want 10 models at the event and we will have the auditions in May where both local and foreign designers will fight for their space in the group. We are currently short-listing models for the auditions,” said MFW chief executive officer Dawa Loga Lemberger. Former Big Brother Africa (BBA) housemate Felicia Susan Ngoma, who was also among the models last year, has been named the headliner designer for this year’s event.
She is joined by Mercy Mbundundu, who was event coordinator last year. The two confirmed the nomination in separate interviews and pledged quality productions to live by their titles. “I feel humbled and favoured and I am not taking it for granted. I want to prove out the best of me. MFW is after highest quality this year and I am already preparing to succeed during the auditions and the main event,” said Felicia.
Loga Lemberger said the objective remains at unveiling designer who can be recognised and invited to international fashion events. But history ruins the future. Lamentations by some designers that they were not paid for last year’s event might be a drawback to this year’s event by scaring some designers, but Loga Lemberger disclosed that Elegant Resources has cleared all debts from last year’s event. “We had a lot of challenges last year and we accept that some challenges were beyond our hand. We could not pay some of the designers because we did not make money as we expected and we had no enough sponsors. Instead we spent more. We informed the designers and they understood us and I can report that we paid all the 15 local models we had balances with,” said Loga Lemberger adding that this year’s models will be paid right after the event.
