As John Galliano, a British designer, once put it across, “The joy of dressing is an art.” This can be so due to the fact that, what we wear is a mirror image of who we are, or rather what we want people to think about us.
As we make some conscious or unconscious decisions to dress up each day, we are sending out a message to the world. Now, being observant as I am, I have noticed the dawn of new fashion trends in the streets of Harare.
In the words of the famous Coco Chanel, “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only; fashion is something in the air. It’s the wind that blows in the new fashion; you feel it coming, you smell it. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening
A fashion conscious crop is slowly budding, and the beauty of it is, it is not synonymous to only a specific age, gender or race.
From my point of view, now is that exciting time, when you see people seeking that individualistic experience, be it in the way they do their hair, the way they do their make-up, the way they dress, their eating preferences, or even their hang out places.
It’s all about that unique, yet authentic experience, and gone are the days when people used to get their hair done, casually. Now, the trends and terminology have changed and people now talk about the best barber, the best hairdresser, and the best designer. More than the style itself; people are looking for that extra ordinary experience.
When it comes to dressing, this paper just comes alive and literally style jumps out to the streets. Men seem to be now in tune with all clothes. There is that crop that seems to be fine- tuning their ‘style’ by the day and every fine detail seems to match with the next item; from the shoes, the stockings, the dress shirt, trouser, and blazer, to the cologne used, better yet to the bag.
As for the women, there seem to be distinctive flair that has emanated, there is that selected group, which has moved past the idea of boutique and departmental purchases. There are those who are searching far and wide for the small but capable community of fashion designers available.
Women are now more at ease with the interactive nature of face to face discussions with an expert in the art of making a still fabric to a work of art. Most women in Harare are now confident enough to dress in ways that incorporates their own personalities to what they would aspire to be known for by those around them, to fuse their individualistic experiences and personal preferences in the final product so as to tell their story, not in pen and paper, but through appearance.
Through the lenses of photography, of the diverse events they find themselves attending, of the streets they walk each day, individual stories are being told. Today, they are just a handful, but as the wind continues to blow, the handful shall become an army, and indeed a fashion revolution has started in the colourful streets of Harare.
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