Sunday, February 27, 2011

Q & A AFRICAN FASHION DESIGNERS DOROTHY TENKORANG AND SARAH EKUNDAYA OF THE HOUSE OF ABEYTU



Dorothy Tenkorang and Sarah Ekundayo are the talented   designers behind the House of Abeytu. I wanted to learn a bit about their brand and the ladies behind it 
What is the name of your fashion label and its designer ?
Our label is called ‘House of Abeytu’ pronounced ‘House of Abee-tu’ created by Dorothy Tenkorang and Sarah Ekundayo.Abeytu being an anagram for the word beauty to represent our theme of turning beauty on its head. 


When was it established?
House of Abeytu was established in 2010.


Where are you based?
We are an international label based in London.

Tell us about your fashion background, how you got started, why you got into fashion and the type of designs you do

Sarah: I have always had a love for fashion and art as a child my mum would always find pieces of paper with my designs scribbled on so I always knew my future career would definitely be in the creative industry. To me fashion and art are a match made in heaven, designing gives me the avenue to express my creative being. After graduating from a Graphic Design course, I decided to revisit my passion for fashion and enrolled in a few professional sewing and design courses to develop my skills and in the meantime continued sketching my designs on paper. I decided not long after enrolling on the course that I would one day start my own fashion label. I've known Dorothy since school and I've always loved her fashion sense, she blossomed in the modelling industry and developed her own creative edge.  We got talking one day and discovered our love for designing and using traditional African prints and that one day we both wanted to start our own labels and decided we would come together and make our dream a reality, and in 2010 House of Abeytu was brought to life. We wanted to create a brand that would bring African fabrics with a western twist to the forefront and could cross over to all cultures. The decision was easy we both knew what we wanted and we knew we had the passion and determination to make it happen. 

Dorothy:  I have had an infatuation with fashion as far as I can remember. As I have gotten older I have found it to be avenue for me to express myself. I would shop at second hand stores (still love to!) customize an item to add something new to a piece, find a vintage jacket and mix with a current piece.
I would watch my mother, my aunts etc at family parties and love the way they would look effortlessly regal in their traditional clothes.As an African model, I have been very fortunate to work with a lot of cutting edge designers, but felt that there were not a large number of designers that represented who I am.  I think it’s incredibly important for Africa, our culture and its beauty to be included in mainstream fashion which is why Sarah and I have created House of Abetytu.As Sarah mentioned I have known her for years and have watched her scribble ideas and love the way she puts outfits together. It wasn’t a tough decision at all. We both bring valuable ideas to House of Abeytu and love, love, love what we do!


How hard was it to get started? 
Sarah: I wouldn't say it’s been hard but it’s been challenging and a great learning curve and we're still learning. Starting something new is always a lot of work but we have enjoyed every minute of it and I wouldn't change it for the world!
Dorothy: I would agree with Sarah. We are bursting with so many ideas and it’s been exciting to see them grow and come to life. Fashion is what we love so it really does not feel like work plus we are learning so much as we are going along.


What has been your greatest success to date within the fashion industry?
Dorothy: As a fresh face to the industry, we are feeling very blessed to have so many people interested in House of Abeytu. We already have a waiting list of people who are eager to be dressed in HOA… we even have a few celebrity stylists in the que!
Sarah: We have all had interest from international fashion shows wanting to showcase our first collection which we are currently in the process of finalizing all the details so watch this space!  

What is the future vision and aim for your label?
Sarah: Bringing House of Abeytu to the world, taking our designs to the next level and expanding our customer base.
Dorothy:  That’s exactly it. We are extremely driven and are focused on making HOA mainstream and fusing African fashion with the western world.  Our slogan I ‘Allow Yourself To Be Fabulous’ and we aim to make a lot of women ‘feel fabulous’ dressed in HOA.





Kente dress- african fashion kitenge





























Pagne africain-ciaafrique-mode en pagne la cote -divoire

Please see the rest of the collection here 

So what do you think of House of Abeytu? Is it one of your favorite fashion houses? designers? would you like to see more from them . Always let me know if there are any other designers you’d like to see spotlighted on Ciaafrique in the future .You can also follow this blog via Twitter @ciaafrique

3 comments:

  1. Lovely!!! Love the jumpsuit and the first pink dress.

    Adiya

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  2. wow the dark skin girl !!!!!!!!! love her skin tone

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  3. LOVE, LOVE Loving the designs, agree that, that jumpsuit is amazing, love that corset too!

    http://themessenger-bag.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

Thank you all for taking the time to comment.