What is the name of your fashion label and its designer? 
Anna Luks is the design label and my name is Anna Lukindo

When was it established? 
I started the launch of Anna Luks towards the end of 2010

Where are you based? 
London

Tell us about your fashion background, how you got started, why you got into fashion and the type of designs you do.
 I guess I got into fashion from my mum and older sisters but it was always in my nature to create. Apart from my architectural back ground, I also was very much into performing arts and into design and won first prize in a design competition too back home in Tanzania. After I had my family, I got back into clothes designing and drawing. As I always loved working with a variety of textiles a lot of my work in Anna Luks uses recyclable materials such as ropes, cords, and yarn. My clothing designs and accessories are at present mainly for women.

How hard was it to get started? 
As anyone who runs their business can tell you it’s not easy to set out on your own, especially in the fiercely competitive world of fashion. You just have to be determined and have great support networks in place.


What has been your greatest success to date within the fashion industry? 
Launching Anna Luks, receiving positive feedback and from within the industry (creative peers, photographers, models) and general public supporters.

What is the future vision and aim for your label?
More collections from Anna Luks, expansion and international recognition. Check out 

http://www.annaluks.com/ for the rest of the collection.

 Maud Villaret is the designer of Toubab Paris which  is a jewelry brand that uses African  fabrics to create her work. Her inspiration comes from her  trips to  Africa where she recovers and transforms materials and objects in order to create unique pieces or limited series.All of her pieces are handmade , part in France  and another part directly in Africa by local craftsmen.

I was recently invited to the presentation of the new collection of chinedesign but unfortunately I could not make it , but the designer Chinedu was kind enough to grant Ciaafrique an interview. check it out


Tell us a bit about yourself 

Uche Ibezue is the name behind the label O'mak designs. O'mak Designs is a ready to wear line of clothing created to express a bold, confident and graceful style found in its every detail & style.

 When you live in the most populous country in Africa , its  hard to be a recognizable brand unless you have the talent to show for it.Being a great designer is not only about  sewing clothes, but know how to  style them ,market them , have a target market and so on .A person left a comment on this blog one day asking me "how come half of designers you present on this site are Nigerian?" I responded"

Michèle Pouani is the brain and body behind Pyromaniac by mp. She hails from Yaoundé Cameroon, where her passion for clothes stems from her sweet upbringing in a family where Mom is a well-known and locally acclaimed fashion designer/entrepreneur.As she could not have chosen a more “fitting” path to embark on, her career began in 2002 in Paris where she graduated with a Fashion Design and Technology diploma.

Designer Profile
Nana Afua Antwi, current Top Model of Colour UK  is the founder and creator ‘adopted Culture’ fashion brand and  Akosua Ode Foundation . She is originally from Ashanti Ghana  and she is  known to be one of the top African emerging models in the UK   Ever since crowned the winner for Top model of Color UK it’s been one of her greatest achievement to beat over 3200 applicants to make it to the top of such a well known Model competition for models of Colour and within one year in the modeling Industry she’s got massive exposure and has been a great inspiration for young upcoming models.

Akua Serwaa-Sarfo is a Ghanaian-born aspiring fashion designer, producing apparel for women and accessories for women and men. . She is a full time student (Heath Science) and a part-time designer.She taught Herself how to sew June 2009 and have designed and sewed every piece of IyZaiah’s first collection.

"OCO BAGS  combine beautiful African Ankara fabrics with modern materials to create distinctive handbags. All of our products are custom made. No two of our bags are exactly the same. No one else has these exact products. Our array of products are constantly changing and evolving. Many of our styles will not repeated. OCO BAGS brings affordable, custom made, top quality handbags to the world. It takes a tradition material, reshapes it and reinvents its usages."Cynthia Osueke

If you want to get your hands on one of these lovely bags you can check out their website here 

Lanre Da Silva with models

LDA unveiled her  new collection tagged ‘RED 2011’ at United Bank For Africa (UBA) CEO awards on Saturday February 12 2011. I love LDA because she is different from your average designer. All the pieces in this collection are perfectly tailored and the mixture of colors is amazing. To wear a piece from this LDA collection you have to be bold and not afraid to take risks. 

Bigger, Better, Brighter! AKPOS OKUDU Launches Spring/ Summer 2011 Collection




Feminine, wearable and playfully sophisticated are words that best describe Akpos Okudu pieces. Every Akpos Okudu piece shows a love for lush fabric, intricate details and colour. With this collection, the designer is clearer about her clients’ needs and what they are about and has made clothes that women love to wear, want to wear & CAN afford to wear.







Visit www.akposokudu.com or designer blog www.ijawgirl.blogspot.com for more info.

Any Thoughts ?

I've got to give a big up to my naija people for their creativity. Over the last year or so we've seen countless of fabulous designers emerging from Nigeria.Being an African designer is not only to use African fabrics but also thinking outside the box.Today I am introducing for the first time Sally Bawa .As their website describes "the Sally Bawa vision is one that was conceived 10 years ago on a cloudy dreamy day amidst the hubbub of the busy Lagos metropolis. It still is a work in progress.

My  name is Orire Omatsola. I'm  Currently in my final year at the university of manchester, studying art history. Officially started my label last year summer. My mother and I make up the Re-bahia team.

Jamie Boyfriend Jacket

Pearl 11 30 was created in April 2010 by Ade Yusuf, a brand birth out of passion and love for celebrating and expressing one’s individuality through fashion. The brand offers styling (Image branding), affordable ready to wear and tailored outfits that are produced to the highest quality standards. They  have developed a unique factor through their personal style by bringing out the real individual out of our Clients and paying keen attention to details.


The brand personifies sophistication, class and timeless pieces/style. Ade Yusuf " We consider the instinct and everyday needs of practical life; from dresses to skirts, jackets to tops to shirts, pants to jumpsuits, glamour combined with classy chic for play as well as work."

 According to her website Fanta Kamara was born in Monrovia, Liberia, a small country on the West Coast of Africa. Wasn't too long before the country experienced its first major power struggle; a country of sixteen ethnic tribes of which everyone wanted a presidency representative. Chaos stroked and Liberia's fifteen years of civil war began. Rear in Monrovia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Singapore, due to the war; unlike many others, Fanta experienced an unaccommodating childhood, but her strength and determination allowed her to have sustained the horrific war conditions. In late 2000, Fanta and her family moved to the United States, where she completed her secondary and post-secondary education. A tomboy growing up, fashion was the last thing on her mind; she studied Pharmacology, Management, Computer Programming and Information Technology at renowned universities in the US. Fanta's initial femini experience was her high school prom, where no baggy jeans, or basketball shorts, or Jordan, or Nikes, or Timberlands were allow;---dresses and stilettoes only! Everyone encouraged her to pursue modeling --- She first tried a hand at pageantry; after winning Miss Universal Youth and Miss Liberia Ohio, she decided pageantry bordered her-it was too tailored and didn’t allowed much creativity. Modeling became her new passion in life---staring in her college annual fashion shows to walking numerous of international runways including New York and Milan and being featured in major ad campaigns.