Imane Ayissi Just Launched His Fall 2020 Collection. Here’s What We Think About it

Imane Ayissi is an eponymous haute couture fashion brand that blends craftsmanship with traditional materials, and well-thought-out cuts and designs to create the ideal African wardrobe for males and females. Owned by Cameroonian, Imane Ayissi, the haute couture brand specializes in bespoke and luxury ready-to-wear outfits made with sustainable materials while emanating elegance.

Imane Ayissi, the fashion designer, always loved fashion from a young age and working as a model for top brands like Dior, Givenchy, and many more exposed him to the vast world of fashion. Imane Ayissi gained global recognition when he became the first black African designer to showcase his clothes on the prestigious Paris Haute Couture catwalk stage. 

He recently launched his Fall 2020 Collection, Amal Si, and here’s what we think about it.

Collection Story

Imane Ayissi being an African designer who has experienced the waste and scrap materials that came from using fabrics in designing, decided to create this collection entirely from scrap materials from previous collections.

The thought of using scrap materials for the Amal Si collection, which translates to “the great misfortune that befalls the earth” in the Ewondo language of Cameroon, arose when the designer couldn’t source his regular fabrics from other countries, as a result of the global pandemic. Through this collection, the designer buttressed the fact that waste materials which were indeed destined for the garbage can be designed into unique pieces. And just like Imane Ayissi added,

“What is the point of fashion when we only talk about essential activities? Why create additional clothing when stores are closed and overflowing with stocks of unsold clothes? Isn’t fashion directly responsible for the degradation of the world through its negative impact on the environment?” 

Design Creativity

This collection, which was designed mainly for women, consists of high-low dresses, two pieces, wide-leg pants, and many more, all made through handmade assembly to showcase the impeccable craftsmanship of the collection.

With fabrics ranging from tie and dye to tulle and pebble-shaped fabric fragments, which occur naturally in the form of patchwork, this collection was able to successfully convey the elegance and diversity in African fashion.

Uniqueness 

As part of Imane Ayissi’s stand in the fight against wastage of scrap materials, all further designs from this collection would be made differently.

What does this mean?

Since the outfits in this collection were made from scrap materials, which are not abundant in the same fabric, all other pieces will be sold in other fabrics depending on the volume of the fabric waste available. And just like Imane Ayissi said, “it is to reaffirm the need for creativity and to always re-enchant reality, despite or because of the difficulties.”

Despite the pandemic, many fashion designers have been able to leverage this resources into something useful, just like the Ghanaian textile industry producing coronavirus themed textiles for sale, and Hanifa Mvuemba delivering the first digital runway show using 3D models.

In that regard also, fashion brand owners can utilize their waste materials into something useful. Click here to check out what some designers use their waste fabrics for.