At the first-ever Ghana Fashion and Design Week this fall, catwalk spectators can expect to see styles that accentuate the hips and shoulders, said the event’s spokesperson, Ivy Prosper.
“At the moment the popular styles that I have seen have a lot to do with emphasizing the hips and the shoulders - jumpers that emphasize the hips,” said Prosper. “They’ll be gathered on the hip area, or have extra pocket detailing that juts out to make it look like your hips are bigger than they actually are. Here people appreciate a woman’s hips, and the thickness of her hip area is considered to be nice.”
Prosper added that event organizers were inspired to create the event after both the rising successes of fashion weeks in Nigeria and South Africa as well as the fact that “countries within the continent are developing among industries like diamonds, gold, agriculture. Not only that, but the creativity of the people within the continent is also evolving.”
This month’s Italian edition of men’s Vogue, L’Uomo Vogue, published an Africa issue, and Prosper commented on some of the criticisms that arose (such as the choice to picture United Nations Chief Ban ki-Moon the cover, instead of an African): “I think that there’s always going to be negative and positive for anything that’s put out there,” she said. “You’re not going to be able to show everything in one publication, unfortunately, because it is something that is diverse. Within [Ghana] and within this continent, there are so many different ways of fashion being shown.”
Ghana Fashion and Design Week will take place in the capital Accra October 5 through 7.