Mohalenyane Phakela
CLOTHING firm AllFlo Couture who are spearheading the upcoming Lesotho Fashion Affair, held a two-day model casting seminar at Barcelos, Maseru Mall this past week.
AllFlo Couture is a clothing line which uses the cultural Basotho blankets by Aranda as material for its outfits. Through the efforts of the creator and curator Bokang Ramoreboli, the brand has been showcased in New York City in the United States of America. It has also been showcased in Montreal, Canada, Guyana, Suriname Fashion Week, Southern African Fashion Show in Washington DC and the African Day parade among other events.
According to Ramoreboli, the US-based clothing line had partnered with another corporate entity — whose identity will be revealed when the paperwork has been finalized — for the casting which was also sponsored by Maseru Mall and Barcelos Restaurant.
Male and female models showed up to try their luck at the casting held on Tuesday and Wednesday, in a country which generally provides few opportunities for the profession. On the evidence of the much lower turnout at the event compared to their female counterparts, it appeared that male modeling has not yet caught on in the country.
According to Ramoreboli, the local modeling industry looks promising although the models require further training.
“There is still an intensive training programme that our models have to undergo as most cannot differentiate between fashion and ramp modeling which they often confuse with cat-walking for beauty pageants.
“We selected those that we believe are nearest to what we are looking for. That means we will not have much work to do in training them,” she said.
The Mafeteng-born designer also told Xpress People she has partnered with a corporate “giant” in preparation of the upcoming Lesotho Fashion Affair and the casting was in preparation of the pilot introduction to be done at the end of this month.
“We should have long started working on the Lesotho Fashion Affair but were stalled by the inability to solicit funds,” she said.
“However, since we partnered with a renowned company, much progress has been made hence we are now casting models who will start by modeling my brand, AllFlo Couture, at an event towards the end of the month.
The showcasing of the AllFlo designs is aimed at highlighting what to expect at the upcoming fashion affair and we hope it will go international in order to boost the country’s economy through tourism and trade.”
Ramoreboli said the intention was to turn the Lesotho Fashion Affair into a bi-annual event aimed at utilising fashion and art as a tool to create a platform for Lesotho’s artists to showcase their talents, while also exposing to the world, the undiscovered beauty of the country and its culture.
She said this would be achieved through the provision of a platform for designers to market themselves to a global audience and other potential buyers and creating a niche for fashion designers the world over where information and ideas can be shared.
She also said that the Lesotho Fashion Affair, which was set for February next year, could be deferred to a later date as there were outstanding issues to sort out with the Lesotho National Development Corporation.
Comments are closed.