Cameroon Fashion Designer Kibonen NY Inspires The World At The Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Africa 2014 In South Africa

Thousands of fashion industry icons and local and international media are in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, for the fifth annual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Africa (MBFWAfrica), that kickedoff this week, (from 29^th October to 1^st November)  to celebrate not only Africa’s newfound identity as a trend-setting continent, but one with a clothing and textile industry now able to rival any in the world.Over 30 of Africa’s foremost established and emerging designers are  showcasing  at the MBFWAfrica including Cameroon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, Tanzania, Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Cameroon was represented by renowned label, Kibonen who showcased a string of exciting collections of her brand new 2014 designer set.Kibonen Nfi is the brain behind the brand KibonenǀNY.  As a designer, she is inspired by traditional Cameroonian garments, West African fabric and New York’s vibrant fashion scene.  Over five years ago she busted into the fashion scene with the never before seen ingenious idea of contemporizing one of the most delicate and intricate hand woven traditional garments of Cameroon western highlands region, the toghu. She started out as one of the co-founders of KiRette Couture, which established her as a force to be reckoned with in the Cameroonian and West African fashion industry. In the fall of 2011, Kibonen decided to take her ideas to a higher level under the company name KibonenǀNY, hence, materializing her aesthetic vision by creating pieces that don’t only represent a Cameroonian tribe, but garments wearable and appreciated by the ultramodern West African Afropolitan. Kibonen is a certified image consultant, and earned a Continuing Education Diploma in International Trade and Marketing at the Fashion Institute of Technology, a career path her father still struggles to comprehend. A serious career in Fashion is unfathomable in Cameroon, but this ideology is gradually changing thanks to pioneers like Kibonen, who have take upon themselves to cultivate and mature this untapped industry.