2020-04-01 Forbes Africa

APRIL 2020 FORBES AFRICA| 53

FORBESAFRICA

CONTRARIAN• FASHION

FORBESAFRICA.COM

Photo by Osborne Macharia; Photos by Brian Siambi; Photo by Fionn McCann

A

SLEEK

saffron

kaftanover

Pollock-

spattered

silktrousers;

theobsidianfinsofa night-

blackeveningdress;a sashed,

punky,persimmonhoodyfrom

thefuturestreetsofNairobi.

Thesearetheirresistible

storiesinKenyandesigner

KatunguluMwendwa’s

startlingKATUSHfashion

brandlabel.

Thechildofa psychologist

andanarchitect,Mwendwa

grewupina nurturingcreative

environmentthatintroduced

hertoaneclecticskillsetof

creativetools.

“Mydadusedtotakeus

toworkwithhim,”shesays.

“Wewouldactuallydraft

a lot,asanexperiment.In

fashion,youhavetocreatethe

pattern,themasterbloc,and

it requiresa levelofgeometry

todevelop.Withthehuman

form,youhavetoremove

suppressionatdifferent

angles,tocreatevolumesand

shapes.Soworkingwithmy

daddefinitelymadememore

confidentinthat.Hedidwant

metobeanarchitect.Sonow

I’mlike,‘look!I’manarchitect

forclothing!’”

Emboldenedbyher

triumphintherealityTV

contestCatwalkKenyain

2007,Mwendwapursued

herbachelor’sdegreeatthe

UniversityfortheCreative

ArtsinRochester,United

Kingdom.

“By the time I graduated, I

“Wearealleveryday

superheroes,”says

KatunguluMwendwa

(picturedonopeningpage);

modelsfeaturepiecesfrom her

collection(this page)