Arts Review

Written by: Tiisetso Tlelima
Pictures credit: Greg Aubourg, Zambia

It’s only been 10 months since the Afro-chic fashion label, Kutowa Designs was founded but their striking designs are already making waves on the streets of Zambia and amongst the Zambian diaspora. Kutowa fuses European and traditional African fabrics such as cotton stretch with chitenge collars, satin lining with chitenge or chiffon with chitenge trimmings, to come up with something fresh, elegant and modern. We chat to fashion designer, Towani Clarke, to find out more about the designs.

What does Kutowa mean?
“Kutowa in Tumbuka means to be so bright and beautiful that you dazzle. Kutowa is also the root of my name Towani. My maternal Tumbuka grandmother (Agogo in Tumbuka) gave me the name in response to initial resistance on both my paternal English (European) side and my maternal Zambian (African) side to my parents’ mixed marriage. Many said, “What about the children? How will they fit in? How will they be?” Agogo’s response was “They will be bright. They will be beautiful” – hence the name “Towani”

How did the designs come about?
“They came about as part of my personal style, an expression of who I am – half European, half African living in a predominately urban setting in Africa. I fuse western and African fabrics in my designs because this represents who I am and the world that I live in. And I believe in this hybrid world beauty can be found.”
What kind of person do you envision wearing your designs?
“Dynamic, forward-thinking people who are feeling the African Renaissance wave. People who are modern but value and want to reflect their roots.”

Tell us more about yourself. Where did you grow up and what did you study?
“I was born in Lusaka, Zambia. I went to school in Lusaka. I studied agriculture at the University of Zambia although I wanted to do architecture. I think that decision was based on a culmination of bad career teachers, closure of the university teaching architecture and fear of failing in what I wanted to do. I worked in the agriculture sector for almost 10 years before doing an MBA at UCT in 2002. Thereafter, I did agriculture and business consulting work and I ended up as an Operations Manager for a leading corporate law firm for 4 years. I loved the job and the people, but I could not face signing on another contract in the same position and job - not being a lawyer I had hit the glass ceiling so I opted to finally start following my entrepreneurial spirit and dreams.”

So how did you get into fashion design?
“I started by trying to create outfits from the pieces of amazing fabric my mother tended to gift to us daughters from her travels around the globe as a women’s rights activist.”

Your mother is a women’s rights activist? How does she feel about your career choice?
“My mum is one of my customers! I live by her values of equality of women in my life. I probably get much of my fashion style from my mum with her love of African fabrics, scarves, and chunky African accessories. My parents have always supported what we have wanted to do - so fashion no different.”

What do you do when you’re not designing clothes?
“I have started a parallel yoga business where I teach yoga from Monday to Friday. Then the rest of my time is split between fashion design school, designing and working on orders. I find that yoga helps bring out my creativity and relaxes me to do Kutowa work. I guess now I understand why so many creative people do yoga. I’ve been an SGI Buddhist for ages and get many ideas when I’m chanting and meditating.”

What’s your take on African fashion?
“I think it is yet to take the world by storm, but it will because it has so much to offer in terms of richness of colour, pattern and design coming from the richness of the various cultures, tribes and their combinations added with the African take on Western culture.”

Tukowa Designs currently range from $60 to $100 for clothes and $6 to $50 for accessories.

For more info contact Towani Clarke on towanic@hotmail.com or visit Kutowa designs on Facebook