INGENIOUS DESIGNING AT ITS BEST! #TRASHION 2013

If you live in Harare, then you most definitely live with the constant irritation of having to see trash everywhere all the time. Now in an effort to raise awareness about recycling and keeping the environment clean, the Proudly Zimbabwean Foundation held a fashion show dubbed Trashion this last Friday at the Harare International School. Why Trashion? Because it was all about fashion made from trash.

To be honest, at first I was quite skeptical about this whole thing. Wasn’t too sure how great clothes could be made from trash? And what do you know, I was in for a rude awakening! The show started a little late but we didn’t mind at all because we had refreshments being served on the house! (Now who ever minds in a situation like that?J).

So as we were mixing, mingling and enjoying the food, there were models showcasing clothes from Edgars right in the foyer were we were. I could tell everybody was intrigued, because I was! It was so out of the blue, it almost felt like Mobbed, because from nowhere models suddenly appeared, posing and looking serious. Almost expected to see Howie Mendel appearing from nowhere too.

The show finally began, and Derrick Mpofu did his Chisikana Changu Zimbabwe piece, and to say it was beautiful would just be an understatement! The lyrics of the song itself are pure heaven and the singing was just mesmerizing. Yeah, he had that effect. We didn’t catch the presenter’s name; probably because we were too busy enjoying his American accent, lol.

There were quite a number of designers having their clothes showcased and I have never seen such artistry, especially in this country. They made their clothes from such trash items as newspapers, magazines, sacks, tissues, plastic, plastic bottles, paper and a whole lot of other “useless material”. But the collections they managed to come up with were just phenomenal! Mufaro was the crowd favourite and with good reason too. Her collection was a fusion of cloth and such random pieces as refuse bags, dyed sacks, newspapers and pieces of compact discs!

Even the Proudly Zim Foundation chairperson was thoroughly impressed because he promptly donated US$5 000 for Trashion to be repeated. If that isn’t awesome I don’t know what is. Trashion showed evidence of amazing creativity, not just in the designers’ collections but also in the organising.

Kudos to Proudly Zimbabwean Foundation for bringing a fashion show that is not only a first of its kind in the country but something that raises awareness in a creative, classy and interesting way.