Imane Ayissi inaugurates Paris Haute Couture Week celebrating the African textile experience

Imane Ayissi opened Paris Haute Couture Week on Monday with her warm style filled with vibrant colors and shimmering fabrics. Among the guests at the show, sitting in the front row was former French footballer Lilian Thuram, winner of the World Cup in 1998. As usual, Ayissi, born in Cameroon, highlighted Africa's rich textile and craft heritage, skillfully combining glamorous outfits and everyday items.

Ayissi prepared a high-energy color mix, with a palette that includes red, fuchsia pink, orange, rust and turquoise. She used shantung, light silk, silk crepe and shiny cotton to create sheath dresses, long draped dresses with trains and more fluid dresses, expertly weaving different strips of fabric. But she also presented a range of elegant pants, tops and blouses, easy to wear and combine with everyday clothes.

The collection included patchwork coats made of Kenté, a fabric from Ghana hand-woven using an ancient technique, and others made with thin strips of Faso Dan Fani, a traditional fabric from Burkina Faso. “I have been doing a lot of research on African fabrics, but it is difficult. We have an incredible textile heritage that Africans themselves are unfortunately unaware of, as they have favored wax-printed fabrics to the detriment of genuinely artisanal ones, whose manufacturing techniques have practically disappeared,” Ayissi told FashionNetwork.com.

“I am trying to recover and preserve this heritage, in particular using [such fabrics] in my collections. “I am organizing master classes to train the younger generations in Africa,” she added. Ayissi also uses the self-healing bark of the obom tree, which he transforms into a leather-like material. She uses it to make corsets and flowers that she then attaches to some of her clothes, like the wedding dress included in the Spring/Summer 2024 collection.

The tassels that adorn many dresses and coats were made from raffia. “We bought [raffia] raw, then we cut it, process it and paint it, updating it,” said Ayissi, who has lived in Paris since 1993. She has presented her collections during haute couture week since 2010, and in 2020 she joined the week's official committee. He calendar as a guest member, becoming the first designer from sub-Saharan Africa to break into this very restricted and exclusive circle.

Ayissi's birthplace is Cameroon. His father was a boxer and his mother a model and he began his career as a ballet dancer, becoming a member of the Cameroon National Ballet. He then moved on to modeling and eventually returned to his childhood passion for tailoring, which he taught himself. He later launched his own brand, catering to a clientele in Paris, Africa and the United States.

“The golden age of haute couture has passed. After the invasion of Iraq in 2003, everything changed. Not to mention the crises of recent years. Everything has become very complicated. To keep my brand in business, I am forced to diversify, for example by making limited edition ready-to-wear in very small production runs and accessories,” Ayissi said.

Among their latest creations, the 'feather cloud' earrings presented at the fair and which will probably become a success. They consist of a thin, almost transparent chain, whose length can be modified, with flower-shaped fabric petals attached to one end. The same floral cloud is used as a brooch pinned to the shoulder or chest, elevating the look.