The entertainment industry in Cameroon is growing at an alarming rate.
Young creative minds spend sleepless nights working towards developing every single sector.
Fashion is proving to be one of the fastest growing sectors of the industry.
Why??Cameroonians by nature are very conscious what the put on and considering the cultural diversity, Cameroonian designers have no limitations to their creativity.
They are grabbing the bull by the horn and as a result, beating world standards.
Lately, there has been a lot of talks about an upcoming fashion event called the Buea Fashion Week.
Anticipations are growing higher as the day draws near and everyone is talking about it so I couldn’t help but ask myself what the Buea Fashion Week is all about.
So I caught up with Reneta Ndisang, one of Kamer’s finest disigners, Founder of Mareta West Designs who also happens to be the brain behind the Buea Fashion Week.
This is what I was able to dig out of her brain...
K’Link: What is BFW and what is it all about?
Reneta: BFW is Buea Fashion Week. Buea fashion week, is the come together of designers from in and out of Cameroon, to showcase their various collection.
For now it’s the first edition and we have about 20 designers who will be on the runway.
Also not only designers are to be seen, but our beautiful models as well and our photographers
It’s also a three days event for the first edition starting from the 12-14 of May.
With different designers showcasing each day. We also have a green carpet not red carpet, where our audiences will show their style with pictures.
Three days of fashion, three days of glitz and glamour.
K’Link : When was the idea initiated and who put it all together?
Reneta : The idea was initiated long ago and late last year 2015, I decided to start putting things together for the show, and some companies like publicity and design company Douala, Buea shopping mall, Niki heats and Nuvi helped me to make it come true.
Even media houses like glow monat, Betatinz, Tkay’s Bridal, and many more are helping to make the event a dream come true.
K’Link: What inspired you to come up with an event like this and what objectives do you wish to achieve?
Reneta : First I was inspired by a competition I did online Crowd Fashion Challenge, it had a modelling section and I saw the winner was a Nigerian model, despite the fact that models came from every part of the world.
So I was thinking why can’t a Cameroonian model win such? Also, seeing other models from Africa gracing big spots in fashion weeks, magazines and we barely see Cameroon in such, so promoting this models through fashion events like this will help.
Then the fashion industry is growing but we have just few shows to promote this creative designers. This is an opportunity for Cameroon to be put on the fashion map
K’Link : How will the designers and the public benefit from the event?
Reneta: My objectives is promote the models, encourage younger generation to be more creative and come up with things like stylist, fashion editorial magazines etc.
Designers will get more exposure out there, because Media houses and bloggers are involved, they will get more clients.
The public is going to learn to accept buying and consuming our home made products, also it will help boost the entertainment industry
K’Link : What is the bigger picture or what milestone do you intend to attain with this event?
Reneta: My biggest picture is to see Cameroon on that world fashion map. We have great designers but we are just known here, I want them to be known.
Same goes to the models, I want to see models from here gracing bigger runways like Kathy Mingele, Njotu Denzel are doing.
We need more of them see Valerie Ayena, representing Cameroon. So we all have to be hard working.
K’Link : What special or unique thing should we expect from this edition of BFW?
Reneta: For now, I can’t tell, I leave that to the public. But out tickets are very cheap 10000 FRS for three days and 20000 FRS for VIP and also for three days and it comes with gift bags from designers.
K’Link: putting together an event like this must be very challenging... what difficulties are you facing right now?
Reneta: Getting sponsors is difficult, time management, which is something we are trying to work on.
K’Link: Thank you so much Reneta Ndisang for finding time to talk to us.
Wish you the best as you finalize arrangements for this historical event.
I wouldn’t miss the Buea Fashion Week for anything in the world.