The Katungulu Mwendwa brand is about answering “what makes you Kenyan?” In answering this question, she went back to older African cultures imagining how it would look like today in terms of architecture and clothes particularly had there been no interruption. Using this source of inspiration she seeks to answer that particular question in her collections.
“What we have seen is a fashion phase of being Africa. It’s in. They have chosen to limit the interpretation to what being African means to a single type of material.” By virtue of using western style cuts on African material is a contradiction in itself. She does not want to be limited to this school of thought and seeks to expand the interpretation of what being African and particularly being Kenyan means.
More on our interview with Katungulu Mwendwa next week. Until then, enjoy meeting her in this video.
