Bonjour! I hope you’ve been good. I have been amazing. Busy, but always looking forward to talking to you. I have been working on my makeup skills and organizing my beauty workshop that’s happening this weekend. I realized that makeup application is not as easy as some people make it look. It takes time to learn the art of perfect contouring, eye shadow application and even blending in the foundation and concealer. I do not want you walking around looking like you fell with your face on a makeup palette and that’s why I organized the event. If you want to be part of the next workshop kindly email me on fashionforensica@gmail.com

Camera! Lights! Action! The August, red carpet season has started. To kick us off this week, is the Kenya Fashion Awards. The Kenya Fashion Awards was held last weekend. I was invited by Zuku , the sole carrier of the Fashion One TV Station, to be their fashion influencer at the event. This television station is a 24-hour fashion station and at the same time a big platform for professionals in the fashion industry. A fashion influencer is a person who exerts some influence in the fashion industry and can give a company some exposure. I am grateful for the opportunity and glad that I was considered. Fashion events are the perfect place to get inspiration as well as new collaboration projects.

Getting ready for the event was very challenging. Ladies, you know how hard it is to make up our minds when there is so much pressure to look good. The hair has to be done, nails polished, shoes well-coordinated and the dress has to make you look heavenly. To make it worse, Citizen TV’s fashion watch team was going to cover the red carpet and hence I did not want to show up looking like I did not put any effort into my outfit. I have always wanted to collaborate with Afrostreet Kollection and I have written about heron my blog before so making a choice to call her was very easy. I contacted Yvonne Odhiambo, the designer at Afrostreet Kollektion on the Thursday before the event. Sometimes, I am a last minute kind of girl which is good because the feeling overwhelms me and makes me work better. She was amazing enough to prepare an outfit for me on short notice. The end product was mind blowing and the perfect was just perfect.

During the event, student designers showcased their brilliant pieces and introduced the world to the talent. The brands of the designers showcasing all had different twist to them. My favorite collection was by Elise Adan of Tullia. Her black and white pieces and the pop of color was enough to crown her the most interactive designer at the show. I also loved Mohammed Bana’s presentation of his collection. Real Letoya Johnson started it off with a well-choreographed dance routine, introducing the well-toned men in Bana Underwear. It was very entertaining and at the same time unique. I also liked the detailing on a dress by Patricia Mbela. What really struck me about this piece was the amount of workmanship that went into creating it.

I love the direction fashion designers are taking and the kind of hard work they put into preparing their collections. I hope to see more and more designers come up with entertaining ways of presenting their collections, whilst using the lineup of the collection to tell a tell a story. I also want to congratulate Neha shah, a photographer I worked with on a few projects, for being awarded, Best New Photographer.

Have a lovely weekend . See you soon.

Love,  Reina Kimeu.