Religion Vs. African Fashion – Niger Designer Alphadi Rises Above All & Goes Global

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Fashion is always in a state of alteration as trends tend to die down and vary overtime. This is what makes the industry a stable investment as it is continuous. Fashion may mean a physical indication of beauty, elegance, and wealth or a good business opportunity and a seemingly fun job to work for, but for African designer Alphadi, fashion wasn’t so fun.

Alphadi was born Seidnaly Sidhamed in Mali and is from a wealthy family. Living in a highly-conservative Muslim society, young Alphadi who had an eye for fashion experienced rejection and distaste from family and relatives (AFP News, 2011).

Despite these setbacks, the designer was able to put up his own clothing line at such an early age and was able to change the way people look at Africa through his art.

He has since then been able to open up his own chains of stores located in different parts of Africa, Europe and the United States. He has also had a series of fashion shows for the past three decades and has worked with renowned European designers.

African fashion of Alphadi’s has been met with judgmental and even violent reactions from fellow Muslims. Last 2011, a day before his much awaited International Festival of African Fashion, one of his major fashion studio mysteriously caught fire.

He has also experienced having his shop vandalized with its windows shattered and receiving death threats for the way he makes clothing wear for women (AFP News, 2011). Despite this, the “Magician of the Desert” has never stopped believing that his efforts in making African fashion a growing trend in the fashion industry, and with his recent expansion, he has.

The Alphadi collection are all inspired by Africa’s diverse cultures and landscape in the form of different apparels like gowns, tops, jeans, sportswear, bags, shoes, jewelries, and many more. Alphadi is also into African traditional handicrafts and interior design. He has earned international fame in a variety of fashion shows which has earned him several remarkable awards and praise from other lead designers in the fashion industry. His fashion art style is more of a combination of African and Western couture which gives his line a unique and exotic look.

Despite the strict culture Alphadi still made history in Niger (Read Here). It was only a few months ago Alphadi’s advertised his first exhibition/showcase in New York. Now he is currently on almost every headlining fashion blog/site. Now the Magician of the Desert, as he is nicknamed due to the landscape of Niger, is making waves for African fashion also in the USA. View the shoot of his latest collection below.

Magician of the desert-Alphadi shoot from sain-city on Vimeo.

Text Extracts: streamafrica.com