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Today, East Africa has a number of modeling agencies, providing female and male models for all kinds of creative commercial work ranging from fashion shows. to video shootings
It all started in 1973 when Alan Donovan's Nairobi Intercontinental Hotel commissioned African Heritage, the fashion house, to produce a monthly show with models, musicians, dancers and musicians. Kenyan acrobatic troops.
The Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife also supported this idea. Last year, Donovan had produced two pioneering shows dubbed Pan African Festivals, one at the Nairobi Hilton
He had traveled to Madagascar and Nigeria to get hold of works of art, crafts, textiles, jewelery and artifacts for these shows, and even allowed the Miss Madagascar and the Malagasy folk troupe and contemporary artists from Nigeria to travel to Nairobi to present their creative works of the countries . The festivals were a success
Coincidentally, Miss World, former Miss India Persis Khambatta, was in Nairobi filming with American actor Sidney Poitier
. The famous Hollywood actor Michael Caine was the guest of honor.
So when the Intercontinental Hotel came to call, Donovan was only too happy to accept it. He worked with Sherri Hunt of Studio Arts & # 39; 68 and a team of African models, fabrics and African Heritage Jewelery to stage
The Beginning
Prior to this groundbreaking event, most of the parades fashion in Nairobi featured Indian models in silk sarees or European models in models of European clothing shops
At the Intercontinental show, many viewers had never seen African models as the stars of A fashion show.
a young and slender badistant storekeeper at Studio Arts & # 39; 68, who was among the first African models in Nairobi.
Former Kenyan President, Mwai Kibaki, then Minister of Finance, was the guest of honor
. After the success of the show, the Intercontinental Hotel asked Donovan to extend the festival to a monthly event.
He said that it would take him at least a year to produce a similar extravagance; The hotel has accepted its conditions and black African heritage are born
It just turned out that it was about the same time as Irene Mugambi, the first model Kenyan to work abroad (in the UK), had returned to Kenya.
Large and sculptural, Donovan chose to lead his team of eight female models
Mugambi debuted on the roof of the Castle at the Intercontinental Hotel in 1973 in an unforgettable show that featured African hand-woven textiles and authentic African costumes from all over the continent
The show was made even more spectacular by the use of 18 drummers announcing the entry of each model, each escorted by a large male model wearing high cameroon feather headdresses
Later, Mugambi accompanied Donovan to New York to produce Kenya in Fashion, a show with all Kenyan designs at the Lincoln Center. The United States Ambbadador to the United Nations Andrew Young was the guest of honor
African Heritage quickly became the only company in Nairobi through which aspiring models could travel to the United States. foreign and obtain international recognition
. go to fashion house not only in the region but also on the mainland and Donovan was now looking not only to present African creative art and fashion, but also beautiful models for parades around the world [19659022] woman working at a travel agency in Nairobi.
"Her sister brought her to me," Donovan remembers. He glanced at the gorgeous young woman who oozed a mixture of naive sensuality and innocence, and the rest belonged to the story. His name was Iman.
Iman only modeled for African heritage once in Kenya, during the third African Heritage Night held in 1975 at Masai Lodge in Nairobi National Park
Among them was Kenyan photographer Mirella Riccardi, who had just produced the pioneering book Vanishing Africa, one of the first books featuring the natural grace and balance of women of northern Kenya. . [19659029] But it's the mundane photographer Peter Beard who took the awesome photos of Iman wearing African heritage jewels in front of a plain background
Beard knew a gem when he was saw one, and he flew to the US agencies in New York. These are the photos that they were waiting for.
The Fairy Tale
Donovan had meanwhile staged a show in Hollywood and had given plane tickets to Iman to meet him there for a show on Wilshire Boulevard that would be honored with the presence the first black mayor of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley, as a guest of honor.
Iman did not show up because until the minute she set foot in New York, she was taken away and dined with the likes of the great lady of Vogue fashion, Diana Vreeland.
Iman had to give up the robes and African heritage jewelry that Donovan had given her for the show in Hollywood and that she had featured in events in New York, but not before they were declared "African chic" by American fashion writers.
The arrival of Iman in New York was unprecedented. She soon appeared in all major magazines, including Time and Newsweek
. The modeling agency Wilhelmina was the first to contract Iman, who had photographed famous fashion photographers to film her. It was at the time of "model wars" in the New York fashion industry, with big agencies like Ford and Wilhelmina arguing over the same top models
But this was the advent of the Capuchin "Don Juan" John Casablanca in 1977 He founded Elite Models in Paris in 1972 and when he moved to New York, he focused only on "supermodels" like Christie Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Iman, all He earned over $ 2,000 a day and became a celebrity himself.
Iman started at the top and quickly became a legend. Some design houses would not even think of participating in a show without Iman and her "high priestess" aura.
He was given the best dresses and the audience waited impatiently to get on the podium.
Iman later had a storybook wedding when she married British rocker David Bowie. Of the few black models at the top, only the British model Naomi Campbell, also an ex-elite model, had the power of Iman.
Iman's success as a protected African heritage led to a rush to African models and soon the main model Gaudentia Aura was chosen by the Unilever household care company to be the first African face to appear on the packaging of Lux Beauty soap and on and on billboards in Africa.
For a while, Aura had everything She was also pilot and hostess for Scandinavian Airlines, singer and dancer. She also had a quick wit, making it sad that she could not handle the seduction of glamor and the temptations of high life. She lost the contract Lux
New Generation
Nearly a decade later, another young Kenyan Somali model followed in Iman 's footsteps.
Khadija came out of an African Heritage Night in 1984 to become the first African lead model. French couturier Yves St Laurent.
He called her "Queen of Africa".
Once again, it was Khadija's photographs of Beard who persuaded Yves St Laurent to contract the Miss Africa of Kenya as a model. During the night, Khadija became a model, and remained in this glorified coterie for several years.
For a time, a beautiful young model from Mali, Fayel Tall, took over as an African heritage model. She was also photographed by Beard and was soon sought after by some of the world's most famous photographers.
Meanwhile, Donovan was looking for a new head model, and he found a young hairdresser at Danniel's Hair Studio on University. Way to Nairobi
The striking young woman was Emma Too. Too became the next model for African Heritage, and was selected from 100 models to be Miss Nairobi Centennial with Gladys Sakaja and Bidanya Barbada as finalists. She starred in the African Renaissance Shows in South Africa (a four-hour show for the first Telcoms conference in Africa), with a troupe of 30 African Heritage
Too later became the face of the Africa from East Africa is contract with Elite Models in the United States.
The Millenium
Beard photographed two other women, the versatile Joy Mboya and Catherine Karl, the longest reigning model of African heritage.
Catherine led the African Heritage Festivals around the world for 13 years, appearing with the famed muscular Kenyan Mickey Ragos, who was also the longest Mr. Ken Kenya. Ragos set the precedent for the Nairobi fashion shows, which featured muscular and muscular men. His son also later became Mr. Kenya.
The latest African Heritage head model was an astonishing young Ethiopian woman, Epiphany. She succeeded Catherine Karl for the Millenium shows in 23 hotels on the Kenyan coast.
The latest model to want to join the supermodel is Ajuma, a young model from Turkana who was with Sura Zuri, a modeling agency based in Kenya and worked for Ford and other agencies in the United States. ;foreign.
Although she never appeared in an African heritage show, she did a photo shoot with Donovan and photographer Beatty during which Donovan gave him his first pair of ear rings. traditional
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