Fashion beyond the runway

Sally Karago, 47, is a seasoned fashion designer, consultant and the managing director of Mcensal Fashion House. She spoke to NJOKI CHEGE about her journey in the world of fashion

Her passion for fashion was cultivated at a tender age, when she was 12 years old. Sally nostalgically recalls the days when she had a neighbour who used to attend the only school of design then — Evelyn College of Design.

“She would carry this huge portfolio and long rulers. I liked how she designed different outfits. Soon I became interested in fashion,” Sally recalls.

When the young Sally was not creating little outfits for her dolls, she was dressing the family puppy. Before she knew it, people around her were asking for her opinion in choosing outfits.

From then on, her fate was sealed, and it was only a matter of when, not if she would join the world of fashion.

“After high school, I begged my father to let me attend Evelyn College of Design. He allowed me to enrol for a course because he saw the passion in me,” says Sally.

Creative mind

She attended Evelyn School of Design and graduated with a Diploma in Fashion Design and Garment Making  in 1986. The next year Sally began her Bachelors of Applied Arts in Fashion Design and Merchandising from the American College in London, which she completed in 1991.

“When I left Kenya in 1987, I was good in stitching and making garments.  But when I went to Europe, I was introduced to a whole new world. I was taught how to be creative and design garments from scratch,” Sally reveals.

She spent the next five years in Europe, learning from the best and gaining valuable experience working at different shops and boutiques all over London. In 1992, Sally packed her bags and headed back home. Again, she had to start from zero.

She says: “Here I was, a fashion designer with a degree but in those days, there were no jobs for such! I didn’t know what to do, let alone where to start.”

She was challenged to start her own business — Mcensal Fashion House — and for a while, her family were her only clients. But her biggest challenge was financial, at a time when credit facilities did not come easy.

Fortunately, she did not despair as her first major break was around the corner.

“It was 1993 when I decided to try my luck in the Smirnoff Awards Kenya. I got the first prize in the professional category. The prize money was Sh80,000,” she says.

Still Sally could not raise enough money to buy sewing machines to kick-start her business.

“So I went to Nairobi’s River Road and met this Indian merchant who dealt with second hand sewing machines. He gave me four machines on condition that I wrote him post-dated cheques spread out through the year,” she recalls.

Breakthrough

Those four machines were enough to set the ball rolling, and there was no turning back. From then on, it was one glory after the other.

Come 1996, Mnet, a South African company, was searching for a gifted and creative fashion designer to come up with unique designs for the Face of Africa competition. This was her opportunity to break out of the pack and make a statement internationally.

Sally showcased and impressed the audience with her porcupine quills evening collection. She was also selected to represent East Africa as a judge in the competition.

Another hallmark year for her was in 2002, when she championed a collection dubbed ‘Made in Kenya by a Kenyan’ where she debuted the Maasai blanket and Kikoi fabric into fashion. Both local and international media went abuzz with this collection.

“I think the collection revolutionalised the Maasai blanket and Kikoi,” says Sally.

Afterwards, Sally took a long sabbatical for some soul-searching.

She says: “It was at that time that the idea of a fashion school was planted in me. I discovered a missing gap — teaching people the process of becoming a fashion designer. I wanted to teach that to transform an entire generation.”

In 2009, Mcensal Fashion School was born and today, the school takes about ten gifted fashion students annually for a three-year course in fashion design. Sally’s purpose is not only to teach students how to be fashion designers, but also market themselves and make a career out of the lonely profession.

“For a long time in Africa, fashion was not considered as a career or a profession. This is in spite of the fact that in the West, fashion is a respected career and fashion designers substantially contribute to the national revenue,” she notes.

But as she confirms, fashion has evolved over the years and is slowly gaining momentum.  She notes excitedly that today’s youth are artistic and creative.

Safari fashion week

In 2009, Sally and several other Kenyan fashion designers came together and formed the Association of Fashion Designers Kenya to address pertinent issues affecting Kenyan fashion designers.

The association was registered in 2010 and now has about 35 active members. Unlike the popular assumption that fashion is limited to a show, the association is determined to banish this belief through the Safari Fashion Week.

“We looked around and saw the different fashion shows taking place around the country, and we were challenged to have a different kind of show. This is why the fashion week was christened the ‘Safari Fashion Week’,” she notes.

The fashion week, which debuted last year, seeks to give a rare platform to young talented fashion designers to showcase their unique designs. 

“I have met designers internationally and they tell me Africa is their last frontier. All eyes are on Africa. We have rich culture and traditions. We have great, untapped potential and we have to take our position,” Sally says.

In preparation for the Safari Fashion Week, which will be held this Wednesday November 14 at Carnivore, the young fashion designers have been exposed to different fashion workshops in Ethiopia and London.