young Kenyan golden fashion designer in New York

Katungulu Mwendwa knew she wanted to be a fashion designer since she took the scissors to his mother's closet. "I think I made her wedding gown," said the 24-year-old from Nairobi, recalls his childhood. "I'm not sure she was very happy there - but here I am in New York, they can not complain." In a groundbreaking career Mwendwa had invited the only African, Gen Art Fresh Faces in Fashion Showcase for emerging designers during Fashion Week in New York to join recently. In its 14 years, the event as a springboard for the likes of Zac Posen, Phillip Lim, Rodarte sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy and - and Mwendwa is no less ambitious. She brought in New York, a capsule collection of 10 outfits inspired by light fluid silhouettes and generous neck part of the Tuareg nomads in the desert of North Africa. "It will be in New York was a little odd," she told AFP before heading home to Nairobi, where they are hard at work on her own label. "It was a learning experience." It was his first time in the fashion capital of North America, and agree to wear a puffy own customized oversized T-shirts with a scarf, silver bracelets and pendant style 'Kenyan tribal tube. Getting Started Mwendwa fashion came in 2007 when, shortly after high school, she "Catwalk Kenya", entered a design competition reality TV, and she surprised herself. "In fact, I won the competition against other people (university) degree," she said. "It was weird and scary." She continued to appear in the show "Idols East Africa" ??talent, then went to the University of Creative Arts in the south of England for three years to improve his design skills. Back to Kenya with a bachelor's degree, she spent three months Lalesso, ethical fashion brand launched by expatriate entrepreneurs Olivia Kennaway and Alice Heusser. "Sure, I remember Katungulu. It was an absolute pleasure, as part of the team," he told AFP by email Kennaway, praised his "enthusiasm and talent for fashion." From there Mwendwa opened his own - and won another competition. It was a Gen Art event for local designers, they only heard yesterday. Fortunately, she had just finished his last collection, and when. No time to panic, it was a feeling of déjà vu "I think I was the least experienced designers there, and also the youngest," she said. "It was scary, because they (the other participants) were well organized, they have a whole team, and I was myself." "The event was presented seven emerging designers in Kenya," said Jenna Duncalf, which monitors the Gen Art fashion. "It was an incredible experience that we would like to continue in the future." Mwendwa still feels as if she was flying solo. To find skilled workers in the garment industry in Kenya is difficult, for example, when Mwendwa often sit at the sewing machine itself on the design and marketing tasks. For a designer who is both young and female "trying to think of the people you want to work with you, it's a bit difficult," she said. But she made her way: take traditional stores and online in Kenya on his creations. Back and the first month in Nairobi, they had a lot more requests for her work, she said in an e-mail. She is also busy researching his next collection and preparation of a mode and Music Without Borders Festival, the talent from across Africa to the city of Kenya Diani Beach in December.