OUR VERY OWN GLAMOURPUSS OF CANNES

You struck your pose and got en vogue with Mario Epanya’s post here on Dulce Camer last week.

Well, our fashion theme continues! As previously mentioned, we will be having fashion themed features to commemorate the upcoming fashion showcase at the Shoreditch Studios here in London hosted by Camer Couture.

Being the official blog partner of this event, DC will be having the scoop and gossip on all that is going on backstage so rest assured we will be handing out some treats ;-))

Today the fashion focus is onnnnnnnn…… OLIVIA ERVI
Enjoy reading y’all!

Cannes, the well known city in the southern French coast is renowned for its glitz, its glamour, the yachts, the playboys and glamorous girls, expensive fast cars as well as haute boutiques like Chanel, Gucci, Louis Vuitton. This is not the usual setting you have in mind when you think about a relationship with Cameroon but yes this once you can think again! The Cameroonian connection here is none other than the uber talented fashion diva Olivia Ervi.

From a very tender age, Olivia demonstrated interest in the fashion world and this was reinforced by how she used to spend her spare time cutting out patterns and trying out her ideas on her grandmother's curtains and table cloths and turning them into African tunics which she later sold at the local market.

At age 14, she moved to Paris and tried enrolling in some design courses however rapidly realising that without the correct elementary education she was not going to be able to get into any of these courses and learn her trade, she decided to attend fashion workshops where she got the opportunity to develop her technical ability and to work with the finest of materials.

In 2006 and at barely 31 years of age, Olivia Ervi launched her own line of ready to wear women’s clothes and opened a boutique on the famous Croisette in Cannes.

Quickly recognised for her creative talent, she was soon invited to the Cannes Shopping Festival to present her spring / summer collection for 2007, for which she received an overwhelming reception.

Olivia Ervi’s style is a rich mix of African and Western cultures. She defines her style as trying to liberate a women's body with a sophisticated style that is not ostentatious.

According to Olivia Ervi, the richness of her African cultural heritage is a major influence on her designs. She is inspired by fashions of times past: tight corsets, wasp waists, hoop underskirts, stiletto heels, draped and tied fabrics, loincloths and boubous in all colours from the most earthy to the most vivid. She is inspired to create fashions in which a woman’s shape and silhouette is defined and celebrated and pieces in which a woman feels not only beautiful but seductive, happy and glamorous.

She believes that beauty should be eternal.

Below are designs from her new collection.

How elegant, fluid, sexy and glamorous are these?

Did you like them? Well catch Olivia Ervi at the Camer Couture Fashion Show 2009 where the rustic and very elegant Shoreditch Studios in Shoreditch, London will be transformed into a fashion nirvana creating a rare setting for the UK Afronistas and fashionistas to glimpse another side of the land dubbed Africa in miniature.

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She will be flexing her fashion muscles with 5 other Cameroonian fashion designers, doyen Anggy Haif from Cameroon / France and emerging designers Beffta nominee KiRette Couture from UK/USA, Ms Mi from UK, Bot I Lam from UK and RoViSa Design by Rose Mbango from UK.

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This unique and chic event is organised by the newly created fashion platform and hub Camer Couture Limited fronted by creative heads Cynthia Anduhtabe, Isabel Bezeng, Ngum Ngafor, Soraya Sone (freelance consultant) and Alex quest.

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This fashion show is scheduled to take place on the 17th of October 2009 from 6pm prompt with tickets costing £30 for standard tickets, £40 for second row and £50 for front row. This price includes a drinks and canapé reception, the catwalk show and an afterparty boasting a mix of makossa, RnB, Hip Hop, Soul, Afrobeats including Naija beats, Coupé Décalé and many more....come and show us what your mama gave you and maybe the DJ might just save your life that night ;-))

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For more information, visit their website http://www.camercouture.com/ or join their Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=113761297439&ref=ts

Follow them on twitter at: http://twitter.com/CamerCouture

For more information on Olivia, go to http://www.olivia-ervi.com/ or join her on Facebook.

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(Post source: Africansuccess.org. Pictures from Olivia Ervi)

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Hope you enjoyed reading this post. What Camer Couture are trying to do is to bring out the beauty of our treasured and vibrant nation Cameroon. If we the Cameroonians don't support the ventures and initiatives intended to upgrade our nation then who will?

Our pride for Cameroon has to be increased, if we all try and if we all support each other then we stand a better chance of developping not only the image of our country but our economy as well. Some of these designers use local resources and craftmanship which means more job opportunities are created and the local economy is boosted.

We need to all adopt the YES WE CAN attitude to move forward.

Thank you

Stay sweet

Dulce

xxx