Wednesday, December 15, 2010

BAMENDA ROCKS II BY KIRETTE COUTURE

It is nearly that time of year again since the KiRette Couture girls; Anrette Ngafor and Kibonen Nfi, launched their fashion show Bamenda Rocks in Bamenda, North West Province last year December.

This year's show is about to kick off in about ten day's time and the KC girls have lots in store for you!

We caught up with Kibonen and this is what she had to say.
Happy reading y'all!

DC: So the time has come again for the Bamenda Rocks show. How did this show come about?
KN: Bamenda Rocks is a show we organise that is very dear to us. It is a corporate social responsibility project that KiRette Couture carries out and considering the culture of this region inspired our designs we like to share this with the community. Also BR came about as a result of trying to further inspire young people to be more creative and to think outside of the box and to feel they can do different things. From our last year’s show we realised that we definitely can make that difference in our community and we are truly happy about that young creative people can definitely create economic development within their community.

DC: Why did you choose Bamenda to be your host city?
KN: Everything fashion happens in Douala and Yaoundé. We are trying to decentralise it and we think Bamenda has too rich a culture to be ignored. We are ready to make Bamenda the fashion hotspot it is well deserved to be.

DC: Give us a sneak preview into this year's show. Tantalise us ;-)
KN: Bamenda Rocks II is going to be a one of a kind show in Cameroon. We are having it in 3 parts. The Pre party and wine tasting which is for VIP’s only and here the VIP guests and the media will have a chance to chat more intimately with the participating designers while diligently sipping wine and champagne. Also they will be able to know more about the products and where they can purchase them. While this will be going on, the designers’ assistants will be showcasing the designers’ pieces at the entrance of the event area.

Then we will have the second part which is the Fashion show proper and the music show. Six talented young designers will showcase their holiday collections. This will be the highlight of the event. We are all looking forward to seeing designs especially from Rodrig Tchatcho who has been in the business longer than us. We hope to pick up some tips from him too. The artists we picked are young and vibrant and have pertinent messages to the young people. Valsero is one of the artists we are looking forward to his performance just as much as the BAAM group.

We are equally using some high profile models from Douala who will be on stage with their counterparts from Bamenda. The more experienced models will inspire the younger ones. We look forward to having a blend of energy here.

The red carpet will also be a vital Q&A session and will be a highlight for the paparazzi! Our MC who is the former Mr Nigeria 2008 will rock the mic together with Miss Blandine Mbanwie, a well known microphone lover whom the people of Bamenda totally adore.

The day after the show our show photographer extraordinaire Mathias Koch will do a photoshoot with all the designers exploiting Bamenda's rich culture and scenery. BR II is the only place to be, we are super excited and we urge you not to miss this show!

DC: Who are the designers this year?
KN: This year we have one designer who was with us last year - Syl Anim based in Nigeria. We will also be having Nuvi Designs based in Bamenda, 2 Young designers from Buea, Tia-MacRen and Dilisious Coucou as well as us, KiRette Couture and Rodrig Tchatcho from Douala. This year we decided to add more flavour to the event by shopping around but keeping the basic concept.

DC: And the music artists?
KN: For the music artists, our headlining act will be the general Valsero whose music is a key message to all the youths of Cameroon. We will also be having BAAM who won the Nescafe African Revelation competition as well as Excel and Landry Njapa who are all young and all upcoming stars.

DC: How hectic is it right now behind the BR camp?
KN: It’s crazy, totally crazy. Not everything will go as planned but we are determined to deliver to our guests and to let the world know that BR is here to stay. Between Anrette and I we have lost our heads already putting every single thing together but in the future we will love to outsource this to an events production company because at the end of the day we are designers not event producers. We already have the concept going we need professional creative minds to jump in with proposals for this show so we can take it to the next level.

DC: And how is KC been doing so far?
KN: 2010 has been one heck of a year for the KC team. We went down very deep, we did not think we will be rising back any time soon. We did so much work especially in Cameroon but we did not materially see the fruits but God knows we are looking at the brighter side and working extra hard for a great future. After our experiences of 2010 with deception and individuals letting us down, I am sure more than ever that this job is a calling for Anrette and I. We did not lose faith for a second and we have been more energised than ever. Sometimes it is such a shame when you get the feeling you cannot trust your own people and you cannot be supported by a nation you fight so hard for. It is heart breaking but we are determined to do it and we are more than certain we will succeed. A quick advice for anyone looking to do business in Cameroon; remember to be super alert, get your lawyers on standby and consult them before making any decisions. I am not trying to scare anyone but trying to prepare the minds of anyone who has to move back for business reasons.

Next year looks extremely promising though and we are totally ready for all the good things it will bring. We are finalising negotiations on acquiring our machines for the factory, we are setting up a showroom in Douala too and our website will be totally hooked up with ecommerce so it is going to be totally fabulous for KC. We are happy and we feel blessed because we know our fans and our clients love what we do.

We are doing lots of shows next year too around the Fashion Weeks and we are looking forward to it. We are still working on the details of doing a tour but will get back to you on that but trust me I am excited about next year.

DC: When is the new collection due?
KN: We are working on our Fall (autumn) 2011 collection which will be out in Febuary.

DC: How can potential customers get their hands on KC pieces?
KN: For now check out our website http://www.kirettecouture.com/ and email us for orders. We are getting tons of orders from Facebook too.

So that's it from KC, Bamenda is the place to be on Sunday 26th December 2010 at the Ayaba Hotel.
Tickets are priced at Standard 10,000 CFA, Classic 15,000 CFA & VIP 25,000 CFA
To purchase, contact 7442 83 40, 7754 51 51, 7740 19 38, 7796 59 58

What else can DC say? Be there!
Dulce
xxx

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

coooooooooooooool

Anonymous said...

Linda.USA.
Goodluck on putting Bamenda on the map.Sorry to hear about your badluck in Cameroon.In life, you recieve what you dish out.
Lastly I saw your collections and was pleased with their looks.However when I actually got my hands on one: I was very disappointed.Cheap quality. Your aggressive marketing is great but you need to deliver QUALITY to the public.
Goodluck & all the best.