The headlines in French fashion are perpetually hogged by Paris, which, when you consider that both à la mode and modernity were invented there, is arguably fair enough. And yet 481 miles south, in amazing Marseilles, a highly notable French fashion start-up has emerged, thanks to a creative journey between Dakar, Senegal; Como, Italy; London, Beirut, and (inevitably) Paris too. The journey is that of Mélanie Gomis, 27, who has launched the impressive first collection of her newly founded label, Gomis. “I was his assistant in the work,” Gomis wrote. A well-known designer friend in Paris—whose knowledge and experience is far more acute and personal than mine—concurred that in his long experience, there are very, very few Black women operating as designers in the French fashion system.

Source: The North Africa Journal April 27, 2021 19:30 UTC