Anifa Mvuemba Congo Pink Label : The world first 3D Fashion Show

You already saw it, we’ve seen it, the world actually did, but we still need to talk about it. Looks like Hanifa Mvuemba is the game changer we needed to (re)discover amidst general uncertainty especially in the fashion and textile industry. Presenting Congo Pink Label - a 12 looks capsule collection - the designer turning 30 this year took social media by storm with an iconic 3D live show on Instagram while reflecting on the Congo genocide.

Alluring, abstract, and inclusive this is how Anifa Mvuemba describes the best her dtc brand Hanifa. The one that took over Instagram by the night of May 22nd with a never-seen-before 3D runway show exclusively live on the channel. The live was quick to be shared beyond Instagram, reaching Twitter and then mainstream media and soon Hanifa was listed as a game-changer to look at. To be fair, The story of Anifa doesn’t begin with this show - performance. Before hitting it big on social media, she was already an emerging digital success, endorsed by the ones like Ciara, Cardi B, Lizzo.

“ There are two occurrences in which the world remains silent when faced with outrage : it is helpless or this very situation serves its interests.”

However Hanifa’s Congo Pink Label is much more than a social media sensation, it is a proper media. Indeed, there are topics not to be put on the main stage, ones collectively forgotten about, the Congo genocide and mining issue is one of these. For long the world community has closed its eyes and lost hearing on the vision and sounds of the millions of dead bodies pilling up in a general consensus. The weight of each more thousand of Congolese people dying was only equal to the deafening silence of the news coverage. A daily genocide surprisingly not reported in the news along with the casual horror : 1,152 women raped everyday, children too. In a country where shock and terror have become the norm, just like general dysfunction mostly in north eastern regions mainly affected.

There are two occurrences in which the world remains silent when faced with outrage : it is helpless or this very situation serves its interests. The latter comes more often than not first. Few seize the amplitude of the genocide happening everyday in Congo amidst extreme mining of Coltan - Congo has the largest reserve in the world, extracting up to 70% from the world - Copper, Cobalt Diamonds and Gold principaly. Most of them build the backbone and sustain today’s technology industry.

This, is this anomaly Anifa Mvuemba points out with Congo Pink Label, a capsule collection tribute to her background as she mentions serving as one of her ethics when it comes to her work.

“I wanted people to feel what people from Congo have been feeling for years: oppressed”

Once again being African and an artist univocally means to be an activist and shed light the goods and the wrongs of one’s reality. That it be the invisibilization of African beauty, injustice, conflicts, racism. Those are inherent to the African creative community. Serving is part of her duty says the Congolese designer. Serving in the world of Anifa Mvuemba means raising awareness but also giving back. She who grew up in the United States uses her voice and her strong connexion to her roots to shed light on the ongoing illegal trade happening, involving children as young as 4. The live show first displayed a short film about mining in Congo with outstanding figures before presenting the 12 looks of the capsule. As part of the capsule, Anifa also partnered with Responsible Sourcing Network to create the Colette T-shirt from which 20% of sales are donated to families affected by the Coltan mining.

Surprisingly there was poetry in the motion of those 3D faceless bodies, voluptuously walking down a virtual runway. Three dimensional curves representing the large span of women bodies as Hanifa clothes size from XS to 2XL inspired by the disparity of African women and starting with her own experience : “[in 2011] when I started I was a size 2, now I am a size 12, recollects the self taught designer. My designs accommodates all of our assets and it’s made to fit well for Black women. That inspires me.”

Those are bodies we know and bodies many women will know through different age and phases as womanhood also means changes in physiology. The charismatic designer use her poise to create clothes whose main purpose is to dress women bodies.

Hanifa clothing line embodies empowerment for both women and society. Some other pieces carry hope as the Kinshasa dress in the colours of the country’s colours. “The red represents the pain and the blood and suffering of the country. The blue represents peace, and then the yellow star represents the hope of the country”. However and undoubtedly the masterpiece of the show is the Mái dress, the one printed with the Congo river. A bold statement. A feminine design imagined to flow like the rivers of Congo while the “floor length maxi gown embodies the gentle confidence of the Congolese people.”

It took courage and patience for Anifa Mvuemba to put this 360 experience into execution. As a digital native and self-taught designer learned to adapt. Google and YouTube have been her long term partners to learn everything to set her label from sewing to production process and now 3D conception. She first started with 3D mock ups for samples and campaign shots featuring 3D models, observing how her audience reacted to the switch from actual models. A task requiring a high level of precision. “Designing content using 3D models and now an entire collection has been a complete game changer for me. It actually requires an even greater amount of attention-to-detail for the clothes to fit and look just right.”she aknowledges.

Aligning with the African designers model more oriented towards made to order vs. options planning, Anifa operates on a limited stock / see-now-buy-now model also reflecting digital natives behaviour and in regards with textile waste plaguing in the fashion industry. Proving again the irrelevance of the fashion calendar religiously followed in a context of sustainability awareness and now sanitary.

There is nothing Hanifa let her told she can’t do, she is made of that can-do attitude, runs in the blood of entrepreneurs and it shows. As it was five years ago she envisioned a virtual show for the first time and it took her seven months to develop the whole show. Doesn’t mean she was exempted of doubt, especially regarding 3D modelling in a context of global lockdown.

‘I started feeling like maybe it would be insensitive to create and share a new collection online while people were facing difficult realities’ Doubts that were quickly winded as she was praised by the public and publications. But once again the charismatic designer remains grounded stating : “I want these pieces to tell a story of meaning. I want them to remind us to be intentional about what we create. Not for clout or for Instagram likes, but for the sake of meaning what we say by storytelling through our designs.”

Congo Pink Label was the shot of hope we needed at this very moment and we are still not over it.