Tanzanian Designer, Doreen Mashika Flies Country’s Fashion Flag High

The countdown has begun as the fashion world and Tanzania prepares themselves for an evening of style dubbed ‘GO TO’ designer for feminine style across the globe.

And, the brains behind it are none other than Zanzibar’s Tanzanain Designer, Doreen Mashika Flies Country’s Fashion Flag HighTanzanain Designer, Doreen Mashika Flies Country’s Fashion Flag High who teamed up with a talent-laden pool of Tanzania and foreign models for a spiced up evening of glamour brought to live by a London based Production Director.

The organiser, Doreen Mashika was born and raised in Tanzania, but studied and worked in Switzerland and now she is part of the growing homeward bound Diaspora. She began a career in the financial industry while in Switzerland.

Specializing in luxury goods and that is where she had her first contact with the fashion Industry and designers that provided her a unique insight and appreciation of the sector.

Inspired by a deep sense for the cultural heritage and wealth of design possibilities in Africa, she returned to Tanzania and settled in Zanzibar to purse her passion while building a successful company. Currently, Mashika has launched a successful retail store of supported by a vertical supply chain, with her brands attracting international attention and demand.

She has created a brand with a unique mix of contemporary western stylish and quality with traditional African materials and techniques. In a field as competitive as fashion, the people involved need to have a high sense of ethics, creativity, an eye for detail and fashion trends, the drive to deliver promptly and a sharp business mind.

Doreen Mashika firmly believes that the bedrock of traditional culture in Africa is still a powerful force, one to be celebrated by all! The Doreen Mashika Zanzibar (DMZ) products are explosive with vibrant colours, exotic prints and most of all stylish.

The brand offers shoes, handbags, jewellery and apparel by using traditional African textile such as Kanga, Kitenge and canvas. In designing Bags and shoes, Mashika partners with women’s groups in local villages making goods largely by hand, using traditional African workmanship techniques.

Doreen Mashika has a refined and unique talent. A self-established designer, Doreen has been accredited internationally through fashion, in respect of her collections. She is a proud winner of the African Designers for Tomorrow competition (ADFT), beating nine other designers to the title.

A competition that was launched in July by FA254 in collaboration with Vogue Germany aimed at giving emerging African designers an opportunity to showcase and sell their pieces to the European market. Mashika had collaborated with LVMH owned fashion house, EDUN.

She also completed a successful collaboration with ANTHROPOLOGIE, a multiple channel American lifestyle brand that operates over 400 retail locations across five retail brands including, Urban outfitters, Free People, Terrain and BHLDN. “Indeed these collaborations have added trust and value to the DMZ brand, I must confess.

DMZ has not only been listed on Vogue whilst in Zanzibar, but we also recently won an award at the African Designers for Tomorrow contest, held in Nairobi. As part of the award DMZ brand and I as the Creative Director will be going to showcase our African inspired collection at the Vogue Salon 2015 in Berlin, Germany.

This is certainly exciting for our brand,” Doreen said. Apart from this latest achievement, Doreen has also showcased DMZ at 2012 Ethical Fashion in Paris where she got two prizes. In 2012 at Mercedes Benz Africa Fashion Week, she won the category of Accessory Designer of the Year.

In 2013, she collaborated with Samsung at the Amaze Africa show in Johannesburg. Other awards include the Origin Africa Designer Showcase at the Hub of Africa Fashion Week in Addis Ababa which led to the US Retail Award plus the Ethical Fashion Award.

“The Tanzania fashion industry is young and dynamic. We are experiencing a tipping point as more young and talented designers emerge to challenge the industry with dreams of breaking into the international market.” Speaking of challenges in the industry Doreen said, “As much as there is a lot of inspiration it is not enough.

There are no fashion schools with technical know-how; this is the biggest challenge for many designers. There is hardly a supply chain to serve designers as well, in that case sourcing quality materials or simply an average material is almost impossible.”

Doreen revealed that DMZ is more than just a brand name. It plays a big role in empowering women economically as she works closely with women from rural areas who have the art and skills of making African traditional handcrafts.

The Fashion Night In to be held on the 27th February 2015 at Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dar-es-Salaam will appeal to all those with a sense of style, Tanzanian fashionistas, designers and fashion lovers alike.