28 Days Of Black History: Meet Adama Paris Creator Of Black Fashion Week Paris…
“I thought it was right … to try to do something to help my own people and to get more exposure. It was also a statement [to] the fashion industry, ‘stop this discrimination, black is beautiful.’ I am sick and tired of seeing only skinny blonde girls and not black women on the runway.”
Black Fashion Week Paris
Adama Paris whose real name is Adama Amanda Ndiaye was born in Kinshasa, Zaïre in 1976. Living in different parts of the world exposed her to a variety of different fashions which inspired her to create her own style.
While Living in Europe, Paris worked in banking until she decided to pursue a career in fashion design in her native country Africa, which had a long history of design but struggled for mainstream acceptance. In order to expand the visibility of African design, Ndiaye created the Dakar Fashion Week exhibition which was highly successful for over 11 years.
Following the success of Dakar Fashion Week, Paris begins to receive invites to attend big designer shows in fashion capitals like New York and London. Feeling like she didn’t belong there, she quickly begins to feel like an outsider.
In 2010, Paris got the idea to start a Black Fashion week in Paris. She wanted to promote talented black designers and models that she felt were being ignored by the industry. Paris held the event in the Czech Republic, Paris Montreal, Geneva, and Bahia. For the first time ever, Paris welcomed Black Fashion Week.
“Paris is the capital of fashion. It is so important for designers to show here.”
For more information on Black Fashion Week Pairs, please visit BlackFashionWeekParis.com
