The fashion industry has evolved over the years. From traditional designs, today, more than ever, designers are fusing together bits and pieces of fashion history as they create new designs—and this is no exception for Rwandan fashion designers.

Ines Claudia Hirwa and Diane Umugwaneza, are some of the local designers blending culture and modernity under their clothing brand-Seraphina.

Inspired by women’s styles of the past and influenced by the modern designers, Seraphina seeks to help young women flaunt their beauty with dignity and confidence, without necessarily compromising the modern outfit.

Their garments are designed from solid fabric and Rwandan inspired prints such as ‘Imigongo’, (a traditional art themed with spiral and geometric designs often in the colours of black, white and red).

According to Hirwa, the managing director of the brand, Seraphina was inspired by her late grandmother, who used to make clothes and this is the same path that they both want to take. It is a tribute to her.

"While shopping for clothes here, I realized the need for more diversity and therefore came up with the concept. My initial idea was to have a luxury store in Rwanda, but then when I saw the potential to venture into fashion and give it a new twist, I then changed my mind.”

"I realised that I can make fashion enthusiasts happy and create jobs as well,” she adds.

Hirwa is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at Kicukiro based Integrated Polytechnic Regional Centre (IPRC). She, however, is a trained fashion expert from the Luca School of Arts. Her partner, Diane Umugwaneza has a masters fiscal science and also studied fashion design in Paris, France.

With a startup capital of Rwf 3 million, the duo launched their first collection in Kigali in April this year, with their target market being the modern Rwandan woman and later on the Diaspora.

"With our designs, the modern Rwandans can proudly embrace our traditional designs. There are many Rwandans in Europe and we want them to embrace our designs so as to be able to showcase our culture in the most creative way,” she says.

The designs, she says reflect the Rwandan tradition, but also are "classy, sophisticated, stylish and sensual to keep it modern.”

Hirwa attended the Accelerate Summit 2016 and was selected as one of the 26 most promising entrepreneurs.

"As young entrepreneurs we hope to inspire other young creative designers to start something new and out of the box. We would advise them to be authentic,” Hirwa says.

The fashion house will be showcasing at the opening of Bold Kigali a retail outlet designed specifically for African entrepreneurs in the fashion industry on November 19 at the Kigali Heights.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw