Meet Niyitanga, the teen behind the wardrobes of Kigali's celebrities

Olivier Niyitanga, aka Gucci Tanga, is the face behind Tanga Designs. The 19-year-old won the Kigali Fashion Week Upcoming Designer Award in 2014. He also dressed some of the participants at the same event. Niyitanga believes that his taste in fashion is inborn. “I haven’t been in the fashion industry for a long time but the reception is good so far,” he says. The talented young fashion designer has so far designed clothes for Miss Rwanda 2014, Colombe Akiwacu as well as Rwanda’s Miss Supranational 2014 representative, Neema Umwali, among others. During the Miss Rwanda 2015 pre-selections held at Petit Stade in Remera on February 7, two of the top 15 finalists – Belyse Hitayezu and Fiona Mutoni Naringwa – were dressed by Tanga Designs. So how does Niyitanga come up with designs that celebrities have fallen in love with? “I sit down, imagine and then draw a sketch. If what I’ve sketched is impressive, I then go ahead and design it,” he says. He, however, confesses that he is inspired by Beyonce Knowles. “But for attires only meant for the stage, those I get direct from my head. Such aren’t normally good for the eye beyond the stage,” he says. The composed teenager urges Rwandans to embrace locally made designs. His dream is to have a fashion label that will forever be identified with Rwanda. “If there are Italian suits, French this and American that, why can’t we have a garment that identifies us?” he asks. Like in any other businesses, Niyitanga faces challenges. One of them is people who download his fashion designs online and fabricate them on their own. Then also, he says that Rwandans haven’t fully appreciated designing but that is changing. “Lately people appreciate locally made African wear,” he notes.

Entertainment

Meet Niyitanga, the teen behind the wardrobes of Kigali's celebrities