35-year-old Elodie Fromenteau, an international fashion stylist and creative director, came back to Rwanda after 22 years to reconnect with her roots and family. Upon return, she was challenged by a friend to start her own collection as Kigali Fashion Week was coming up and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to showcase her work as a stylist. Fromenteau, of French and Rwandan descent, says her love for fashion started 10 years ago when she worked as an assistant in one of Armani’s (an Italian luxury fashion house founded by Giorgio Armani) stores. The job helped her realise her own styling talent as she was a natural at recommending clothes to customers. “In London, the fashion industry is very competitive, but if you just focus on what you like, your work will come out with more authenticity. Rwanda is more supportive in collaboration as well,” Fromenteau says. Overall fashion is about an expression of self through what you’re wearing, as she describes it. “It’s about your journey, culture, what or who you’ve been surrounded with, aspirations to inspirations. It’s a lot, but it’s definitely a way to express who you are. It should have all of who you are,” Fromenteau says. Being born in Cameron and living there for five years, then growing up in France and living in London in her 20s made her experience feelings of culture shock. She longed to be with her Rwandan people, and felt she needed to reside in her country. Being mixed-race made her feel like her Rwandan side was lacking, and her French side was more dominant. Eventually, she decided to travel to Rwanda to get a better understanding of her roots and culture—which triggered inspiration, hence, creating her newest collection. “The new collection is called Sunday’s Best, it’s got 15 looks, 5 men’s wear, and 10 women’s wear. The whole idea of Sunday’s Best is to represent the outfit in our wardrobe that defines us. An attire that you put on and makes you feel proud, as well as the spiritual imagery because as you know on Sundays you dress for church best. It also considers different people and styles of various demographics,” Fromenteau says. Fromenteau gets most of her inspiration from 80s and 90s fashion, because growing up in the late 80s looking at her mother’s and aunts style that consisted of shoulder-padded jackets, high-waist trousers, and TV shows like ‘The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air’ struck an interest in her, which illustrates in her work of colours, patterns, and oversizing looks. She has participated in a number of fashion shows so far in her career as a stylist. She showcased her IZUBAA brand in Ghana of December 2021, and recently in May this year at the Mercedes’ Benz Fashion Week at the Crown Conference in Nyarutarama, Kigali.
