Kahindo Mateene Powers African Designs
Kahindo Mateene, after graduating from high school in Kenya, received a college degree in International Business and Economics. She took on a job in the marketing field, worked in this field for fifteen years and hated it. After getting fired from her job, she decided to follow her dreams. It was then that she attend the Fashion Design Institute of Chicago, received her degree in fashion design, and pursued a fashion career. Today, Kahindo is a world-wide, award winning, and acclaimed fashion designer.
As a child growing up, Kahindo always loved fashion and had a great sense of style. In high school, she designed her own dresses for the prom and senior ball. She remembers her mother having a love for sewing and her aunt wearing outfits with matching shoes, and credits both women for having a powerful influence on her creativity. Kahindo was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, educated in Kenya, and has lived in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Niger.
“My design philosophy is to use colors and beautiful fabrics to make the modern women feel beautiful inside and out”, says Kahindo. She designs her special fabrics and jacquard prints to tell a story about her African culture and says, “My clients are from every ethnicity, they are world travelers, they want to make a unique fashion statement, and they have an appreciation for different cultures.”
For this Fall 2021 collection, Kahindo creates loose and easy silhouettes in exuberant earth colors that are hand dyed in the traditional Nigerian print known as “Adire”. Even with the life changing effects of the pandemic, Kahindo says, “In this new normal, I see people wanting to go out and celebrate while keeping socially distant”.
For her upcoming Spring 2022 collection, Kahindo, stays true to her signature style, telling the story through her hand-dyed prints that Africa loves beauty, culture, and diversity. She is also sending out a message of sustainability and fairness. She feels that fashion is much more than sourcing materials and making beautiful designs. Kahindo also takes into consideration the workers who help to manufacture and produce her designs. Fairness in the practices that surround the workers, is part of Kahindo and her teams ethical commitment.
This year, Kahindo has been selected to be a Tory Burch Fellow, a program developed by the iconic designer Tory Burch and her team. As one of the chosen few, Kahindo will have a variety of opportunities to interact with many different experts in the fashion industry. Kahindo says, “It’s a great time to be a Black designer”. Some of the challenges of being a black designer and black owned business has been limited opportunities in brand awareness, getting my product into some retail stores, and diversity on the supply chain of fashion”. Kahindo is also a member of Raise Now raisenow.org , which is an organization offering fundraising and marketing solutions. Kahindo advised young aspiring designers to “Never give up on your vision no matter what other voices are saying. Stick to your vision and keep working hard.”
For the upcoming New York fashion week, Kahindo will have a pop up shop on September 11th and 12th, from 4pm to 8pm, at the Moxy Hotel in New York City. Visit the website at: https://kahindo.com/pages/about-us for more about Kahindo Mateene and the Kahindo Collection.
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