Congolese designers push fashion in a different direction

0:28This message comes from Schwab. From NPR, we bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. When the Democratic Republic of Congo is in the news, it's usually related to poverty or conflict. Most recently, it was the Ebola outbreak. But the country is a cradle of design creativity. Congolese artists have few places they can showcase their talents. But in the last few years, DRC Fashion Week has given them an outlet. The annual celebration of colour, creativity and fashion took place recently. Reporter Emmett Livingstone was there. As Roomba music plays on a hotel rooftop in the capital, Kinshasa, attendees at DRC Fashion Week stop at the entrance to show off their kaleidoscopic outfits.

1:17People cheer and photographers click their cameras at the men draped in tartan cloaks carrying canes. The women are in leopard print or sequined dresses and wear outrageously large hats. People aren't wearing famous brands, but outfits they've put together themselves. And everyone looks amazing. Nathalie Aoma is an international runway model from Congo and one of the co-founders of DRC Fashion Week.

1:48Style here in Congo is really something we're born with, she says. It's like it's in our DNA. It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, everyone tries to add their own flair to what they're wearing. This year's show celebrated SAPEUR, a Congolese subculture focused on fashion, elegance and identity. SAPEUR comes from the French acronym for the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People. Cédric Mbenghi is a well-known sapeur, as well as a designer himself. He's wearing an eclectic outfit of blue suspenders over a red shirt and carries a see-through bubble umbrella.

2:24Today I'm only wearing the colours of the DRC, he says, in order to support Congolese design. Despite this national love affair with style, Congo, which is one of the poorest countries in the world, has no formal fashion industry to speak of.

2:42This runway on a Kinshasa rooftop is the country's only brush with high fashion. Hundreds of guests, all extravagantly dressed, turn up to gaze at the models and designs on display during the one-day event. Nathalie Ayoma says she co-founded DRC Fashion Week as a way to showcase the untapped talents of young Congolese designers in front of a VIP local audience. The aim is also to promote an authentic Congolese aesthetic, she says, when many people tend to dress up in a Western way. On the runway, models wear multicolour patchwork suits or outfits incorporating traditional Kuba textiles. These feature complex geometric patterns and are woven from palm leaf fibres.

3:29The clothes are exuberant and striking. The characteristic Congolese style is on full display. In a country where conditions are tough and people often at odds, fashion offers a burst of colour, self-expression and uncomplicated joy. For the designer Cédric Mbenghi,

3:54Fashion is a dream for me, says the 33-year-old, who says money is a daily struggle. I fell asleep and I had this dream. It's a dream worth clinging to. For NPR News, I'm Emmett Livingstone in Kinshasa.

4:23That's the State of the World from NPR. Thanks for listening.

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