The Sunday Mail
Fungai Muzoroza
Arundel School
MUSIC, art and drama are all listed under some of my favourite hobbies, but nothing can compare to my passion for fashion and designing.
STARBRITE finalists perform wearing 17-year-old Fungai Muzoroza’s designs
My name is Fungai Muzoroza and I’m 17. My passion started at the early age of seven. I would sit down and scribble and try to draw like Modigliani. As a child I fancied art and up to this day it is still my forte. In Grade Seven, as an art project, we were asked to enter the ‘Spar design a bag competition, and I landed second prize.
High school has also been a tremendous part of my life as it has enabled me to explore fashion in different ways. In my first year at Arundel, the school held a recycled fashion show, taught me how to sew using a sewing machine during needle work and later in my high school life, the school allowed me to hold two fashion shows, one at a Form Three cabaret and another at the annual Arundel cultural evening.
At the beginning of 2015, the school held another recycled fashion show which I entered with four of my friends. We made it into the top ten. This then led us to showcase the dress made of newspapers at Alliance Français. In 2015, the drama department re-enacted the popular play ‘A Mid-Summer nights Dream’ which was performed both at Arundel and at Hifa. I also designed for this play alongside two other designers.
The school also required us to do a two week attachment, during O Level break, working under a job which we would like to take up after university. This enabled me to meet and work with an amazing Zimbabwean designer (Tatenda Chidzidzi), the founder of Zanorashe. Though she only took me under her wings for two weeks, she taught me so much. Because of this internship I was able to get a taste of the real world and the reality and hardships of fashion designing and marketing.
My career continued to grow when Connie (the founder of Coco Seed) asked me to open for her online shopping Launch by showcasing my latest collection ‘Eden’. This was a very exciting and rewarding experience as it also led to me connecting with amazing people such as the Award winning Zimbabwean fashion blogger Ameera Mimi. It also landed me an amazing opportunity to design for the Starbrite finalist contestants of 2015.
I was astounded when I received a call from Starbrite asking me to design for their contestants alongside three other designers who are much older and have more experience in the fashion industry. I must admit, it wasn’t an easy process.
All together I designed five looks: Two 70’s looks for the contestants on the first day and three of my own looks for the Backing Vocalists.
Although it seems like a piece of cake, several things have to be put into consideration, such as the movement of the performers, the genre of the act and of course you need to talk to the performer and ask them for their ideas and what they’ll feel comfortable in. On top of that, there is a lot of time and money a designer must invest in the process. Though I am very fortunate to have supportive parents that won’t hesitate to invest in my dreams, I actually only had three days to get all the outfits done in time for the show. On the morning of the show I was relieved to hear that my outfits fit the performers perfectly.
On the first night, Starbrite started off with a fashion show held by us, the four designers, where we showcased two of our looks. It was a great chance for the audience to see the young hidden talent in the Zimbabwean fashion Industry. All in all, Starbrite was a challenging but amazing process and not only did I gain more experience, but I made amazing new talented friends.
As you must know already, I’m the ultimate fashion fanatic and this year I’m hoping to achieve many things. It’s a shame that the Fashion industry in Zimbabwe is not booming as much as most designers would like it to.
There’s a quote which states, ‘Everyone loves your work until they have to pay for it,’ which unfortunately is what I see in Zimbabwe. So many people will admire your work and ask for ‘free outfits’ but then they go ahead and buy overpriced couture from other countries and continents and leave the Zimbabwean designers at a loss.
And it’s not just in designing, but The Arts Industry in Zimbabwe is still struggling. It’s a shame that some parents aren’t willing to invest in their children’s talent and it’s also a shame that the youth in Zimbabwe are too afraid to follow their dreams and instead find it safe to be a doctor or a lawyer.
Despite my young age, I feel 2016 is the year I’m going to make a change, slowly but surely.
For more Information on my designs and my fashion line, follow me @_fuzi_fash on intagram or on Gmail: [email protected].
Students, YOU CAN SEND YOUR ARTICLES THROUGH E-MAIL, FACEBOOK, WHATSAPP or TEXT Just app Charles Mushinga on 0772936678 or send your articles, pictures, poetry, art . . . to Charles Mushinga at [email protected] or [email protected] or follow Charles Mushinga on Facebook or @charlesmushinga on Twitter. You can also post articles to The Sunday Mail Bridge, PO Box 396, Harare or call 0772936678.
