Day two of Africa Fashion Week Amsterdam in World Fashion Centre was more glitter and glamour since it was the day of the Gala Show.  This meant various fashion shows with beautiful designs of the more upscale African designers, of which you could see the difference with day one. Before the fashion shows started there were some speeches that didn’t go entirely as planned, leaving the presenter to improvise which he did well. After that the doors to the runway area were closed for the preparation of the first two fashion shows and there was time for a network and photo break. Then it was Gala Show time.

The presenters for the evening were actor Ramsey Noah and Carolien ter Linden, owner of Passarella Mode, one of the sponsors of AFWA 2014, who did a good job on keeping up the tempo and spirit of the show as a whole.

The program for the AFWA fashion shows day 2 as announced on the Facebook page:
16:00 – 16:55: Founder and Executive Director speech, guests’ speech
18:00 BLACKPEARL SECRET
18:25 THOA
19:05 ARRIZ GOLDEN
19:25 ALISHA
20:00 FARIDA
20:20 PATOU MANGA

But in reality this perfect time table kinda fell through as the breaks in between fashion shows were longer than planned. For this day the organisation choose to do three segments of shows; each segment consisted out of two fashion shows with entertainment in between each show, followed by a break that allowed the models and designers, and hair and make up people to prepare for the next segment. The kick off runway show for day 2 was from Blackpearl Secret by Diana Tambe, the founder of AFWA who is also a young designer from Cameroon, based in the Netherlands. In her garments the modern Western influence is very present mixed with African influences. It is the mixture of these two different styles that makes the designs of Blackpearl Secret very appealing. Diana got very emotional when doing her walk on the runway. Her hard work for this first edition paid off. Right after the Blackpearl runway show it was time for the first entertainment group of the night, the kids dance group Petit Bagaza. They did a wonderful afro dance routine, which unfortunately can’t be shown to you as the choreographer made it clear that the show is not to be seen on the internet. Therefore the uploaded video had to be removed. After the dance show it was glitter on the runway with the show of UK based contemporary women’s clothing brand THOA (The House Of Adjeiwaah) by Ghanian designer Abena Adjeiwaah. Segment one was done and it was time for the second break of the evening.

Segment two was not as glittery and glamorous as the first one, but had a few nice designs to admire also. Starting with couture brand Arriz Golden by designer Arriz Golden, based in the Netherlands, who combines European and African fashion trends and later on clothing brand Alisha by 2 cousins Lydie and Hélène from Congo DRC. In between there was a performance from singer Miss Bess and a dance performance by one of the models named Leila. The last segment started with Farida’s Atelier by award-winning designer Farida Musa Halliru from Nigeria, who had a beautiful gown with a white train as her collection showstopper. After the show of Farida there was a singing/ rap performance that was kinda messy, unfortunately there are no pictures to show you. AFWA 2014 runway shows ended with Patou Manga by France based designer Patou Manga from Cameroon, who was the only designer that featured male clothing in his collection and thus male models in his runway show.

Even though the breaks were longer then planned and announced the second evening seemed more put together than the first one and you can honestly say that the first edition of AFWA was succesful. Till next year.

Highlights of the evening:

Watch the total collection of Blackpearl Secret by Diana Tambe here:

Watch the dance performance of model Leila here:

Watch the thank you speech of Founder & Executive Director Diana Tambe and Production Director Aydin Acik:

The total gallery of day 2 of the fashion shows and backstage is available on the Facebook page of XX Fashion Diva and the videos can be watched on the XX Fashion Diva YouTube Channel.