By Margaretta wa Gacheru (posted 27 January 2020
Arnold
Muriithi may soon be Kenya’s equivalent of an Yves St Laurent or a Calvin
Klein.
That
is what he heard from fans who saw his fashion collections in Maputo and Addis
Ababa during their respective fashion weeks. It was also suggested by fashion
scouts from the UK who were on the look out for fresh new fashion talents and
invited him to attend fashion weeks in either London, Paris, Milan or New York.
‘But
as I just came from Mozambique where I showed my Voyager collection this past
December, I’m not prepared to present my newest designs just yet,’ says
Muriithi who’s been moving in the fast lane ever since 2015 when he was picked
by Equity Bank’s talent scouts who were also on the look out for Kenya’s next
‘big’ fashion talent.
‘I
got selected after passing several tests for things like knowledge of
construction and originality of my designs,’ says the young designer who was
still a student at Kenyatta University when he won that jackpot.
‘Winning
with Equity meant I went to show my first major collection at the Addis Fashion
Week. As it turned out, they liked me so much I was invited back in 2016 and
2017, but I’ve moved on since then,’ says the designer who admits he has been making
dresses since he was eight years old.
Having
older sisters who left him a closet full of dolls, Muriithi got fascinated early
on with the colourful clothes worn by his sister Claire’s Barbie dolls. He was
also inspired by his mother who loved beautiful garments. She also read fashion
magazines like Marie Claire, which he says is how his older sister got the name
Claire.
Admitting
he was never fond of toy cars or video games like most of his peers, Muriithi
says he used to give away the cars to his friends since he preferred disassembling
Barbie’s dresses and teaching himself how to reconstruct them using different materials.’
‘I
actually made my first wedding dress for Barbie when I was 10,’ says the man
who now creates couture wedding gowns
for Kenyan clients who have seen how beautifully he customizes his dress
designs.
Working
with his own tailors and ladies who help him hand-stitch finishing touches to
his gowns, Muriithi could easily work full-time creating wedding gowns. (‘I
love making my own lace which I often stitch onto my wedding dresses myself,’
he says, adding that trims can also include elegant snowy-white flowers that he
carefully laser cuts, then hand-stitched strategically.)
But
then if Muriithi devotes all his time to making wedding gown, he might have a
problem completing his next ‘Spring/Summer Collection’ for the next fashion
week.
But
the 27 year old who originally went to KU to study economics (according to his
father’s plan) couldn’t give up his primary passion which was and still is
fashion design. His family finally accepted his first love for fashion and for
creating not only exquisite gowns, but also amazing pantsuits, skirts, shorts,
tops and even matching leather handbags.
Working
mainly with crepe chiffon that he gets from one shop in Westlands that imports
materials from all over the world, Muriithi says he might work with Kenyan
kikois one day. But for now he prefers elegant silks and chiffons that he
describes as light, delicate, comfortable and wrinkle-free.
What
actually kicked off his fashion career, he says, was his making the lead gown
for Miss Kenya in 2014. For Lydia Manani, he used a Japanese chiffon that he
got from the shop known as Memsaab. That gown went all the way to the
Philippines where Lydia didn’t win the title of Miss World. But that dress is
the one he submitted to Equity Bank for
their fashion search.
Muriithi also had to be vetted to make it to
the Maputo Fashion Week since only one East African designer was selected by
fashionistas from France, Japan, UK and the Commonwealth Fashion Council.
‘Being selected to show my ‘Voyager’ collection in Mozambique was a big honour
since there were designers there from all over the world,’ he says.
But
Muriithi hasn’t allowed the adulation to go to his head. ‘I still want to get
my creative identity right,’ says the man whose designs are earning him
invitations to show everywhere from Cape Town and Jo’burg to Paris and London.
But for now he can be found either in his workshop or at his new office at
Rosslyn Riviera Mall.
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