BY KFLEEYESUS ABEBE
It was a special festivity on the night of May 3rd at a British embassy here in Addis Ababa. Ethiopian ministers, ambassadors of Canada, Austrailia, United States of America and other countries, represntatives from different African Countries and AUC chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat were in attendance to share the joy over the continuation of British monarchy as well as the coronation of King Chareles III. During the occasuion, British Ambassador to Ethiopia Darren Welch recounted British monarch’s relation with Ethiopia.
“The UK Embassy where we stand today was established in 1896 when Emperor Menelik II graciously allotted to King Charles’s great great grandmother Queen Victoria the hundred acres of land.The land on which we are currently gathered. So today along with the coronation we also celebrate the long-standing friendship between the UK and Ethiopia between 1936 and 1941. Emperor Haile Selassie was welcomed with refuges in the UK.Then he was also welcomed back to the UK in 1955 on a state visit when he’d been restored.The queen herself then visited Ethiopia a decade later with a state visit.
The event was accentuated by other artistic events. But fashion night was the dominant one that took the attention of guests. The fashion night afforded attendees to feast their eyes on Ethiopian beauty, changes of fashion over the course of time, the potential and caliber of young Ethiopian designers that came from differnt background. Runaway models wearing unique outfits won the attention of the audience.
Danawit Alema is living her childhood dream of becoming a designer. She says she has been making toys, sketches, jewleries from early childhood. It is now three years since she founded her brand DANN. On the night of May 3rd, she was one of the designers who brought a rare collection of clothes nicknamed “Art of unconsciousness.” In this collection, she wanted to reveal the artisitc gift and power that are hidden inside unconscious mind. The clothes are day-to-day wearble and made using local fabrics. Speaking of the fasion night, Danawit said, “This promote our products. It makes us visible in the market and lets us get the right market.” Danawit is also engaged in another project in the British embassy.
For Yonael Merga who have been brought up in Ethiopia’s different cultures, the fashion night is a chance to exhibit Ethiopia’s cultural richness.Combining traditions, he also innovates costumes that could represent everyone at a time. “ I have been in Tigray. I lived in Harar and Wollega. I have been in many places in the country. I am trying to fuse these elements, to better effect. We have collective memories.That is what I wanted to show through my work. They are very authentic works.” Yonael didn’t make the products thinking of the event but he tells the similarity of some clothes of British monarch with Ethiopians. The clothes he showed using gracious models are white woven robes.
Rahwa Zeru is another designer who complemented her passion with training. She was doing designing intuitively then developed it by going to a night school. Rahwa now has a label called Rahwa clothing. What she brought to this fashion night is custom-made royality clothings. The collection are inspired by the event that challenged her as she has to balance the label’s identity and appropriateness of the outfits to the stage.
Rahwa believes the event had created new window opportunity to designers. “The event helped us to build network among other designers and actors in the sector. It also introduced us to new customers. It was a new platform. We have stocks at our shop. We hope the new customers we are making introduction to come to our shop and buy our products.”
Different outfits by different designers were also at display in their make-shift shops. Cultural music, tradational dishes and beverages also attended the fashion show. As the occasion was a time of merriment to the coronation of King Charles III, guests were having fun, discussing swith eachother and maybe contemplating areas of cooperation one state to the other. The British embassy, via current ambassador Darren Welch, has expressed interest to strengthen ties with Ethiopia and Africa in general making Ethiopia its hub. With a new King, Great Britain and Ethiopia are anticpated to sustain and widen cooperation in various areas.
Days after this occasion, King Charles III and Queen Camilla officially crowned in coronation ceremony at London’s Westminster Abbey. The televised ceremony captured the attention of millions of people across the world. Britain also received congratulatory and admiration messages from government representaitives of various countries.
The Ethiopian Herald May 11/2023
