The Afro-positive fashion seen at the Afropunk Festivals, which Johannesburg enjoyed for the first time over New Year, inspired award-winning Egyptian fashion designer Amna El-Shandaweely so much that she has named her latest collection Cairo Punk.
Now, El-Shandaweely wants the festival to come to Egypt.
"I really would like to bring this festival to Egypt, but I will need sponsors and organisers who can help me bring it to life," she told Egyptian news platform Al-Monitor recently.
She says that there is a new wave of Egyptian street fashion that sees itself as more African, rather than being orientated towards Middle-Eastern or Arabic culture.
"The distinct and vibrant fashion of Afropunk festivals served as the main inspiration for my collection. I find the realness [and the] wild self-expression through fashion and art in these festivals to be more appealing and groundbreaking than any international fashion week," she explained. "So I decided to get that punk out of the Cairene youth who dare stand out and express their realities, despite everything holding them back."
Shandaweely's Cairo Punk collection, marketed with amateur models, has been an instant hit in Egypt, featuring clothes in traditional materials like batik and wax print -- a link to the tribes of Africa that she's discovering around Egypt.
"There are many tribes in Cairo that we mostly just overlook. The skaters, artists, bloggers –– and everyone who feels they are different, and find it difficult to relate to anything but their own outlook and surroundings," she said.
Check out some photos from the collection below, taken in the up-and-coming neighbourhood of Imbaba in northern Giza.
