Fashion talk with Genet Kebede
 

Capital: Can I ask if you are married ?

W/ro Genet: Yes. I am a mother of three, two boys and one girl. My daughter is in college and my sons are still attending high school.

Capital: What is your specialty, I mean in what areas do you specialize in?

W/ro Genet:  My specialty is in high fashion design and pattern making. I was educated in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I specialized in high fashion designing and pattern making.

Capital: Before joining the University, did you have any talents in design?

W/ro Genet :   Yes, for as long as I can remember I seem to have a knack for design. Before the age of fifteen I designed wedding dresses.

But during my study in the University for three years, I also took kids clothes designing course in addition to the high fashion lady.

Capital: What exactly is high fashion design and pattern making?

W/ro Genet:  Hmmm…high fashion design is perhaps better described as elegant casual wear. I also design clothes that can be worn in day-to-day activity. But I have concentrated more on evening, wedding and cocktail wears... Specially since 1993.

Capital:  What kind of material do you use for your design?

W/ro Genet: I have been using exclusively Ethiopian handmade woven materials for cloth since 1993. It has been ten years.

Capital: Whom do you design for? Who are your customers? 

W/zo Genet: We don’t have any restriction; we design for all, for the young, for the old, for all who are interested in our design. We do our best to please whoever is interested to wear our creations.

Capital: Do you also design for ‘big’ women?

W/ro Genet :  Yes, we do have big sizes for up to 52 to 54 European sizes. We always try to accommodate all our clients and do what is best for them.

Capital: As a designer, what kind of fashion cloth catches your eyes?

W/zo Genet:  Elegant dresses, beautiful color combinations... Actually whenever I want to design a new pattern I always design things that I believe my customers are looking for through experience.  For ten years I came up with appropriate color combinations of each season. In my last fashion show   I tried incorporating European styles in my work. The idea is to always try to make beautiful Ethiopian ladies more attractive.

Capital: Is your design more mixed with the European styles?

W/ro Genet: Yes definitely, I just tried to make modern design following the seasonal color combinations and even the materials; especially this year my designs contain European materials with Ethiopian patterns and, the fashion clothes are not only made from Ethiopian local material. In the past my customers gave me encouraging responses to my designs and choice of material, because people had started appreciating our own culture, and even preferring more and more traditional clothes instead of always wearing something European. 

Capital:  I heard that your designing is one of the best in town, what is you’re comment? And how do you compare your creation with other designers?

W/ro Genet:   (laughing) I don’t know, it could be.  When I stared though it was a little bit difficult, because we don’t have copyright and all our designs are copied immediately in the entire town.  On one side I am very proud as it’s nice to be copied than to copy; and I am a professional designer and I will continue designing new things. However each designer has got his or her own style, taste and characteristic, so it is difficult to compare.

Capital:  I understand you have an experience being a judge in a number of beauty contests and even in the latest ‘Miss World Ethiopia’ contest. How do you choose you models?

W/ro Genet: Actually I don’t have any criteria for choosing the best models. As far as my personal experience is concerned, I have represented Ethiopia in different fashion shows in different part of the world since 1994. I have also participated as a judge in different beauty contests including a beauty contest, which was organized by Face of Africa (a local beauty contest association to select Miss Addis Ababa).  Way back ten years ago, before Face of Africa was established, I used to train the models and prepare them for the cat walk because the owner of Face of Africa was actually using my models. Even the Famous Ethiopian Model, Liya Kebede use to model for me.  

Capital: Who are the models that will show your latest designing?

W/ro Genet: Most of the models that are working with me are professionals. But still there is a need for appropriate modeling schools in our country and the models should have proper diet, massage and so on to keep themselves slim and attractive.

Capital: Other than fashion custom designs for women, what other activities is Paradise Fashion involved in?

W/ro Genet: I only do my own collections and organize my own fashion shows.

Capital: Are you the only designer in the house or do you have additional designers working with Paradise Fashion?

W/ro Genet: I am the only designer and owner/manager in the house.

Capital: Is it hard to design clothes for kids?

W/ro Genet:  It is not that much difficult or hard and I really enjoy designing kids clothes. My 2004 show is in fact dedicated to kids.

Capital: I was told your products are very expensive, is it true?

W/ro Genet: People do say that, but considering the time and effort that goes in each design, it is not true.

Capital: Have you participated in fashion shows outside Ethiopia?

Genet: Yes I have participated in many fashion shows outside Ethiopia, including in Paris in 1995 to 1996, Germany the same year, Washington D.C , Belgium and now Greece.    

Capital: Any additional comment?

W/ro Genet: I think the government should incorporate copy right in its law and regulation, because most of my designs are today simply stolen through the Internet or other means by the local traditional cloth designers in Shiro Meda area.