Fashion Show Hails Kanga as East Africa's Kimono

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters Life!) - For women in Tanzania's humid Dar es Salaam port city, the "kanga" is must-have material, functioning as an everyday wraparound dress, bath towel, shawl and, when ragged, dish cloth and mop too.

But for Mustafa Hassanali, a popular local designer who organized this year's second annual Swahili Fashion Week, the traditional rectangular kanga cloth from east Africa's Indian Ocean coast means much more.

"Just as India has saris and Japan has the kimono, we have the kanga," he said after the show, as Tanzania's glitterati exchanged air kisses under the moon by an outdoor catwalk.

"We have to take east African fashion to the international market."

Models strutted down the runway under bright lights and low-hanging tree branches wearing an array of vivid colors and traditional cloth sewn into figure-hugging mini-dresses.

"Growth comes with baby steps," said Hassanali.

"East Africa lags behind west and South African fashion, but 80 years ago there was no Paris Fashion Week ... We have to take our clothes to a new level."

About 20 designers took part in this year's event, many of them newcomers.

For all of them, it was a chance to dive into the coast's diverse Swahili culture, born of traders from Arabia, Africa, India and Europe who plied the sea routes hundreds of years ago and developed the area's own distinctive language.

Dazzling and revealing outfits donned by lithe local models were greeted with waves of applause and sighs of wonder from the audience throughout the evening.

Eye-catching numbers included those from veteran Tanzanian designer Manju Msita, who styled one leggy model as a giraffe with two necks emerging either side of her own. She was closely pursued by a green-clad hunter toting a rifle.

Others showcased elegant visions sporting colored beads, grasses, seeds and shells inspired by traditional customs.