Anifa Mvuemba is a fashion designer, founder of the direct to consumer women’s line Hanifa and a revolutionary in the fashion world. During the 2020 pandemic she left her mark and led the fashion industry to a whole new world of Runway Shows.
Anifa Mvuemba born in 1991 in Nairobi, Kenya to Congolese parents, didn’t always have an easy life. Growing up her parents decided to move to The United States due to war. Growing up Mvuemba wanted to be a teacher but soon enough began to dream of being a fashion designer. Mvuemba states that her mother was her first exposure to clothes and the reason she began sketching (Fashionista). Her mother worked hours upon hours when she was younger but on her off days, Anifa saw how much effort she would put into her outfits, how well cared for her garments were, how she cared about her coats and jewelry.
Junior year of high school she took a fashion design course and worked in retail after graduation. Mvuemba aspired to go to fashion school in New York like all of the greats but her parents had law or medicine in mind, not fashion. They weren’t always a great support system, her dad said she would never succeed because she was African. She did end up studying fashion at a small school in Maryland but it wasn’t a great fit. So much so that she ended up dropping out and quitting her job to pursue her dream (Los Angeles Times).
Anifa Mvuemba started out on instagram, making a dress for herself with her limited sewing experience and from there she kept going. She made clothes for her friends and herself. Mvuemba never saw herself in anything in stores little did she know this would lead to the creation of her inclusive brand, Hanifa.
One of her first big moments was when the singer Beyonce put Hanifa on her “DIRECTORY OF BLACK OWNED BUSINESSES”. Then, Hanifa began to take off with celebrities like Zendaya wearing her clothes in big magazines.
During the 2020 pandemic, Anifa Mvuemba decided to upload a digital runway for her new line titled “Pink Label Congo” yet rather than just having pictures of it she decided to take it one step further. After studying several programs and hiring a team of programers, her viral video was born. Her Congolese inspired line was animated into making them walk to “runway” on their own. They move so effortlessly giving it all a high fashion look. When uploaded it reached over 1million views and raised the bar for all designers’ future releases(Essence).
Pink Label Congo is set out to be a line that empowers women and makes them feel their best when wearing it. In the future that is what Anifa hopes to keep achieving with her designs(Teen Vogue). In the next 5 years, she hopes to open a manufacturing company where she helps emerge designers like herself and find resources to thrive in the industry.
If you want to follow Anifa on her socials:
instagram: @anifam @hanifaofficial
twitter: @AnifaM
Featured Photo Courtesy of Dream In HD
Works Cited
Brown, Kailyn. “Hanifa Founder Plots next Move after Virtual Fashion Show.” Los Angeles Times, 5 Sept. 2020, http://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2020-09-04/fashion-game-changer-3-d-runway-shows-future-hanifa-anifa-mvuemba.
Howard, Nandi. “How Anifa Mvuemba Reset The Fashion Industry.” Essence, 18 Mar. 2021, http://www.essence.com/feature/how-anifa-mvuemba-reset-the-fashion-industry.
Mau, Dhani. “Hanifa’s Anifa Mvuemba Couldn’t Get the Fashion Industry’s Support. Turns Out She Didn’t Need It.” Fashionista, 8 Sept. 2020, fashionista.com/2020/09/anifa-mvuemba-hanifa-clothing-3d-fashion-show.
Tinson, Teddy. “A Fashion Model For the Moment.” The New York Times, 10 July 2020, http://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/style/hanifa-pink-congo-avatar.html.
Ware, Asia Milia. “Teen Vogue Generation Next Designer Anifa Mvuemba Is Dedicated to Creating Space for Young Black Women.” Teen Vogue, 20 Sept. 2019, http://www.teenvogue.com/story/hanifa-teen-vogue-generation-next.
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