Dakar's most stylish woman – Khadija Ba - video Dailymotion

Senegalese fashion designer Khadija Ba is all about giving retro designs a new twist, including the iconic boubou! Take a look

Transcript

00:00Hadidja Ba is busy stitching up a revolution in her quest to bring back the golden age of Senegalese

00:10style she is revolutionizing the traditional boo-boo but this I think coming from my grandma

00:17she used to come like to ceremony wearing like a boo-boo and fur or something like that so I

00:23think that fashion has always been into me because I used to make my my clothes and my

00:29accessories but back in the days you know my cousin or like my friends used to say that I'm goofy I

00:35used to wear like big accessories I used to work like a lot of bracelets I used to wear like big

00:40necklace and everything let's find out why Senegal's most stylish woman who studied business law and

00:47luxury brand management in France has made old man fashion hip stable in the car I have my I call it

00:56a cultural slap when I was in France actually I went to a manufacturer manufacturer and the guy

01:04said oh this is luxury because it's handmade and I said no it's not I've never had that perception

01:11that it was like luxury a year after returning to the car and acclimatizing she started tinkering

01:18with the idea of stitching a story into the fabric of her country Lati's son was born her chosen weapon the

01:27boo-boo a classic piece of the Senegalese dressing which she believes is a time capsule that allows this who

01:35wear it to relieve their childhood and remind them of times they used to dream of the future I think that fashion has

01:44always been my thing since I'm a kid for me like design is also playful so maybe it's the playful part

01:51and the traditional part who made them interesting I swear my grandpa's boo-boo and I am a lot I don't

02:02know I'm a lot like obsessed by embroidery I used to not think that handmade was luxury so I think it's

02:10important for the future generation to know that handmade is luxury handmade takes time handmade is

02:17important it's not because it's made in Medina that it's not like luxury I wanted to show people the value

02:25of things the value of a fabric the value of keeping tradition alive this is why you have like that handmade

02:33handcrafted part in my work to keep the tradition alive Lati then is made in Dakar made in Senegal made

02:40in Africa it's important to have like like a Maison Mer like the the the house of of Lati's and here in

02:48in Senegal even though you would have like Lati's and in Lagos or Johannesburg her designs fly off the

02:56shelf not just to clients in the capital but to other capitals around the world from Lagos to New

03:03York Paris and even Sydney I've never imagined that my clothes or my boo-boos even though it's not Naomi

03:12Campbell people are gonna like it because people used to say that I'm goofy she's awkward things like

03:17that when Lupita or Naomi wear the boo-boos they were like a part like one part of Senegal one part of

03:25Africa I'm very grateful for it and sometimes I'm also like I have like mixed opinion Africans they need

03:33also people like you they need like celebrities to wear a brand to assume it because for example the

03:41camouflage boo-boo like it was been here like for three years nobody wear it and then when now me

03:46wear it it like oh it's sold out so it's also a question like to know why we need like validation

03:54as Hadija plays with ideas patterns and different cuts she uses her creations as a statement championing

04:04for Africa its story its resilience and its products with one clear message to stay fierce and unapologetic