Designers Jacques Bam and Muyishime Edi Patrick jointly crowned "Designers Africa Fashion Up 2022".

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On Friday September 16, at the end of an exceptional fashion show held at the Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild in Paris, the Africa Fashion Up jury named two ex-aequo winners from the five finalist designers: young South African designer Jacques Bam and Rwandan designer Muyishime Edi Patrick. Each was named "Designer Africa Fashion Up 2022". Created on the initiative of Valérie Ka, international top model,
Africa Fashion Up is conceived as both a program and a fashion show, with the aim of supporting Africa's flourishing contemporary fashion scene. The event was supported by partners Balenciaga, Binance Charity, Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann, Sisley and HEC Paris, and media partners Trace, Brut, France Médias Monde, Brune magazine and 35°Nord.

Jacques Bam and Muyishime Edi Patrick won over the jury not only with the quality of the pieces they presented, but also with the strong markers of their style, their concept of sustainability and their textured, colorful cuts.

The collections of the two winners were presented during the show alongside those of the other winners of this 2022 edition: Jean-Cédric Sow (Congo), Mina Binebine (Morocco) and Ibrahim Fernandez (Côte d'Ivoire). Emmanuel Okoro, Designer Africa Fashion Up 2021 (Nigeria) and Clarisse Hieraix (France) also took part in the show as guest designers.

During their stay in Paris, the five prizewinners participated in four days of behind-the-scenes fashion immersion through a series of visits. The haute couture house Balenciaga opened its doors to these talented creators, and its teams had the opportunity to give them masterclasses. The prizewinners also visited the leading luxury houses Galeries Lafayette and Sisley, where they were welcomed by the management teams. In addition, Binance Charity interviewed the prizewinners and broadcasted these interviews via its very popular social media accounts. Finally, the designers had the honor of speaking at a round table dedicated to Luxury in Africa, organized by the Master Marketing New Luxury and Art de vivre at Sciences Po Paris.

Next step for all Africa Fashion Up 2022 winners: they will follow a specialized management training module delivered by the HEC Paris business school, and benefit from four months' of personalized support from Balenciaga as part of an extended mentoring program. What's more, the Leridon Collection is making a commitment to African design by including, for the first time in its collection, a selection of the prizewinners' outfits, which will be exhibited around the world.

"On behalf of the Share Africa team and all the partners of the 2022 edition of Africa Fashion Up, we'd like to congratulate all the designers who took part in this superb adventure, and in particular the big winners, Jacques Bam and Muyishime Edi Patrick. Together, these five winners and the two designers who took part in the show have made African creativity shine," says Valérie Ka, international top model, founder of Share Africa and initiator of Africa Fashion Up. "My thanks also goes out to all the partners who supported this second edition, in particular Balenciaga, Binance Charity and HEC Paris, who presented the prizes to the designers".