Vogue.com lists ten notable designers from the Hub of Africa Fashion Week – Korie Minors works behind the scenes with one of them.

He met Alexander Akande in university in England. Korie was studying architecture; Alexander, an artist from Cameroon, was studying international business. They combined their talents and created a successful line of T-shirts and suit jackets under the name Alexander Akande.

“I left the UK and he went back to Cameroon. We continued the brand while he was over there, sort of thinking what that was and what that would look like for the next few years,” said Korie, who did it all while pursuing an architecture career and building a name for himself as an international record producer, recording artist and DJ.

“[Alexander] is the main designer but we consult on everything that we put out, especially for the big shows.”

When the brand hit the runway for Hub of Africa Fashion Week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in January, Korie was there.

As described by Vogue: “The brand is a fusion of clothing and jewellery inspired by all the elements of the African continent, from its jungles and forests to its music, art, and culture.”

Alexander Akande’s first show was in Cameroon in 2015. As the brand developed, they were asked to join fashion week in Kenya and then came the invitation to be part of Hub of Africa.

Much of their collaboration is online. Alexander presents conceptual sketches and together they determine the best materials to use and which designs should go on show.

The drawings are then sent to tailors in Cameroon who create a sample, which then goes back to the two men for approval. Only after all that is a line born and a new show possible. They are then freed up to begin the process all over again.

The partnership works because they approach design from different perspectives, Korie believes. Alexander is also a branding consultant, and has worked with big corporations like Jameson, Ballentine’s and TotalEnergies, as well as smaller startups.

“He’s looking at it from a truly artistic perspective. And then I'm looking at it with the design concepts of an architect,” Korie said.

“I think with the architectural training, my creativity from architecture comes into play when it has to do with fashion and music. It's all about structure, in a way – and it’s the same with fashion. So once you understand the principles it’s sort of easy to move between the different mediums. Maybe that's just something that I'm good at or have a knack for but I think it's an easy transition when you have the fundamentals.”

Although he has “always been interested in fashion” Korie draws the line at calling himself fashionable as his clothes never get more adventurous than grey, black and brown.

The write-up in Vogue took the pair “completely by surprise”.

“We got the invite to Ethiopia Fashion Week and decided that [I should make the trip] because it was a bigger show, a little more moving parts and I had some time in my schedule to make it out. So I did,” Korie said.

As it happened, a representative from Vogue Italia was present and approached them asking for an interview, which the fashion magazine put on its website as part of a feature on emerging African designers.

“That feature was then placed on the Vogue.com website, which is a pretty big deal for us because that kind of recognition is super important in this world and it's been a long time coming; the hard work is paying off,” Korie said.

Back in university, the T-shirts he and Alexander designed were never intended to be the start of something big.

“It was more of a passion project because we both were very creative individuals.”

The zippers on their suit jackets made them stand out. The plan is to incorporate them in new designs that will be unveiled at Ethiopia Fashion Week next year.

Korie’s ultimate goal is to one day bring it all to Bermuda and help designers struggling to make a name for themselves here.

“There is no longer a fashion week here and so the goal is to develop another fashion week in Bermuda because I think there is a void here and I don't know why that is. I don’t know if it’s a financial thing, if it's Covid or if it's the industry shifting in Bermuda,” he said.

“I think the creative spaces are definitely growing from what they were before but that's through photography and that's through painting and drawing art. But through fashion, I think there are very talented people in the island and they don't have a platform any more to really showcase their work.”

The connections he is developing through events such as the fashion week in Ethiopia will give him the opportunity to showcase Bermudian designers at shows in Africa and bring African designers here, Korie added.

Meanwhile, his music is keeping step with it all.

“I did all the runway music for the brand show, I did the visuals for the show. Other designers saw the work and I was approached by a couple designers to produce their music for future runway shows.”

As such, his music took over the runway at Moscow Fashion Week at the beginning of this month and was featured in videos attached to the event as well as Moscow Fashion Week News.

“It was pretty incredible,” he said.

“And then there's another designer Masa Mara, who's a well known designer in South Africa – I'm going to be producing his music for one of his next shows as well. He focuses more on political awareness and [uses] very bold colours. His show in Ethiopia was incredible.”

The experience is one he will likely never forget.

“We all connected as fellow designers, creatives and individuals. It was a beautiful thing, really, I think. So I encourage people to really step outside their comfort zone and go to places to network and build these relationships because sometimes it's very difficult to develop that just staying on island.”

Visit www.alexanderakande.com/