Five years ago Juan Nsabiye took a leap of faith and moved from his home city of Bujumbura to Kigali. “I just wanted a fresh start away from Bujumbura and Kigali happened to be the closest city, the now 26-year-old budding designer tells Florence Kyohangire of EA Scene. “I wasn’t planning yet to start a fashion brand. I was rather just exploring the possibilities around Kigali.”
Now, Nsabiye is enjoying a cult following of some of Kigali’s elites, who turn to him for bespoke tailored suits.
In this interview with EA Scene he talks about all his influences and what it means to work in fashion.
On how he ended up in fashion
I didn’t choose fashion as a career, it found me. At first I was doing the designs for myself, then it went from that to me designing for my close friends that liked it, and later people I met would ask me where I buy my suits and wanted the same, and I would tell them, “Oh I made it myself“, then they would ask me to make for them. That’s how it started. I then started making accessories and adding them to these suits, then moved on to creating small collections, and now here we are. I have come from just loving fashion and being passionate about arts to becoming a designer.
Head to EA Scene here for the full story.
Photos by @ugnomads
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