Originally from the DR Congo, fashion designer Kapinga Bash will showcase her spring-summer 2016 collection at the Alternative Art Gallery (707 N. 4th St., Allentown, Pa.). Bash is the founder and owner of Mode and the Kapy Bash for Mothers and Children Charity in the DR Congo. She has been designing custom clothing and accessories in African materials since 1989.
Kapy Bash Mode opened the brand name in Montpellier, France, in 1992. The company has participated in several fashion shows and the Miss Black France celebration. She moved back to the Congo in 1996 to participate in several TV shows and radio shows. They dressed several dignitaries and politician’s wives. The clothes are available at www.kapybashmode.com.
Now back in the U.S., Bash has developed a cause behind her fashion line that goes hand and hand with her nonprofit charity, the Kapy Bash for Mothers and Children. Her mission is to assist women and children in rural communities of DR Congo. Every purchase made allows the brand to provide medical care, food and clean water to the population at risk in the DR Congo. The upcoming event will be a fusion of fashion and fundraising. Tickets are available at eventbite.com.
From Japan, Musette 1991 showed a beautiful collection for spring-summer 2016. Her collection was an actual blend of women’s “momeries”—moments that marked the designer Cristina Batlan’s life and the life she imagined having in Japan in the Dalmation Coast in the 1970s. “There is much to say about an interior that attracts and intrigues,” said the designer. In fashion, there are no rules. “Only what is inside matters,” she says. “It’s what drives real character.”
For spring-summer 2016, the story is about the modern woman who needs an identity. There is a protest about fashion rules. The collection offered many multilayered looks as well as materials with metallic and mirror-like finishes. Styles allowed light to penetrate and change their colors. Her techniques were innovative and futuristic.