Senait Mario stokes up African pride with travel fashion show •Says Nigerians are hospitable

SENAIT Mario says her love for Africa is dynamic and she will go any length, using her passion to promote its cultural pride.

Mario, is a fashion designer and promoter of African fabric and traditional attires.

Born in Wolaita Soddo, 380km from the capital of Ethiopia-Addis Ababa, Dr Mario’s passion and quest to take the sights and sounds of Africa’s pride to the next level, moved to one of the world’s capital of fashion, Milan, Italy, where she has been for the past 10 years.

Her recent trip to Nigeria for an aviation seminar, organised by the StayUp Aviation Institute of Technology, where she was honoured with a PhD, did not only avail her first-hand information of Nigeria but also gave her the opportunity to feel and see, visit the city of firsts, Ibadan, but also taste and eat some of the local delicacies of Nigeria.

Speaking to Travelpulse&MICE on her visit, Dr Mario said Nigeria was blessed with cultural diversity with a very hospitable people. “Nigerians are hospitable people and I have confirmed this through my first visit, though my stay was short, I have seen more than enough to quench the wild fire of Western stereotype about Nigeria and Africa.

“We have more strength than weakness; our potentialities are limitless, our culture is bold and beautiful, we are the people the world is waiting for if we tell our stories ourselves and that is the path I have chosen with my travel fashion show.

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Speaking on Africa’s rich clothing history and ingenuity, Dr Mario said African clothing was not a necessity for warmth or protection throughout of the African continent because of the consistently warm weather. Many people, especially men, did not wear any clothing at all and instead decorated their bodies with paint or scars. When Africans started wearing clothes, evidence suggests that animal skins and bark clothes were the first materials used. It is unknown when these readily available materials were first utilised, but they were used to make simple aprons to cover the genitals or large robes to drape around the body

“Later many cultures developed weaving techniques to produce beautiful clothes; raffia, the fibre of a palm plant and cotton were common materials used to weave fabric. At first, cloth was woven by hand and later looms (weaving devices) were created to make more complicated fabrics. Men and women worked together to produce fabric for clothing, with men weaving the fabric and women decorating it in many cultures. Perhaps the most well known fabrics were the intricately woven cotton.”

This, however, was Dr Mario’s lead to her clothes line as a designer and a model, which she has been promoting for a decade. She works with hand-woven cotton and patterned textiles which are traditionally reserved for special occasions.

Recently in Wolayta Soddo, Ethiopia, models walked the runway at One Peace Fashion, an annual showcase of ready-to-wear attires from different parts of Africa, where well-known weaving is still evident till date.

One Peace Fashion show which featured six Ethiopian designers was opened by the organiser of the event, an Ethiopian-born Italian citizen, Dr Mario.

“We can promote peace and unity through fashion and it’s important for us to have the freedom and ability to express exactly who we are and where we are from through the fashion.”

According to Dr Mario, African fashion is more than animal prints, mud cloth and cowry shells so it can be taken as valued source of serious fashion.

“African fashion industry is still at the infancy of its promotion. What we should do is work on a large scale promotion campaign and the offices of culture and tourism ministers in Africa should support and encourage the fashion designers across Africa in the advocacy.

“Clothing industry today has become global interest with multinational companies seeking new options to. Despite all its profitable resources, Ethiopia remains unnoticed in the global textile arena.

“Ethiopia has enormous prospects for garment exports. Despite its potential, development of its textile sector has been constrained over the years. Lack of modern technology, bureaucratic policies, financial constraints, mismanagement and inadequate infrastructure has shrunk the industry’s growth, but God willing, we hope things will change for the better through advocating the development of the industry as well as making it a priority in the African agenda. We too on our part are not leaving any stone unturned and that is why we are putting more efforts in what we do.”

Personalities at the fashion show include the State Minister of Culture and Tourism, Bizunesh Meseret, vice-president of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region, Getahun Garedew; Wolayta Soddo zone adminstrator, Dagato Kumbe; Soddo Town Adminstrator, Hanjallo Dessie; Addis Abeaba City women, children and youth affairs head adminstrator, Almaz Berihe; Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region Children and Youth Affairs head adminstrator, Atsede Ayza; head, Aquarious Aviation, Frehiywot Tessema; CEO, Meseret Humaniterian Organisation, Meseret Arage; head, Southern Nations Nationalities And People Region Cultural and Tourism Office, Seble delegates from Italy.