Hanifa (Q4234)
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Hanifa is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Hanifa |
Hanifa is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Hanifa is now in its fourth season, and after a viral digital presentation during the pandemic and a much talked about runway presentation just under a year ago in Washington D.C., Anifa Mvuemba is looking to hone her skills and expand her label at her own pace. “I’m still discovering myself as a designer, so I’ve just been trying different things and expanding with manipulations and techniques,” she said of her tightly edited fall collection.This season finds Mvuemba in an explorative mood, which explains why the delivery is particularly knitwear focused–knitwear has become a popular vehicle for smaller brands interested in playing with novelty. New in the category are brushed mohair bodycon dresses (which offered a compelling, if perhaps niche, interpretation of a popular knitwear trend at the moment), a one-sleeved cardigan dress in the same fabric, and a techy sheer black knit with teal accents. Most interesting was a tight-rib knit that she pleated into bodycon dresses and skirts. Wide-legged nylon trousers which she described as “basically sweatpants,” a trench and matching trousers cut in faux leather, and a corset—it seems as if corsets have become as commonplace in young women’s wardrobes as simple turtlenecks—played support roles to the knitwear in the assortment.Mvuemba releases her collections under a see-now-buy-now structure, so she gets to see what customers are looking at and offer alternatives. This is highly beneficial, but it means she must tread lightly in order to find a balance between being on-message and offering a distinct point of view. “I dislike the pressures of the industry to have this elaborate explanation of why you’re creating what you’re creating,” she explained, saying that for fall she was thinking of her clients. “We’re constantly getting emails and DMs about the next one, and maybe right now we can’t give them another 30-piece collection, but we can give them 10 or 12 looks and go at our own pace,” she said. “I don’t want to overwork my team, I’m just being realistic, this made sense for the time and where we currently are as a business.”
17 October 2022
Live Out Loud is the title of Anifa Mvuemba’s summer 2022 offer for Hanifa, the Washington D.C.-based label that came to the industry’s attention after her viral Pink Label Congo 3-D runway show debuted on Instagram Live in May of 2020. “A lot of what I do at Hanifa is in sync with me and my individual growth,” said the designer during a preview of the collection at the filming of the video that is premiering tonight. “We have been growing, and I wanted this to represent that growth.”Over the last two years, Hanifa has gone from being an online brand to a stalwart member of the American fashion landscape. Not only do its drops often sell out, but it’s become a celebrity favorite worn by the likes of Beyoncé, Gabrielle Union, and Sarah Jessica Parker, and it was a recipient of the 2021 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. With this collection, Mvuemba came ready to make note of that shift from “emerging” to established. “Last year [in D.C.] was a dream come true, this is about stepping into the dream and living it,” Mvuemba said.The collection itself is an explosion of color that successfully balances the contemporary aesthetic Mvuemba has developed with the myriad of trends that have emerged over the past year. There’s baggy cargo pants, chunky bodycon knits, cutouts, and the sexy Y2K-ish sensibility that has spread throughout fashion. Some of these shapes are a welcome departure for Mvuemba, an expansion of her design language and a statement to the growth she speaks of. “I’m in a place where I don’t want to make excuses,” she said reflecting on the past year, “I’m a designer, and I want to be recognized as such, not for the ‘Instagram thing’ or as the ‘Black girl.’”Monochromatic outfits in intense colors showed off Hanifa’s technical growth. The fit is precise across the wide range of bodies Mvuemba cast for both video and lookbook, and her draping is organic, remarkable in its lightness. Where she really shined was in the addition of corsetry. A corseted button-down mini dress with a half corset-half draped torso stood out, as did a corset with exposed silk-covered boning paired with a napkin folded skirt. “We really wanted to master corsets and boning,” Mvuemba said, “we’ve been trying for years, but I hope this time we got it right.”Mvuemba wants to expand into a more formal offering, so she has been exploring fabrics in the space.
“I want to be recognized as a global luxury brand without losing our core customer, that’s the gap I’m looking to close here, to grow with our customer.” This desire is reflected not only in the collection’s evening wear, but in her expansion into footwear. The finale, a skillfully tiered and layered ruffle gown with feather accents, was particularly striking. A fitted cowl neck gown also hit the spot.“I wanted to take this collection back to our focus on women’s bodies and the female shape,” she said as a model tried on the last gown, “to give something a little different and truly show my range.”
22 June 2022
Anifa Mvuemba is often described as an emerging designer for the simple reason that her trajectory hasn’t followed the industry’s conventional track. Before her first show last night, she played a short film to remind us of Hanifa’s past 10 years, from her self-taught beginnings in 2011 to establishing her team in Washington, D.C., and creating her viral 3-D fashion show during the pandemic. Along with a growing list of retailers and celebrity fans—including Beyoncé, Zendaya, and Tracee Ellis Ross—that digital moment was the boost of confidence and support she needed to make her official runway debut.Hundreds of guests gathered at the National Portrait Gallery for the occasion, many of them local friends and fans of Mvuemba’s; editors from New York made up just a tiny minority. It wasn’t the only deviation from the norm. The crowd was considerably more diverse than what you see in New York or Europe, comprised of predominantly Black women and men in exuberant Hanifa originals: jewel-tone suits, slinky ribbed-knit dresses, and the label’s signature second-skin boots.There were cheers and applause from the first look out: a glossy sapphire patent leather trench worn by a curve model that was among Mvuemba’s new outerwear experiments—a leather coat and faux furs came later on. The collection’s asymmetrical shirtdresses, knit columns, and sculpted separates hit her sweet spot. They were audacious yet truly wearable clothes. A curve-hugging jersey maxi could be glammed way up or worn with sneakers, ditto the belted saffron suit. A silvery button-down and patent trousers likewise captured the mix of serious glam and serious ease that Mvuemba’s customer is craving. As every look glided past, the quality of construction and fit—tailored to models of varying sizes—stood out. Backstage, Mvuemba explained that the pandemic gave her team extra time to refine and edit.“Every look, every little detail reminds me of something we’ve done in the past 10 years,” she added. While those ribbed dresses and ruched shirts felt familiar, a burnout column with sheer panels tracing the body was a new development for her team. “We sampled that so many times,” she said. It was a winning glimpse into her brand’s future, more so than the shaggy knit dresses with trailing threads or the OTT eveningwear looks.As with any debut, there were a few snags here and there, from the hour-long delay to the odd decision to style each look with a sheer, no doubt ineffective face mask.
It emphasized another departure from the “main shows” in New York and Europe: Proof of vaccination was not required to attend, and most of the audience went mask-less. On a positive note, we also didn’t see the usual blitz of editors racing to the door after the finale; once Mvuemba took her bow, everyone hung around, clinked Champagne, and discussed the pieces they’re saving up for. Many will be available on Hanifa’s website this Friday; the vivid knit dresses will likely be the first to sell out.
17 November 2021