On it’s website, Vogue has a tab for this summer’s ethical and sustainable fashion labels that you should know. But before I clicked on these designers, I took a look closer to home, specifically at Scottish born Ann McCreath’s Kenyan “radically chic” fashion brand KikoRomeo. Started in 1996, McCreath explains that the very roots of KikoRomeo were to work with community groups. “It was way before anybody was talking about ethical fashion. Ethical fashion hadn’t even been invented as a name; fair trade had, but not ethical fashion. But it was right from the beginning the foundation and the whole reason for coming into existence.”

I met Ann McCreath at her Nairobi office and workshop on a busy Tuesday, and as she acknowledged, during a busy month. I couldn’t help noticing, well first her Scottish accent, but then her unique style, wearing a blue African printed sleeveless blouse, and chunky ethnic necklace. She exuded everything that was fashionable, cultural and business- headed. Walking the walk, talking the talk, McCreath worked as an aid worker for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF or Doctors Without Borders) (http://www.msf.org/) in Angola and then Kenya. Being frustrated in the emergency sector had her slipping into a more suitable wardrobe, hence fashion designing. Making clothes for her dolls in rural Scotland, was a keen initiation to her future and while studying at Koefia in Rome, and then working in Milan and Barcelona as a designer and cutter, she gathered exclusive experiences that would later become the blueprint for KikoRomeo, “Spain has a lot of color in its fashion, there’s a lot of individualism in fashion,” says McCreath, “I’ve always been sensitive to color and I think the Spanish interpretation of fashion was not to be scared to wear color, not scared to be bold in your prints. That, I think had a big impact.”

And for sure, one can see the impact it has had on her fashion line. KikoRomeo’s style is angled and bold, there are dark backgrounds with captivating patches of color. As McCreath also studied the art of cutting, she has taken influences from Galliano and Issey Myiake, who she says had different ways of cutting. They have inspired her to create hemlines that can be cut diagonally generating splashes of texture within the design. She emphasizes how cuts should always flatter the body and look good, “crazy good.”

Using cotton, West African prints, kanga, cotton knit, Ugandan organic jersey and conservation silk make up KikoRomeo’s high quality line.

Lastly, I can speak for the Africhic team, that we don’t only enjoy her style, how she works with fashion and the fashion community, but also how she works with the community.

KikoRomeo meaning Adams apple in Swahili is a Kenyan brand flourishing for its hip, Nairobi style but also making its name as one of the top local, socially conscious brands.

After the post election violence of 2007 and 2008 in Kenya, McCreath, while at a fashion show in Cameroon, was challenged to counterbalance the turmoil, to put her creative sense of style back in touch with her aid working skills. And here is what I mean, by walking the walk, talking the talk: McCreath founded this fashion festival in 2008, to bring together vibrant designing talent, creating awareness locally and abroad and empowering Kenyan designers, artists and tailors. “I rounded up friends and whoever I heard of that I felt had a variety of background in fashion, art, music, and business, and who came from different countries, not just Kenya. We all came together to form a strong team to be able to pull off an event.” The panel consisted of South Africa’s Thula Sindi, Nairobi’s Kooroo, Mombassa’s LaLesso and Ghana’s Kofi Ansah, just to name a few.

So while I know that ethical fashion is making its statement, and designers are scurrying to make their mark, KikoRomeo, is proudly standing ahead of the line in the race. But that’s not the reason people are buying her designs. McCreath believes that her end product has to stand on its own two feet. “You want someone buying from you from respect, they love your product, they love the artistry in it and if its also ethical at the same time in the production process, so much the better.”

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