Ntwitwaso, one of the emerging brands that collaborated with print wax manufacturer Da Viva for their KsiFW showcase had a limited canvas to work with. The explosion of the boutique brand has sped up the life cycle of African inspired wax prints in Africa and forced many of the manufacturers to create specialist prints to attract designers and luxury retailers to return their focus to ankara. This partnership seems one of those efforts.
If so, the label disappoints sorely.
In spite of the flexibility that creating a mixed (menswear and women’s wear) collection gives, the collection cycles through all the tropes anyone familiar with designs that lean heavily on Ankara can easily identify with. Such as basic silhouettes fancied up with appliqued prints and vice versa and the occasional body con dress. It is all so familiar that the entire thing is already starting to meld into the usual fare of ‘wedding’ style that we peruse in the weekly underground fashion magazines.
Perhaps Ntwitwaso is better suited as a mass market brand, as there is a huge market for this kind of design. But in light of the spectacular work designers like Boabab and Nicoline GH brought to the KsiFW showcase, the label’s work pales in comparison.
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