Emerging Ghanaian label Onyansani’s celebrating Ghana’s Hausa heritage with its new Spring 16/17 collection ‘Kaunaa’. The label’s press notes describe the inspiration behind the collection as thus.
We at Onyansani have nurtured our brand to be a beacon in fashion. A symbol that urges us all to strive, to create and to innovate. we present to you our SS16 /17 look book titled Kaunaa in Hausa meaning Love.
As an introductory capsule collection, Kaunaa is only marginally interesting. The collection only has five basic pieces, all variations and iterations of the Hausa style Kaftan. The creative director behind the brand uses embroidery in Ghana’s national colours to line the neckline and placket of the Kaftan and tunics, and experiments with cropped Nwentoma style smocks for women. The styling helps sell the idea of a nomadic lifestyle and ‘Hausa’ love.
However there is little originality in concept or design, a common problem that plagues many emerging brands. In the case of Onyansani, the lack of originality is crippling, disallowing us to gauge the collection solely on the merit of the craftmanship of the designer. Onyansani needs to go back to the drawing board and decide for itself what it considers design, from a practical point of view and put that towards its next collection.
