{"id":9601,"date":"2014-02-13T15:42:57","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T19:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/?p=9601"},"modified":"2014-02-13T15:42:57","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13T19:42:57","slug":"q-africa-farai-simoyi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/q-africa-farai-simoyi\/","title":{"rendered":"Q &amp; Africa &#124; Farai Simoyi"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"afric-3159900979\" class=\"afric-before-content afric-entity-placement\"><amp-ad width=300 height=250\r\n    style=\"text-align:center;\" type=\"doubleclick\"\r\n    data-slot=\"\/21718337565\/AMP-Banner\">\r\n  <div placeholder><\/div>\r\n  <div fallback><\/div>\r\n<\/amp-ad>\r\n<\/div><p><a href=\"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/media01\/2013\/12\/QandAfrica.jpg\" rel=\"mfp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8954 alignleft lazyload\" alt=\"QandAfrica\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/media01\/2013\/12\/QandAfrica.jpg\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><strong>Farai Simoyi<\/strong> was born in London, England, the child of Zimbabwean parents. She lived in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she got her first taste of textiles and fashion, (from her aunt\u2019s lingerie company at age five).\u00a0 Her aunt would give her scraps of fabric, which Farai would sew together by hand to make clothes for both her and her dolls.\u00a0 And, thus, her passion for fashion was born.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>After\u00a0<span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">studying at <strong>Nuovo Accademia Di Belle Arti<\/strong> in Milan, Italy<\/span><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">, <strong>Farai<\/strong> moved to New York City, where she was quickly promoted to technical designer. She was also exposed to the cut-throat technical underside of fashion, coming to appreciate that there is a science to the art.\u00a0 Struggling to find a balance between working for a large brand and working on projects of her own, <strong>Farai<\/strong> was also featured on a television show, TLC\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ve Got Nothing to wear!\u201d\u00a0 In addition, <strong>Farai<\/strong> was invited to participate in, \u201cStyle Wars,\u201d a style competition that presents young designers and their Avant Garde designs to the public. \u00a0<\/span><\/p><div id=\"afric-1532039899\" class=\"afric-inbody afric-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><!-- \/21718337565\/AFW300 -->\r\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1609524218907-0' style='width: 300px; height: 250px;'>\r\n  <script>\r\n    googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1609524218907-0'); });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0With her dues paid in the technical fashion circle, <strong>Farai<\/strong> was able to break into the forefront and was hired as a designer for a major denim company.\u00a0 Seeing her designs worn by the masses on the streets of New York only further galvanized her drive to bring her vision to the public through her own line. \u00a0<strong>Farai Simoyi<\/strong> debuted her Spring\/Summer 2011 collection at NYC Fashion Week in September 2010. Calling her new brand \u2018<strong>FARAI<\/strong>\u2019 a representation of Soft\/Steel\/Bohemian\u201d, it is a symbiotic juxtaposition of the styles and experiences gained in Africa, Appalachia, Europe and the streets of NYC.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">AFWNY: What is your brands production process? (i.e. Do you manufacture or do you use cooperatives?)<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Farai Simoyi:<\/strong> Our brand is a part of Made in NYC. We produce and manufacture all of our products in factories based in NYC.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/media01\/2014\/02\/africanfashion11.jpg\" rel=\"mfp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9604 aligncenter lazyload\" alt=\"africanfashion1\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/media01\/2014\/02\/africanfashion11-1024x1024.jpg\" width=\"614\" height=\"614\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">AFWNY.com: What makes your brand luxurious?<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Farai Simoyi:\u00a0<\/strong>What makes our brand luxurious are the individual relationships we build with each one of our customers. We ensure that the quality and presentation of our products are top notch. With that, all of our customers have become repeat customers and loyal fans of the brand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/media01\/2014\/02\/africanfashion21.jpg\" rel=\"mfp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9605 aligncenter lazyload\" alt=\"africanfashion2\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/media01\/2014\/02\/africanfashion21-1024x1024.jpg\" width=\"645\" height=\"645\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">AFWNY.com: Where are you from? How has this influenced your designs?<\/h4>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Farai Simoyi:\u00a0<\/strong>Born in London England, raised in Zimbabwe as a child, raised in West Virginia as a young adult, and now living in NYC has shaped\u00a0 who I am and influenced my work. I extract bits &amp; pieces from all of my life experiences and formulate them into my brand.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/media01\/2014\/02\/africanfashion31.jpg\" rel=\"mfp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9606 aligncenter lazyload\" alt=\"africanfashion3\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" data-src=\"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/newyork\/media01\/2014\/02\/africanfashion31-1024x1024.jpg\" width=\"645\" height=\"645\" \/><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>You can purchase Farai Simoyi here:\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.faraisimoyi.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.faraisimoyi.com\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Follow Farai Simoyi on Twitter @: FaraiSimoyi\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>MIA Facebook: \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/faraisimoyi1\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/faraisimoyi1<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>by Omoefe Ajueyitsi<\/p>\n<div id=\"afric-515723367\" class=\"afric-after-content afric-entity-placement\"><amp-ad width=300 height=250\r\n    style=\"text-align:center;\" type=\"doubleclick\"\r\n    data-slot=\"\/21718337565\/AMP-bottom\">\r\n  <div placeholder><\/div>\r\n  <div fallback><\/div>\r\n<\/amp-ad><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Farai Simoyi was born in London, England, the child of Zimbabwean parents. She lived in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she got her first taste of textiles and fashion, (from her aunt\u2019s lingerie company at age five).\u00a0 Her aunt would give her scraps of fabric, which Farai would sew together by hand to make clothes for both&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9607,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,73,75],"tags":[88,101,76,78,79,89,170,2161,103,1430,201,104,94,2581,2582,12,581,2583,1168,1169,25,86,1736,1419,1739,2584,383,1741,692,2585,946,2586,1032,2587,418],"class_list":["post-9601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afw","category-made","category-news","tag-adiree","tag-adiree-events","tag-adiree-pr","tag-adiree-public-relations","tag-adiree-public-relations-in-new-york","tag-africa","tag-african","tag-african-design","tag-african-designer","tag-african-influences","tag-african-inspired","tag-african-luxury","tag-afwny","tag-appalchia","tag-avant-garde","tag-beauty","tag-black-fashion","tag-england","tag-farai","tag-farai-simoyi","tag-fashion","tag-fashion-africa","tag-fashion-design","tag-fashion-designer","tag-italy","tag-itlay","tag-london","tag-milan","tag-new-york","tag-nuovo-accademia-di-belle-arti","tag-nyc","tag-tlc","tag-uk","tag-west-virginia","tag-zimbabwe"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/africafashionweek.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}