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Tafadzwa Zimoyo Fashion Talk 263
Happy New Year and happy fashion style !!!. Remember, every New Year we dream of a better world for us. This year, let us take up the onus to make the world a better place for you, me and everyone else.

I am happy to take over this column from my role models, successors or mentors if I can put it.

For long, I have been yearning for an opportunity to express, share my fashion world to the world.

I am not new to the empire by the way but it was a matter of time.

With this in mind, I am re-branding the column to Fashion Talk 263.

We breathe, talk and walk fashion, so why not?

One fashionista once said: “You either know fashion or you don’t.”

As it appears to be the season for re-branding, allow me to reinvent myself as “Boss of Fashion”.

Welcome to the revolution that has never been televised.

To me, fashion is about dressing according to what’s trendy while style is more about being yourself.

Most people think fashion is something that exists in clothes only but they are wrong.

“Fashion is in the sky, in the street, it has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening,” said Coco Chanel.

As serious as fashion can be, there’s no denying it’s also a form of entertainment, and sometimes that entertainment comes not with clothes, but with words spoken by people who’ve had an impact on the industry

The fashion world is one of expediency in which few utterances of any kind can be taken seriously.

And when it comes to fashion writers or bloggers, the truth is, there are precious few who have an opinion and are proud to express it.

In fact, there are less than half a dozen.

And that’s because the sanctions for speaking truth are severe, because if they are not, the entire self-congratulatory, smoke and mirrors, houses of fashion could collapse into an unedifying cream.

In the past, the slapping down of expert opinion was done by paid public officers (with varying degrees of style).

By the way, that never existed in Zimbabwe.

The designer was considered far too grand to personally deal with such less majesty.

But fashion desperately needs its “Fourth Estate” just as much as Government.

And attempts to silence it are nothing more than bullying and must be resisted by all in the fashion world, for the good of the fashion world.

Indeed, this is one of the key reasons why fashion is not in a good place today.

Whereas most art forms are kept on their toes by informed commentary, the fashion world has virtually none.

Enough of the branding, fashion war . . . back to business.

This week, I am starting off with knowing your identity when it comes to fashion.

I mean the label that sticks to you.

Fashions come, fashions go, but a great brand name is always in style.

You should know that you have the right to focus on your brand.

A successful fashion label will transcend your name, even if you name the company after yourself.

“Figuring out which naming strategy will work best means first figuring out your brand positioning,” said Leah Mumbwandarika — an international recognised fashion designer.

She went on to say: “You must carefully define your attitude, your particular sense of style and fashion, and what sets you apart from the other labels.”

However, a lot of fashion names come and go quickly because the clothing, brand, and name are dated to a particular moment in time.

There was a time when labels like Fila, Tommy Hilfiger, FUBU, Sean John, Nike, Levis and Calvin Klein among others used to be topical although some sporting label are still in the game like Nike, PUMA and Adiddas.

There are some powerful fashion brands that don’t depend on a particular designer, such as Nike and Adiddas, but such brands usually take many years and huge marketing budgets to build.

The bottom line is don’t pick a name that references or plays off anything in the temporal world of rap, hip-hop, or pop culture, dancehall or whatever genre you can think of.

A name that is linked to one of today’s red-hot trends will become old fashioned far too quickly.

Just know that anything goes in the world of fashion names, and the trick is to do something different and interesting but without going over the top.

Don’t try to do anything too “out there”, unless you are Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga or Chris Brown.

Going with a designer’s name is probably the best way to transcend the styles of the moment.

Happy weekend and make sure you live fashion after all we all want clothes.

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