SaraKaray takes the road less travelled
Sarah Mugambi (right) the designer behind the SaraKaray fashion brand at Serena Hotel as she unveiled her Fire and Ice line at the Serena Hotel on July 12, 2014. At left, models in her new swimwear collection. PHOTO | CHARLES KAMAU
What you need to know:
- At only 22, Sarah Mugambi is not your average college student. Under her brand SaraKaray, the designer has already showed her maiden collection in Nairobi and has toured four states in the US in a bid to take her brand global.
- She plays with trends such as cropped tops, sheer panelling and exposed zips that give a cosmopolitan vibe.
- The men’s Made to Fit collection is a line of formal wear with colour and details that bring out the personality of the man that wishes to stand out.
Kenyan designers have largely stuck to a script. However, one designer is making waves for doing things differently. From naming her collection after elements to marketing her brand globally, she is in a class of her own.
At only 22, Sarah Mugambi is not your average college student. Under her brand SaraKaray, the designer has already showed her maiden collection in Nairobi and has toured four states in the US in a bid to take her brand global.
Rather than rest on her laurels after her return, she started working on a swimwear collection for both men and women bringing her work one closer to a full circle.
Her Resort Collection includes swim suits, swimming trunks for men and beach cover-ups for lounging glamorously around the beach or a pool.
BOLD AND AUDACIOUS
Her work is getting noticed. When Safaricom needed a glamorous look for their choir, they turned to Sarah who delivered black tuxedo with green and white detailing.
The attention to detail by this 4th year student of International Business Administration at USIU is evident in the meticulous finish of the clothes in the main collection that she named Fire and Ice.
While other Kenyan designers name their collections after Western seasons, she names hers after elements: fire, ice, water and wind.
The collection features bold, audacious whorls of colour with yellow and red for fire and cool blue, green, white and turquoise for ice.
In addition to Fire and Ice, Sarah also has a menswear, an African Kouture line and a plus-sized line giving the collection a mature feel.
The icing on the cake for her line is a lacy wedding dress.
She plays with trends such as cropped tops, sheer panelling and exposed zips that give a cosmopolitan vibe.
The men’s Made to Fit collection is a line of formal wear with colour and details that bring out the personality of the man that wishes to stand out.
Sarah goes one further with her African Kouture line that adds so much more depth to her African wear than we have seen previously.
With meticulous finishing, the clothes are ready to wear as they are well tailored to fit and compliment every size.
It comes as a surprise that she experiments with fabrics, silhouette, and symmetry and finishes whose end result is a line unified in its diversity.
WORK IN PROGRESS
She admits that bridal wear is not her strongest suit but one she is willing to work and refine.
The wedding dress is quite plain and there is no toying with romance, fantasy or extravagance. This dress adequately sums up her collection as one that favours function and utilitarianism.
Her designs which are created by a team of four at her shop on Biashara Street in Nairobi’s Central Business District range in price from Sh3,500 to Sh12,000 and are available to order on her website.
