Ayanda’s swimwear costumes extol Africa

Not only is Africa endowed with fertile soils and rich flora and fauna that are the envy of the world, but so are the minds of some of her young entrepreneurs.

Local fashion designer, Ayanda Modisane who is yet to influence her unique line, which is also the first of its kind at least in Botswana - believes that Africa as a whole is a beautiful place. Unlike many other fashion designers, Ayanda has chosen to restrict herself to designing swimwear costumes at the moment.

Her costumes are not just ordinary, but have a specific identity as they are made up of ‘African prints’. Ayanda, who is the CEO of Print Swim, says that her fashion line was launched only last year, but the feedback has been impressive. “My style is very daring yet classy. African prints just bring out a certain feel of power to clothing and with my line, everyone of any size feels scenic while wearing print swim”, she said. 

Even the highly rated Western films also use African print to appreciate and compliment the imagery of Africa. This has also motivated Ayanda to take a different angle in fashion to show what Africa is made up of. “Africa has inspired my line from the wildlife, vegetation and its different cultures. Therefore, I decided to fuse all these factors into something that would make everyone admire our prints through ‘print swimwear’ to have the feel of Africa.”

An admirer of Ayanda’s print swimwear described it as a “very unique” fashion line and wished that Miss Africa pageant contestants could use it. “It was launched at the right time when Botswana is celebrating its 50th Anniversary of independence because we are a tourism country as well”, she added.

Ayanda says that in the first quarter her line will expand to South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique to host a few shows within those countries to get brand recognition. As the brand grows, Modisane looks forward to making print sandals and towels. Asked to define fashion, she said it is an art. “Fashion is art and you are your own artist bringing out your current emotions to life with clothing”, she said.