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Sakina M’sa

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Originally from the Comoros Islands, located off the East coast of Africa, Sakina M’sa transcended her social origin and proclaimed her hybrid identity in Paris, through her talent and determination. A punk designer as a teenager, Sakina M’sa radiates an offbeat style. Her collection has an urban, eclectic sophistication, draped, looped, gathered and tucked into unexpected shapes, with a touch of punk and Asian sensibility. In each of her pieces, the shapes are structural and ethereal, the patterns elaborate. The themes of earth, identity and memory consistently influence her work. The post modernist theses of philosopher Jean Baudrillard, and costume designer Genevieve Sovin Doering act as constant inspiration.  Her work spans social commentary, installation art, community support and fashion. Trained in fine arts, her favorite materials are cotton, crepe de Chine, silk, cheesecloth, lace and leather. She defines her clients as between twenty-five and fifty years of age, active, dynamic, chic, feminine, free and funny. “Clothing means to me, a social thermometer. It forces us to look at that which we usually do not see, out of habit.”

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Since 1998 she has organized a series of workshops in disenfranchised neighborhoods, entitled “Cultural Mediation”, on the themes of clothing and identity, and as a means to involve the “socially excluded” in the fashion system. Creating a design company to employ the workshop participants. Her own cultural and social origin, sparking her interest in the democratization of fashion, and leading to the formation of the workshops, as well as the recognition of her industry, receiving the Saint Etienne Biennale Grand Prix and the Fondation de Frence prize. She exhibited L’Etoffe des Heroines at the Petit Palais Museum to great success, featuring models from the projects.

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Daika is a fashion non profit founded in 2006, to transmit professional know how and the opportunity to develop their potential, to those that are socially and professionally disadvantaged. Teaching the participants sample production skills and techniques, they can graduate to employment as cutters, pressers, quality controllers and finishers within the fashion industry. Prototypes for fashion designers and high-end women’s wear companies are produced through the workshops, as well as custom made items such as curtains and throw pillows. The projects aims are to support the socially and professionally excluded, through professional training. The outcome was an exhibition at the Musee du Petit Palais, where thirteen welfare recipients from disadvantaged neighborhoods participated in custom-made clothing projects, with the finished work exhibited to 25,000 visitors in 2007.

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With a store in Rue des Gardes, Paris, as well as selling through her website, Sakina M’sa also sells in Japan, Korea, Russia and Kuwait. Also selling her collection through a network of parties known as M’as-tu vu (did you see me) parties, similar in format to Tupperware parties, where local women act as hostess for the collection for an evening. Featured in an endless array of articles and editorials, Sakina M’sa is also sold at Galeries Lafayette.

Website: www.sakinamsa.com