Paris (AFP)

The Cameroonian Imane Ayissi and the Indian Rahul Mishra made a historic breakthrough Thursday in the elite club of high fashion, with sophisticated collections based on local know-how, on the last day of the Parisian high mass.

Mixing fabrics, music and Western and African influences, the parade of Imane Ayissi, the first representative of sub-Saharan Africa to have entered the official haute couture calendar, was applauded by an equally mixed audience, with in the front row UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay and French actress Fanny Ardant.

"For me it is a pride, an immense openness to be able to show the real African fabrics, the African heritage", told AFP behind the scenes Imane Ayissi, 51, former model and dancer, who refuses to use the wax.

This fabric inspired by the Indonesian batik, industrialized in Europe and adopted by Africa, continent with which it is widely associated, is taboo for this creator who judges it "colonial" and considers that Africa has "better to show".

"These days, as soon as we talk about African fashion, it's the wax that we put forward, it's a shame, it kills African heritage," says Imane Ayissi.

- Noble and wild mixer -

The stylist did, however, discover little-known African skills such as kente, traditional weavings of the Akan ethnic group, which are found in Ghana and Ivory Coast and originally worn by the nobility or obom, a vegetable skin produced from tree bark.

Another technique dear to the creator consists in "taking less noble things and making them noble", like transforming raffia, a wild material, into couture pieces.

Raffia belts and capes are worn with silk evening wear, long dresses are adorned with flowers cut from obom.

"I used very noble fabrics like silk, and European ones. I also tried to integrate rustic fabrics like raw cotton, raffia which we make work in the village", he underlined .

The long black and white silk dresses follow one another in fuchsia-orange, pink-green, yellow or green sets or in earth colors.

- Rural crafts -

Rahul Mishra, 40, a supporter of ethical slow fashion, said it was "incredible and surreal" to be the first Indian to join haute couture week.

Rahul Mishra had joined Parisian ready-to-wear week after winning the International Woolmark Prize in 2014, the highest award which also launched the careers of big names like Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent.

He is appreciated for the purity of his creations, often white, subtly embroidered. Famous Vogue critic Suzy Menkes called it India's "national treasure".

The designer works with local artisans from rural India.

"My goal is to create jobs that help people in their own villages, I bring them work rather than calling them to work for me," he said. "If the villages are stronger, we will have a stronger country, a stronger nation and a stronger world," he added.

For haute couture, he slightly raised the color palette with dresses that evoke the jungle and the immaculate underwater world of the Maldives, which he feared to lose one day.

Struck by having to keep his 4-year-old daughter at home for 20 days in New Delhi in November due to pollution, the designer imagined "a virgin and wild planet, with ecosystems designed from of embroidered flora and fauna ".

"I am very sensitive about this subject. Sometimes it makes me cry. All of our children should grow up in a better world," he said.

Only a little more than a dozen of the most prestigious luxury brands in the world - including Dior, Chanel and Givenchy - have the right to call their haute couture clothes. These garments must be handmade and meet a large number of quality criteria.

© 2020 AFP