South African Fashion Icon Dr Precious Motsepe Gets A Prestigious Award
South African Fashion Icon Dr Precious Motsepe Gets A Prestigious Award. Our very own Dr Precious Moloi Motsepe has been honored with Inaugural Franca Sozzani Award. She is the first recipient of Fashion 4 Development’s Franca Sozzani Award for her work in African fashion.
She was nominated by Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway, and Franca’s son Francesco Carrozzini. “It was very humbling,” Moloi-Motsepe said of her nomination. When she accepts the award (in front of several first ladies who will also be attending the United Nations General Assembly), she will also introduce an installation featuring 10 of the continent’s best designers. Here’s what she had to say about how far African fashion has come, and where it’s headed next.
Combining her passion for women’s issues with the economic potential of the fashion industry, Dr Moloi-Motsepe and AFI, a company she founded to move African fashion forward, have been instrumental in getting African fashion where it is today.
Receiving the award she had this to say, “I was excited about the idea of really representing the continent. I think it’s not an award for me, it’s really an award that I’m receiving on behalf of everybody that’s involved with fashion on the continent, from the fashion designers to the media, all producers, the creative directors that we’ve worked with over the years.”
She continued, “My staff at AFI, I’m really really grateful for the work that they have been doing over the years. It was a combination of all these people and just having an opportunity to try and make a difference. We never did what we have been doing in order to receive an award, but for me it is a positive sign for us, to say we’re doing the right thing and we should continue doing what we’re doing.” Great words from a great woman.
