Creative Director & Designer: Huguette Tchiapi
Filmmaker: Xavier Barriaga Espinoza
Videographer: Remi Yenn
Models: Gabriel Aigbogun & Roux Gonsalves-Abel
Styling Assistants: Martin King, Parnika Srivastavaa
Collection Assistant: Anna Willows
Styling: Bryan Rosales
Knitwear: Camelia Fodor
Brooches: Bertha Fong
Supported by Preciosa, Fabric House.com, and The British Fashion Council
-Inferno, Huguette Tchiapi
Throughout my childhood, my parents shared numerous stories about their belief in Black Magic. My BA graduate collection is based on retellings I'd written inspired by these spiritual stories. Serving as an ode to the magic I encountered while traveling in Cameroun in 2023.
As part of my research, I created a photography book that documents my travels in Cameroun. Comprised of my own photography and prose, it worked as a guide for developing my collection.
Inferno
A yearning for kingdoms afar. A fear of malevolent forces beyond her control. A pregnant woman visits a marabout with hopes of protection.
The tide settles as the sun rises across the river where the marabout waits. A whisper, a sound, and he's gone. Whisking through dirt paths the woman follows. Feet etched in sand. Faces spotted with glitter.
A hut looms. Its doors open as the marabout glides inside with the woman in tow. A fire flickers as shadows ghost throughout the room. Darkness set alight as two shadows become one. Sparks emanate around the marabout.
A whisper to Gods she cannot comprehend echoes off his lips as he walks through the flames. They rise higher, the woman bewitched, the marabout possessed as a promise bounces around the chamber.
Slowly.
He steps out of the fire, approaching the woman.
One step, a perpetual dance of smoke and ashes ascends to the heavens. Her eyes grow misty as he takes
Two steps. His eyes glow, alight, a radiance to them as the heat of the chamber grows cold. Goosebumps arise upon her skin.
Three, a short sprint of feet pounds against the earth. Her ears convulse as suddenly
He stops.
“C’est Fin”.