Popularly described as the “African streetchic fashion”, the New York-based label was founded in 20o9 by Loza Maléombho. Loza Maléombho New York is a women’s contemporary fashion line based in New york and producing in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa. The label delivers quality and culturally eclectic garments to an international fashionista.

The Brazilian-born designer was raised in Abidjan, Côte-d’Ivoire (West Africa). At a young age of 14, she found an interest in Fashion, designing dresses for her mother, aunts and cousins while preparing herself for the bigger picture. She moved to the United States in 2000 and graduated from the University of the Arts of Philadelphia. In order to pursue her fashion dream, she moved to New York to gain more experience in the fashion industry. Loza finally started her label as a contemporary line with a mixture of modern and trendy silhouettes with an ethnic and tribal edge.

Her brand remains adamant to the idea of ‘Fashion for change’ with a goal to support the social and economic empowerment of women in Côte d’Ivoire. She aims to achieve this by providing jobs, better health, education and in general contributing to economic development. The brand will also create jobs by building local factories and workshops for production starting with Côte-d’Ivoire.

She told Fashionista.com in an interview “I decided to produce in Côte d’Ivoire in order to have control and flexibility over my production and because I realize we do have valuable resources to trade on an international level. I had also hoped to provide jobs and fair living wages to post-war Ivorian women, thus showcasing Côte d’Ivoire’s artistry with positive and lasting social and economic changes.”

Her talent has opened up doors to showcase her unique designs to an international audience. Loza recently won the Emerging designer of the year award during the 2012 ARISE Fashion Week inLagos. Loza Maléombho has so far been the favorite of the press; featured on Vogue, Ghubar Magazine, ThisDay, ARISE and many others.

Loza recently entered a campaign with a vision to redefine the quality of W. African’s products in the eyes of the rest of the world. In addition to this, the campaign will empower Ivorian women to levitate their social and economic conditions. She believes When a lower class African woman is provided with a job she re-invests in her children’s education and improve the quality of life in her home and community. Also, to remunerate ONE African is to feed an average of SEVEN people (The average African household)”.

Check out some of her collections below:

For more information:

Website: http://www.lozamaleombho.com/

Facebook: LozaMaleombho

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