Two young designers from Ghana, Steve French and Afua Biney have been selected by Gucci as fellows for the Gucci Design Fellowship Program.
The two Ghanaians were joined by 9 other designers from across the world who will take part in the program slated for the latter part of 2020.
According to the luxury Italian brand, the diversity and inclusion initiative aims to promote cultural exchange between designers coming from different backgrounds.
Dr. Yvonne Ntiamoah, head of fashion design at Radford University and a research fellow at the Royal College of Arts England shared the good news on social media over the weekend.
“Then came the Awards night with my eleventh special Award. Two Awards to Ghana, Afua Biney for children wear and Steve French for women’s wear. The proudest moment in my career, and I have a feeling there will be more…..#guccidesignfellowship19_20,” she wrote.
According to Dr. Ntiamoah, Steve French made the list as the eleventh member despite the fellowships 10-member rule.
“Each Country received one award then they announced a surprise, some of us thought it would be a Noemi Cambel ( due to her presence at the launch of the program) but then it was for an extra price a special eleventh Award to one country who would then have two employees at Gucci from the Fellowship programme. when everyone is getting one.” she revealed.
The duo join the likes of Ophelia Crossland from Ghana , Nigeria’s Kenneth Ize and South African Thebe Magugu who have firmly stamped their designs in the minds of global fashion leaders.
Launched in March 2019, Gucci’s fellowship is meant to offer opportunities to underrepresented groups of talent worldwide from Ghana to Mexico.
It is meant to offer opportunities to underrepresented groups of talents in partnership with 10 fashion schools in 10 countries, including Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, China, Japan, Korea, Dubai, USA and Mexico.