Oumou Sy from Senegal belongs to the most significant personalities in the African
world of fashion. The self-taught designer lives and works in Dakar. She expresses
her artistic versatility in the creative textile and jewelry designs that she produces
using traditional as well as modern techniques.
As well as directing theater productions, designing costumes for local and foreign
film productions, Haute Couture remains her favored field, where she has also made
an international name for herself as a fashion designer. She founded the association
Metissacana, that supports the cultural and economic exchange between the
continents and in which she also produces designs for the carnival in Dakar with
her students.
In the last few years, Oumou Sy presented her collections in a variety of self-directed
fashion shows in Europe and Africa. She owns her own stores in Geneva and Paris.
She initiated the international yearly fashion sales week SIMOD in Dakar in which
designers from all over the world have the opportunity to meet each other.

Success story

Oumou Sy also became popular through her music and film project co-operations.
She designs the wardrobe for the Senegalese singers Baaba Maal and Youssou
N'Dour and has won various awards at international film festivals for her costume
designs.

An expression of her international recognition is the "Prince Claus Award to The
Art of African Fashion" that she received in 1998 and the ensuing exhibition of
her collection at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.

In August 2000, Oumou Sy presented her new collection at the EXPO 2000.
The successful mixture of styles is characteristic of her work. The link between
traditional and modern gives her designs an original note. Apart from the current
contemporary collection, significant parts of this presentation were the designs
of 18 royal couples that were supposed to symbolize the different kingdoms in
Senegal. These were not historical costumes but rather original creations by
Oumou Sy. Such a concept is unique in the world of fashion.