Melanie Wannie Harris

Khu.
Khu, is a collection that builds on the roots of its ancestors
´s heritage and turns it into a more mordern style. Khu
was inspired by the West- African traditional masquerade,
the `Gio Devil`, from the Gio ethnic group in Liberia. The
maquerade is used to celebrate and honor huge avents
and ceremonies, such as confirmations, harvest seasons
and burials.
During these ceremonial avents there is a traditional
dance going on and the masquerade is always in disguise,
hidden behind a mask. With this collection I tried to focus
on the huge volumes that you see in the masquerade
attire, which is made out of rice straws, it looks flowy and
spacious . This gave me an idea of a sporty and confortable
wear for the collection. The mask has been inspired as the
volumes in the sihouettes.