‘It is who we’re’: Style present takes middle stage at Harmony Multicultural Pageant
Till Sunday, Nadia Raffia had by no means seen her clothes on the runway.
The upstart clothier’s items are impressed by her background within the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Raffia, 27, has been styling and making garments for her complete life, however she started pursuing it professionally a 12 months in the past.
“I felt like I’m going someplace,” she stated of the style present at Sunday’s Multicultural Pageant in Harmony. “That’s what it felt like, like I’m going someplace, like there’s a future.”
Alongside musicians, singers and dancers, Raffia’s creations took middle stage. The present was produced by Emelyne Niyoyandemye, a Manchester resident who has used her background as a mannequin and connections within the style business to help designers, fashions and different artists at occasions and fundraisers throughout New England.
Niyoyandemye, who additionally makes use of the final identify Adios, fell in love with style as a baby in Burundi. She and her siblings stood heads taller than a lot of their friends, and have been bullied for it, she stated.
“I assumed there was one thing fallacious with me, as a result of I used to be too tall,” stated Niyoyandemye, who stands one inch above six ft. Modeling modified every part. 4 of the eight youngsters in her household have labored within the style business.
She continued modeling as she went to school for communications in Uganda, hoping to someday grow to be a broadcast journalist. Whereas already talking 4 languages, she moved to america in 2014 with a objective of mastering English and getting a foothold in her profession. Issues didn’t go as deliberate.
The place Niyoyandemye began, in Ohio, she discovered little neighborhood and struggled to get rooted. Inside months, she’d moved to Harmony, staying with a household good friend of her father, and made plans to maneuver to Maine with a good friend from school.
These plans by no means materialized as a result of she cherished Harmony an excessive amount of. Studying English by Second Begin and forming a detailed bond with Judy and Arnie Alpert of Canterbury, New Hampshire’s capital metropolis turned house. She went to NHTI and SNHU, and pursued work in psychology, healthcare and language interpretation.
Her love for style – and her modeling contracts – have been by no means misplaced. Pals and brokers linked her with different stylists, designers and fashions in america.
It was at a fundraiser for youngsters in Burundi that Eric Tuyishimire met Emelyne. Tuyishimire had been making an attempt to make it as a mannequin in Rwanda earlier than he fled the violence of the M23 rebel, receiving asylum and settling in South Portland, Maine.
Right now he’s a chef, however fashions anytime Niyoyandemye calls him as much as ask. For the 38-year-old, style is a supply of each pleasure and freedom.
“To come back right here, even when I don’t generate profits out of it, doing these issues they used to not let me do, it’s like freedom,” he stated. “It’s like remedy.”
“Style,” Niyoyandemye stated, “will not be what we placed on. It’s who we’re.”
Fashions in Sunday’s present put that on full show, smiling, dancing, and gliding by the gang at Keach Park earlier than striding throughout the stage. Younger dancers and attendees on the competition sporting outfits vital to their tradition have been inspired to hitch – and did.
Raffia and Niyoyandemye met whereas learning collectively at NHTI. When Raffia began her personal enterprise, Niyoyandemye was wanting to help her.
The theme of Sunday’s present was a celebration of range.
As she appears to the long run, hoping to develop her model and work with particular person shoppers, Raffia stated the publicity and neighborhood provided by the competition meant lots.
“It opens your thoughts to how large the world is, how lovely our cultures all over the world are,” she stated. “Particularly in a state like New Hampshire, we want extra occasions like this.”
In previous couple of months, Niyoyandemye stated she’s seen fellow immigrants or refugees in her neighborhood making an attempt to mix in: to mute their accents, to not stand out.
The colourful items of the present and its celebratory theme have been intentional.
“On this time we will nonetheless love ourselves, have fun who we’re,” she stated. “We’re going to bop on this rain.”
