ZAMORA LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE July 2015 | Page 26

We admired the different prints; chitenge, ankara and others. We caressed the fabrics and imagined getting down to John Legend's "Each Day Gets Better" for our first dance. This single shop had the African continent, with its changing fashion tastes, covered. The designs ranged from standalone chitenge and ankara dresses and skirts, to African prints woven into modern ladies' clutch bags, tops, and even shoes. As someone keenly interested in socio-economic and political trends, all of this set my little brain alight!

Growing up in Zambia during the 90s, chitenge wasn't something many youngsters wore proudly. Instead, it was seen to belong to women of a certain age - your mother, her friends and older relatives. It was deeply unfashionable! But why the shift in attitudes? Why were millennials embracing chitenge in ways they'd never done before? I posed these questions to Muchanga Mudenda, co-owner of VALA Design House based in Lusaka: