AWARD-WINNING Afro-jazz musician Selmor Mtukudzi’s career continues to flourish, as she was recently appointed the Face of Elephant ambassador by the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Water.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
The appointment will see her wearing a dress, designed by South African-based designer Thembani Mubochwa, at some of her shows and during campaigns on saving elephants.
The dress was launched early this month at a Harare hotel, where Mubochwa was appointed elephants ambassador responsible for the welfare of the mammals.
Selmor will be wearing the dress for the first time at the seventh edition of the Zimbabwe Music Awards at the Harare International Conference Centre on Thursday.
Selmor told NewsDay she felt honoured to be part of the campaign to preserve the country’s elephants, which have been targeted by poachers.
“Lending my voice to such a cause is a privilege for me and I pray I will be able to push the message across the world and people will come to understand the dangers of poaching, particularly elephants,” she said.
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The dress was inspired by the continued poaching of Zimbabwean wildlife, especially elephants.
“Through Selmor’s totem (elephant), which goes well with the concept of the dress, complemented with her popularity in the region as an award winning musician, she is the ultimate person to be the face of the dress,” designer, Mubochwa said.
He said the devastating effects of poaching and climate change inspired him to design the elephant dress.
“The elephant dress is heavy and rigid, which makes it strictly for red carpet events. The dress is made up of the upper part with an emphasis on elephants. The frame is made of wire to strengthen formation of the elephant and its tusk, while fabric is ethnic sequence material.
“The bottom part speaks to the environment, water and climate and is made of taffeta leaves material that creates waterfalls and clouds shapes on the finishing of each of the three layers with the vegetation on the bottom part being used to provide detail that represents flora and fauna,” Mubochwa said.