INDIA-BORN Shero-award-winner and Bollywood fashion designer Jenika Shar offers arguably the most sought-after services for garment manufacturing, fashion designing and events consultancy through her label MOI AMARA.
Shar, who has popularised Indian and Zimbabwean fabrics at several private events, films and through bespoke tailoring, defines Moi as French for “me” and Amara as Hindi for “eternal”.
In full, MOI AMARA means “I am eternal and my garments are undeniably good and will look blameless for the next 20 years the customer will wear them”.
Shar came to Zimbabwe through marriage and since 2012 has found herself being hired in different places in Zimbabwe, the region and even across the globe for her gift in bespoke tailoring.
She shared that bespoke tailoring means fabrics can be designed, purchased and tailored according to clients’ needs.
Her prowess led her to clinching the Shero Award, which honours outstanding business women and creatives.
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Before coming to Zimbabwe, Shar was working as a freelance fashion designer for Bollywood movies.
She attained a degree in Fashion and Design from Sophia University in Mumbai, India, and also did a Masters in Business Administration in Retail Management and Marketing degree, which helped her to find a niche in the Zimbabwean fashion industry.
Commenting on her choice of material, Shar said: “I always wanted to open a boutique of my own and wanted to launch my label and that’s what I did in 2012.
“My fashion is a textile merchant in India and I think I have fabrics in my blood. When I talk about fabrics I feel like a child going to a candy shop.
“Summers are moderately hot and the bulk of my fabrics are either cotton or nylon which are cool and fine and are suitable for the Zimbabwean client.
“The fabrics that we have here are very limited in metres. So whatever one buys from this shop may be only seen and worn by that one individual.”
She said after working in Bollywood movies, she realised that every character had different requirements.
If a character is playing a rich person role, the costumes are unique and attractive.
For a village peasant girl, the costumes are different.
The designer has to follow the script so that each and every character dresses up differently.
Shar has designed for Amarra Brown for her appearance during the Zimbabwean Fashion Week and has also done bespoke designs for Sakhile Dube, a Bulawayo-based model who was at one time crowned Miss Universe.
“Sakhile is a stunning model and has pushed the MOI AMARA brand for some time. Through the likes of Sakhile, Amarra and other models, we have managed to be the most sought-after fashion house for Indian, African and European fashion.
“Fashion for the film is not determined by how pretty a person looks, but the character he or she is playing instead. Clothes should be designed according to the character they are playing.
“Dressing in film has to be more realistic. Designs must not take off the audience from the designers. Every individual has to follow their instincts and wear what suits them.”
Dreamworld talent show
Is a stage for different types of talent. We have had auditions already and identified and selected talent in karate, music, dance, fashion and modelling, among plenty others.
We have done our first shot and we are looking for partners and sponsors to go on with the production.
Closing
My advice, especially to clothing and fashion designers, is that they should embrace business principles in their creative work.
Creating a piece of work and selling it are two different things.
Every creative must have knowledge on the business side of his creative
work.
Sound knowledge on economics, finances, management is essential for every creative in addition to acquisition of on point skills that produces good art.