Introducing Sylvester Atta-Mensah………

You were a Science Student in school and hence how did you end up a Fashion Designer as your chosen profession?

After school, I had a brief stay in the UK where I happened to work with a fashion house called Anton O, in the North of London.  It was where I developed an extreme passion to become a clothes designer bringing out my natural artistic and creative abilities. 

On my return to Ghana, I started a small fashion business utilising a space in my my mother’s provision shop at Ringway Estates at Osu in Accra.  The business picked up well because of the skillsets acquired during my brief work experience in the UK.  It was at this point that I pioneered the designing of Kente combination dresses and shirts with Kente designed Caps and Headgear, which has been the going trend in Ghana to date. This was way back in 1988 and for this, I was featured in the Weekly Spectator newspaper of 8th November 1988.  In December of the same year, I held the first designer fashion show in Kumasi on the theme Fashion Focus, at the then City Hotel.

 With these achievements, I then decided to groom myself properly as a fashion designer leading to my move from Ghana to Italy where I enrolled at the Instituto Moda Industriale in Brescia, where I did a 2-year course in six months and was the first African student and the best student of that year (1993).  I went on to specialize in Ladies wear and accessories (including lingerie and leather accessories like shoes and bags). To date, my works still hang in the show rooms of the school.

As a budding fashion designer in Italy, did your ethnicity create any setbacks and if so, how did you overcome that?

My challenge started at the end of this almost fairy tale experience, when I was kicked out of the fashion company I had just started working with. Their reason being that clients were reluctant to do business with a company with a black man in the role of fashion designer, However, brave me, I took up the challenge, with pride in my African heritage and skilled in my profession to set up my own fashion label/brand ‘ATTA KOFI’ deciding to use my African identity rather than the identity I used in school, Sylvester Atta-Mensah.

After the first few years of difficulties, ATTA KOFI has become an established brand not only in Italy, but I am also on the data base of important fashion events worldwide, for e.g. New York Fashion, CPD in Dusseldorf, Germany, READY-TO-SHOW in Milan, Italy, MAGIC SHOW in Las Vegas, U.S.A, and I.S.P.O. in Munich, Germany.

My speciality is with ‘red-carpet’ clothing for ladies.  However, at the same time, I design a jeans line called A.K.J.C (Atta Kofi Jeans Culture) and I have a Sportswear Line called AKshion (Atta Kofi Fashion).

What do you think of the Ghanaian Fashion Industry since your re-location to Ghana?

The clothing or fashion industry in Ghana is not the best and is still in its ‘agitation’ stage and I think there is a lot more work to be done to bring it to international standard levels.  There are no precise fashion schools in the country. Most of the institutions are in actual sense dressmaking schools and not fashion designing schools. But it is all good because we need to start from somewhere to get somewhere.

Furthermore, the industry is choked with novices who are just thinking about making money and not excellence in their trade. When you talk about fashion in Ghana, it is the African wear syndrome that is trending, but unfortunately trending for locals and a negligible percentage of the foreign community. On the international front, African wear is also negligible. I just think that there is more to be done in this industry.  Once my set-up in Ghana in complete, I will be at the service of all AKORAS….E VIVA !!!!!

What difference are you going to infuse into the fashion industry in Ghana to strengthen the industry as you appear to have reservations about the African Wear trend?

First, I think that I have done enough homework about setting up in Ghana, principally because I want to work from Africa or better still reach out to the world from Africa. It is a clarion call for the world to know that good things and even the best also comes from Africa.

Secondly, I’m not necessarily thinking of bringing something new into the Ghanaian fashion industry specifically but more generally my passion is to create new trends in the global fashion fraternity. However, yes, I am surely going to make a difference locally, because I am coming in with my own ideas and creativity nurtured in a top-class fashion environment. My brand(s) will again be formally out doored internationally in Accra.

My concept of operation in Ghana will be totally original from designing my own fabrics (not wax prints) and accessories to producing a ready to wear fashion line. By this concept, my clothing will be made from bespoke fabrics which will be different to generic wax prints which are sometimes used as décor at functions!  My intent is to have clothing made from fabrics (not wax print) that are also identifiable by our Ghanaian/African culture and are labelled as ‘Made in Ghana’.  

My reservations about the African wear trend are personal because of my orientation as a designer and my choice of fashion concepts. African wear must be promoted but presented under a genuine fashion ideology and not to leave control to the textile industry since their promotion is in their own interest and not that of the clothing industry as a whole, thus limiting the scope of fashion designers.

Can you share some of your most remarkable experiences with us?

One of the things that I learnt from Achimota School was that,” In anything that you do, do it to the best of your ability and it will take you before kings”.  My best lifetime experiences are the outcome of the above quote.

I met them all, Giorgio Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Gianfranco Ferre, Karl Lagerfeld and Gianni Versace. These were not just casual meetings but I rubbed shoulders with them at one or two events where they also exhibited where in most cases I was the only African designer.  It was a particularly emotional experience collaborating with Karl Lagerfeld in one of his casual shirts collection.  Another highlight was seeing one of my creations (as per the picture below) at New York Fashion Week.

Are you involved in any charitable/ mentoring activities you may want to share with us?

Yes, I run an international help organization called ATTA KOFI CARES.  It is currently only functioning in Sierra Leone for victims of their bloody internal war which has devastated that beautiful country of lovely people. We will become operational in Ghana once my settlement plans are concretized. Our priority will be on child care.

Finally, is there anything else you want to say to your GC colleagues and are there any upcoming events where they can turn up in their numbers to support you?

Hello to all my mates.  Schooling together in a place like ‘MOTOWN’ was a God-given experience that has brought us this far. Those who have fallen along the way are still ‘gallant’ in our minds. Motown always puts a smile on my face when I remember that I always frowned when I was given ‘corner loaf’ in the dining hall as a junior.  As for ‘soakings’, light was my favourite. What else can we be proud of, if not being Akoras.

“Ciao mia Bellissima famiglia, vi invito alla miei sfilata di moda, il 26 Decembre 2019” (Hello my Beautiful Family, I invite you to my Fashion Event on 26 December 2019).  However, please kindly note that as the event is by invitation only at the Golden Tulip Hotel, you will need to contact me on 0554411570, if you’re interested in attending.

“Rimango vostro compagno di scuola” (I am still your Classmate).  Let us keep this fire burning. 

Sylvester Atta Mensah

1C, 2C, 3C, 4S3, 5S3

Gyamfi House

Look out for our next Spotlight Edition on Katherine Tufuoh