Princess Astrid wore a new outfit by a Brussels designer on Wednesday at the Creative and Cultural Industries (ICC) Evening in Dakar, as she did the day before at the official Belgian reception at the Museum of Black Civilisations in Dakar.
During her stay in the land of Teranga (‘Hospitality’ in the local Wolof language), the princess wore the creations of Awa Seck and Siré Kaba, two Brussels-based designers who also travelled to Senegal.
This is not the first time Siré Kaba’s designs have caught the eye of the royal family: Princess Delphine had already been dressed by the designer on her first official outing as princess, at a fashion show on 21 July 2021.
Her colourful, elegant outfits are made entirely in Belgium, in a vocational rehabilitation workshop. It is with a view to eventually launching production in Senegal, again as part of social entrepreneurship, that Siré Kaba took part in her first economic mission.
For a first-timer, “it was a success in more ways than one,” a delighted Kaba said. “I came here to learn.” While the initial idea is not yet possible, the many meetings she had over the last few days in Dakar have enabled her to envisage a collaboration with a fashion design school offering training for young girls.
While the princess opted for a design by Kaba's Erratum Fashion for the Belgian reception, it was the talent of Awa Seck, a Belgian-Senegalese designer based in the Louise District of Brussels, that she chose for the final evening of the economic mission.
To complete her outfit, she was presented with a ‘moussor’ by the designer. That’s a traditional Senegalese headdress that Seck makes and markets in the Belgian capital.
