Traditionally, different clothes were adopted for various purposes. Women wore lesos during cold and hot seasons while shukas were common among men. Fashion has since changed and continues to evolve rather rapidly
Deepa Dosaja’s earliest memory of consciousness is when she was ten years old. At the time her family lived in Montreal, Canada but shortly before that Nairobi was home. Deepa occasionally had piano lessons though what was supposed to be time spent mastering keys and memorizing tunes was instead a time of exploring the world of fashion. At this tender age, Deepa knew that she wanted to be part of the growing industry that dressed people in clothing that made them feel good.
For her thirteenth birthday Deepa only wanted one thing: a sewing machine. Her parents didn’t question how specific their daughter’s want was but did their best to get her a suitable machine and, in this way, young Deepa tapped into her creative side. She sketched designs and learned how to use her sewing machine, sowing a seed that would later reap endless fruit.
While at Royal West Academy, Deepa flourished in the arts. She shared her aspirations with her art teacher who encouraged her to continue exploring design. Home was no different: her parents were happy to invest in Deepa’s future career. After high school, Deepa enrolled in short term courses in fashion drawing and textiles.
She later enrolled as a full-time student at La Salle College to pursue a Diploma in Fashion Design. The intense program concentrated on the technical aspect of fashion and gave her a solid foundation that allowed her to grow as a designer. She supplemented this knowledge by working at Filly and Colt, an exclusive boutique that gave her invaluable insights on building a sustainable brand. The entrepreneurial work in fashion wasn’t just about selling the designs, it entailed creating designs that the clients would enjoy wearing, dressing them in clothes that suited their different silhouettes but most importantly, interacting with them – after all, don’t clients return to a business where they feel appreciated and respected?
Once she had a Diploma under her belt, Deepa was on the next flight to Nairobi to transform her longtime dream into something tangible, but she wasn’t quite ready yet. In 1991 she briefly joined Hardcore Clothing Company where she worked on the company’s merchandising. The lessons learned here would be instrumental in the direction she was headed. The next step required a lot of brazen. Deepa started designing, stitching and embroidering garments by hand. She’d work late into the night ensuring the end result was exactly as she’d imagined. Happy with the first few designs, she launched a sole proprietorship called Vabene Couture in 2000. She set up a studio on Riverside Drive in Nairobi. Things were looking good for the emerging designer. In 2003 her designs were showcased at the Kenya Fashion Week and in 2010 at the Wear It Internation Fashion Show in Johannesburg, South Africa.
With all these successes, change and growth was inevitable.
Then in 2013 Deepa’s designs were displayed at the London Festival for African Fashion and Art. That year Vabene Couture was renamed to Deepa Dosaja and she opened her flagship boutique at 14 Riverside Drive, Nairobi. In addition to these strides, Deepa was recognized as the most influential woman of the year by Most Influential Women in Business and Government (MIW). In 2019 following the devastating terrorist attack at 14 Riverside, Deepa relocated her boutique to Loresho where it still stands today.
In the thirty years Deepa Dosaja has been in the fashion business, she has rarely used synthetic fabrics in her designs showing just how conscious she is about creating classic, sustainable designs that women can wear for up to 20 years. Her silhouettes are timeless! And the recurring theme in most designs is the use of flowers in different shapes, sizes and colours, an emblem of nature’s diversity.
Truly, one of the greatest joys for a designer is to see their creation come to life from pieces of fabric – and when the embroidery is done by hand, clients appreciate the work behind the art. Hongera Deepa for your unwavering pursuit into the global fashion scene.
