The African fashion market is worth 31 billion dollars. Eritrea, a country of approximately 3.5 million people in the Horn of Africa that gained independence in 1993 after a 30-year war, has produced a significant number of internationally active fashion designers whose practices span Paris, Hamburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Dallas, New York, and beyond. Their work appears at fashion weeks, in international retail, and in the cultural institutions that document African and diaspora creative practice.
This index documents what can currently be verified. As Omiren Styles’ buyer shortlist for African fashion confirms, the infrastructure for international buyer engagement with African and diaspora designers is more developed in 2026 than at any previous point. Eritrean designers who have built verified international practices belong in any serious documentation of that infrastructure. This record begins with three: Bisrat Negassi, Selam Fessahaye, and Nardos Imam.
Three Eritrean fashion designers with verified public records: Bisrat Negassi (Paris 2004), Selam Fessahaye (Stockholm 2018), Nardos Imam (New York 2012). Facts only.
Eritrean Fashion Designers: Three Verified Records
01. Bisrat Negassi / NEGASSI
V1: Paris Fashion Week shows documented (third appearance confirmed)
V2: Deutschland.de, Not Just A Label, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Google Arts & Culture
Base: Hamburg (primary); Paris (historical label base)
Label established: Paris, 2004
Bisrat Tesfay Negassi was born in the early 1970s in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. Her name in Tigrinya means messenger of good news. She fled as a child with her family during the Ethiopian occupation, spending two years in Sudan seeking asylum before arriving in Hamburg. After initially studying architecture at Lübeck University, she trained in fashion design at Hamburg’s JAK Fashion Academy, then apprenticed in Paris with Lamine Kouyaté, the Mali-born designer behind the label Xuly Bët, one of the most influential upcycling practices in European fashion before the term existed as a commercial category.
She returned to Paris after her apprenticeship and launched the NEGASSI label in 2004. As Deutschland.de’s documented profile of Bisrat Negassi confirms, she established her Negassi label in Paris in 2004, describing the brand’s creative position as reflecting contemporary transcultural lifestyles and combining African roots with other cultural influences. Fashion, she has said, is a language that can be heard visually.
The label showed at Paris Fashion Week. As Not Just A Label’s documented profile of the NEGASSI label confirms, the label was established in 2004, and her last show was her third appearance at Paris Fashion Week. This confirms a multi-season presence at Paris Fashion Week in the label’s early years, establishing NEGASSI as part of the Paris ready-to-wear schedule rather than an exhibitor at off-schedule or presentation events. In 2013, Negassi launched the Negassi Salon, a recurring gathering that combined fashion with live music and toured Paris before establishing itself in Hamburg.
In 2016, Bisrat Negassi co-founded M.Bassy, a cultural space in Hamburg for artists from Africa and the diaspora. M.Bassy has hosted over 70 artists from different countries, including Angélique Kidjo, Nigerian filmmaker Andrew Dosunmu, and Xuly Bët, the same designer whose atelier first brought Negassi to Paris. In late 2022, Negassi was appointed head of the Fashion and Textiles collection at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe (MK&G) in Hamburg, one of Germany’s most significant museums of arts and crafts. In 2022, she published a memoir, Ich bin (I Am), with Goldmann; the Tigrinya edition, Ane iye, was published in March 2025.
02. Selam Fessahaye
V1: Stockholm Fashion Week, 2018 (debut); Copenhagen Fashion Week, February 2023 (AW23, fourth runway show)
V2: Vogue Scandinavia, Hypebeast, Hypebae, Zalando Corporate
Base: Sweden
Label debut: Stockholm Fashion Week, 2018
Selam Fessahaye is a Swedish-Eritrean designer whose debut at Stockholm Fashion Week in 2018 was immediately described as the most diversely cast runway in Scandinavian fashion history. Her label, operating under her own name, drew critical attention from its first season. In 2019, she won multiple awards. Her work was subsequently worn by Beyoncé, Tracee Ellis Ross, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor, and Adekunle Gold.
Her AW23 Copenhagen Fashion Week presentation was her fourth runway show and a documented return after a four-year hiatus. As Vogue Scandinavia’s documentation of the AW23 collection confirms, Fessahaye returned to the runway with 33 looks. The Vogue Scandinavia account notes that the previous runway appearance was in February 2020, before a period of quieter runway activity during which Beyoncé wore one of Fessahaye’s billowing creations in Black Is King (2020). The AW23 collection was described as a culmination of Fessahaye’s unmistakable design language and eye for detail: spliced suiting, sequin-spangled and appliqué-laden ensembles, diaphanous sweeping dresses, and a mountainous frothy pink finale.
At CPHFW AW23, Fessahaye was shortlisted as one of three finalists for the Zalando Sustainability Award alongside TG Botanical and STAMM; STAMM won. The collection’s concept extended a practice she has maintained since 2018: exaggerated silhouettes, highly diverse casting, upcycled elements, and references to Eritrean heritage. Her debut collection featured a model with hair braided and adorned with traditional Eritrean jewellery worn by her mother and grandmother; a trench coat printed with a woman holding a machine gun, representing women who fought in Eritrea’s liberation war, appeared alongside.
03. Nardos Imam / NARDOS Couture
V1: Nardos Couture, Dallas, 2012; Spring 2024 bridal collection, Plaza Hotel, New York, April 2023; Official NYFW schedule, 2025
V2: CFDA, World Bride Magazine, Fashion Reverie, CultureMap Dallas, The Bridal Council
Base: Dallas, Texas; New York City (Madison Avenue boutique from 2022)
Label established: 2012
Nardos Imam was born and raised in Eritrea, where the sound of her mother’s sewing machine shaped her relationship to craft. After emigrating to the United States upon completing high school, she studied Theatrical Costume Design at El Centro College in Dallas, Texas. Her career began at Richard Brooks, a luxury fabric store in Dallas, followed by a sustained period as an in-house designer at Stanley Korshak. In this legendary Dallas luxury retailer, she built a loyal clientele. As World Bride Magazine’s documentation of Nardos Imam’s career confirms, she launched on her own in 2012. She founded Nardos Couture, a collection of architectural evening and bridal dresses with a feminine flair.
She built her reputation quietly in Dallas through personalised service and exquisite construction, with her clientele eventually drawing clients who flew cross-country to her Dallas studio. In 2022, she opened a boutique on Madison Avenue in New York. In April 2023, she made her New York Bridal Fashion Week debut at the Plaza Hotel, presenting the Spring 2024 bridal collection. The event was documented as a fashion-forward, timeless classic presentation. By autumn 2023, she had expanded into wholesale, with new accounts presenting her collections across additional markets. The Bridal Council’s archive confirms her participation from Fall 2019 onward across multiple seasons.
In 2025, Nardos Imam debuted on the Official New York Fashion Week Schedule, a milestone she described in a CFDA interview as both humbling and empowering. As the CFDA’s August 2025 profile of Nardos Imam confirms, her upcoming Spring 2026 collection, titled Whisper of Renewal, blends Gilded Age inspiration with a contemporary twist. Every creation is anchored in storytelling and infused with old-world romanticism through meticulous embroidery and intricate embellishments. Her creative philosophy is precise: the fabric has to dance for me to buy it.
The Verification Queue
The following designers have public profiles or stated practice that warrants further research before collection dates, label details, or presentation records can be entered into a verified index. Omiren Styles will update each entry when dated primary or independent sources are available.
Zekaryas Solomon / MODE: A public label profile exists, but a dated, publicly traceable first collection, runway presentation, or retail launch has not yet been independently verified. Awet Woldegebriel / Awet New York: A debut collection named Asmara Collection was reported in early 2025. Still, the founding date (variously cited as 2024 and 2025) and primary documentation for the event remain to be confirmed from a primary source. Maida Ghide: Reportedly presented at Fashion Art Toronto Spring 2023; Fashion Art Toronto’s official archive and the designer’s primary documentation are required before the collection date is confirmed. Anwar Abdela Abdurahman: A retail practice and brand presence are documented; collection titles, dates, and public presentation records have not been independently verified at the collection level. Viktorya Abraham: An editorial feature establishing design practice is documented; this does not constitute a collection record under the index’s current standard.
What This Record Cannot Yet Establish
This pilot index skews toward designers with English-language and international public documentation. That bias is not evidence of the full Eritrean fashion field. Designers working entirely within Eritrea or in communities that do not produce English-language press documentation are not represented here. Their absence is a documentation gap, not a fashion absence. As Omiren Styles’ documentation of the African cities that will define global fashion confirms, visibility in international media is not equivalent to commercial or cultural significance. The African fashion city that does not produce English-language fashion press does not disappear from African fashion. It disappears from international fashion coverage of African fashion.
The same principle applies to Eritrean fashion. Tailors, designers, and makers whose practice is documented in Tigrinya-language media, in community networks, or in archives that have not been digitised are not included here because the current evidence standard requires publicly accessible sources. That standard is a methodological limitation, not a judgment about the existence or importance of that practice.
The Omiren Argument
A public record that mistakes international visibility for the full history of a fashion culture will always be wrong about proportion. The African fashion market is worth 31 billion dollars. Eritrean designers active in Paris, Hamburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Dallas, and New York have built verified international practices that deserve to be documented on the same terms of evidential rigour that fashion journalism applies to any other national or diaspora fashion community. Bisrat Negassi established NEGASSI in Paris in 2004, showed at Paris Fashion Week, built a cultural institution that has hosted more than 70 artists from across Africa and the diaspora, and became head of Fashion and Textiles at one of Germany’s major museums, all from a design practice rooted in her Eritrean heritage and the transnational life her family’s displacement required her to build. Selam Fessahaye launched at Stockholm Fashion Week in 2018, dressed Beyoncé, won awards in 2019, and returned to the Copenhagen runway in 2023 for a fourth show after a hiatus that required patience rather than attention. Nardos Imam built Nardos Couture from Dallas in 2012 into a two-city bridal house with a Madison Avenue boutique, New York Bridal Fashion Week presence, and an Official NYFW schedule debut in 2025. None of these trajectories is an emerging story. All three are established practices whose documentation should be more complete than it currently is. This index is the beginning of that work.
Also Read:
- New York’s African Diaspora Fashion Week: What It Means and Why It Matters
- Does Wearing Your Culture Make You Exotic? The Diaspora Fashion Paradox
- The Omiren Index 2026: 10 African Ready-to-Wear Labels Building International Fashion Infrastructure
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the most notable Eritrean fashion designers?
The three Eritrean and Eritrean-diaspora fashion designers with the most thoroughly verified public records are: Bisrat Negassi, born in Asmara, who established the NEGASSI label in Paris in 2004, showed at Paris Fashion Week, co-founded the M.Bassy cultural space in Hamburg in 2016, and became head of Fashion and Textiles at Hamburg’s Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe; Selam Fessahaye, Swedish-Eritrean, who debuted at Stockholm Fashion Week in 2018 and has had her work worn by Beyoncé, Tracee Ellis Ross, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, and others; and Nardos Imam, born in Eritrea, who launched Nardos Couture in Dallas in 2012 and made her New York Bridal Fashion Week debut at the Plaza Hotel in April 2023.
Who is Bisrat Negassi?
Bisrat Tesfay Negassi is an Eritrean-born fashion designer, cultural curator, and author. Born in Asmara in the early 1970s, she fled with her family during the Ethiopian occupation, spending two years in Sudan before settling in Hamburg. She trained in fashion design at Hamburg’s JAK Fashion Academy, apprenticed with Parisian designer Lamine Kouyaté (Xuly Bët), and established the NEGASSI label in Paris in 2004. The label showed at Paris Fashion Week. In 2016, she co-founded M.Bassy, a cultural space in Hamburg for African and diaspora artists. From late 2022, she has served as head of the Fashion and Textiles collection at Hamburg’s Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. Her memoir, Ich bin, was published in German in 2022 and in Tigrinya as Ane iye in March 2025.
Who is Selam Fessahaye?
Selam Fessahaye is a Swedish-Eritrean fashion designer based in Sweden. She launched her eponymous label at Stockholm Fashion Week in 2018, where her debut was described as the most diversely cast runway in Scandinavian fashion history. Her work has been worn by Beyoncé, Tracee Ellis Ross, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Lil Nas X, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor, and Adekunle Gold, among others. At Copenhagen Fashion Week in February 2023, she presented a 33-look AW23 collection, her fourth runway show and a return after a four-year hiatus. She was a finalist for the Zalando Sustainability Award that season. Her label works across ready-to-wear, menswear, and sustainable design, using upcycled elements and leftover materials alongside new fabrics.
Who is Nardos Imam?
Nardos Imam is an Eritrean-born bridal and eveningwear designer based in Dallas, Texas and New York City. She launched Nardos Couture in 2012 after building her career at the luxury Dallas retailer Stanley Korshak. She opened a Madison Avenue boutique in New York in 2022. In April 2023, she presented the Spring 2024 bridal collection at the Plaza Hotel in New York, her first New York Bridal Fashion Week appearance. In 2025, she debuted on the Official New York Fashion Week Schedule. Her collections are known for architectural silhouettes, intricate embroidery, and the fusion of Gilded Age romanticism with contemporary design. Her Spring 2026 collection, Whisper of Renewal, was confirmed in a CFDA interview.
What is the Eritrean fashion scene?
Eritrea’s fashion scene spans both the country itself and a significant diaspora concentrated in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. This index documents three designers with verified international public records: Bisrat Negassi (Paris/Hamburg), Selam Fessahaye (Stockholm/Copenhagen), and Nardos Imam (Dallas/New York). The full scope of Eritrean fashion practice, including designers working within Eritrea, tailors and makers whose work is documented in Tigrinya rather than English, and community fashion cultures without digital press archives, extends well beyond what this index can currently verify. Absence from this record is a documentation gap, not a fashion absence.
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Read the full Fashion > Industry section for Omiren Styles’ documented intelligence on African and diaspora fashion designers, verified designer indexes, and the commercial infrastructure being built across the continent and its communities.
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