Placing Guinean Artisans In the Spotlight
In the blazing summer of 2021, Nagnouma Fofana finally takes her long-awaited trip to Guinea-Conakry, which is her family’s country of origin. Her unmistakable love for fashion leads her family members to introduce her to a large community of artisans. This trip marks the official beginning of the business model for FOFANA™, which is a clothing brand that Nagnouma Fofana established when she was just 16 years old.
One recurring theme that we can expect to see in Fofana’s clothing brand is bold prints & colors. In this photo, Fofana is photographed on the intersection of Allen Street & Stanton Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she was born and raised. She designed and produced six matching sets with this exact same silhouette. She sourced the exact amount of fabric that she would need to create each dress. The scraps that were left over from each dress were turned into each set’s matching headwraps.
Bold Prints & Colors
This particular dressmaking shop has a long-standing relationship with Fofana’s family members. Every single employee is vital to running the business’ tight & efficient ship, and every employee is paid generously for their services.
Guinean Craftsmanship
Madina: Guinea’s Largest Market
Madina is Guinea’s largest market, where one can find a plethora of items from all over the world. Fofana and her family drove about 40 minutes through Conakry’s bustling streets to the market where they searched through thousands of textiles for their dresses.
Building a Sustainable Community
In this photo, Fofana is sitting in between her cousins and her extended family members. They are spending the day in Tata’s thrift shop in Madina. Tata is the mother of Fofana’s cousin, and she has been selling 2nd hand clothing in the Madina market for over two decades. Fofana and her family in NYC sent barrels of their lightly worn clothes to Guinea every year for as long as she can remember. Sustainability is at the core of Fofana’s brand— from environmental consciousness, to human & economic advancement.
Meeting Queen Bella Hadid
In January of 2023, Fofana meets the one and only Bella Hadid. They are seated on a couch in the Lower Eastside Girls Club’s headquarters, where Fofana gifts Bella a top and a headwrap from the collection of dresses that she designed in Guinea back in 2021. What a dream come true this was! This is surely just the beginning of a lifetime of playing dress up with Bella, Insha’Allah.