Meet the creator of the brand Minikan

Hello Friends,

We are back with our first 2018 “discovery” article hehehe!
We had the opportunity to meet the fashion designer for the brand Minikan. This brand specializes in handmade clothing, presented in exclusive collections made only in limited series in Ivory Coast.
Without further ado, here is our recent interview 😉 .

• Description of Minikan: what is Minikan? 

Minikan is a modern, urban African “ready to wear” brand. The brand draws its inspiration from traditions, it’s the result of the mix between two specific origins: French and Ivorian. Every woman is born a designer!

Minikan’s concept is to express light, freshness and creativity in its designs. In a few words, Minikan is an African masterpiece whose touch brings light to our look. It can also be combined with our everyday outfits.

• Who are you?

I am the fashion designer of the brand Minikan, which is actually my third name given by my “baoulé” mother (=little mummy). My dad is French and my mum is Ivorian from Abidjan (Ivory Coast) where I spent my youth growing up. After receiving my BA degree in Information Sciences in Paris, I dedicate my precious time today designing clothing that combine some inspirations from the Ivorian culture and the French “know-how” in sewing.

• How would describe Minikan in three words?

 The three words that would describe Minikan perfectly are: Crossover, Gentleness, and Modern.

• How did you come up with the idea of creating this brand?

 Since my early childhood, especially thanks to my parents, I have become immersed in the Ivorian and French culture, because we travelled to France every year. When I moved to France at the age of 18 and until the end of my studies, I felt that something was missing, because I only had the French part of my identity and every time I went back to Ivory Coast for vacation, I didn’t want to come back to France.

So the only way for me to keep a strong and constant link with my native country was to promote its culture. My mum helped me a lot to achieve my goal because she was the owner of a loincloth shop (African cloths), where she sold Dutch loin clothing, Binta loincloth, real wax, Kita loincloth (Baoulé traditional cloths) in many different and bright colors, softness and scents.

I remember sitting there to host clients, picking up some loincloths for myself in order to ask some local designers to make me dresses, skirts and pants. I had so many ideas…  I loved drawing since middle school, and I discovered that it was a real passion for me. At this moment I wondered how could I combine my passions for drawing, fashion and loincloths to make it my own job… A job I would be happy to do every morning when I get up with a big smile on my face. I just followed Confucius quote “Choose a job that you love and you will never work a single day in your life”. From that moment on I decided to create my own wax cloths starting from the drawing board, to the choice of colors all the way to the packaging of the finished product. I did all of this to share my love for beautiful creations and loincloths. Aside from my event job I decided to take some sewing classes s well. Naturally, I chose my middle name for the branding, Minikan.

• What is the particularity of the brand?

This brand specializes in handmade clothing, presented in exclusive collections made only in limited series in Ivory Coast.

• Why the name Minikan?

Minikan come from the Baoulé language (the biggest language of the 60 Ivory Coast ethnic tribes) and means “little mummy”. This name embodies the crossover, the Gentleness of the holy mother and daughter link. When mothers name their daughters Minikan, it means that they recognize them as the next elders, because someday the daughters are going to take care of their mothers, they will become “little mummies” from their “big mummies”.

In Ivory Coast, the image of the loving, strong, responsible and enterprising mother plays a huge role on the path from a little girl to a woman. This model directly inspires the brand; dresses, skirts and feminine blouse colored with wax, Bogolan and Kente cloths.

• How can we get your clothes?

The ready to wear Minikan brand was launched via our online shop (www.minikan.co) in June the 17^th 2017. For the moment the clothes can be shipped everywhere in the world. We are now discussing about finding some place where we could actually sell in person to our customers.

What we wear:

We are wearing tops from the first collection.
C combined her top with a skirt and heels from ZARA. G is wearing pants from ASOS, heels from ZARA and a MANGO BAG.

What do you think about our outfits?

Be Golden, stay connected,

Golden Connexion

Thanks Billiko for the pictures (Instagram)