Zim fashion designer charms Hollywood

By Dakarai Mashava

When record-breaking Zimbabwean fashion designer Adel Kaseke uploaded a picture of herself wearing a dress she had just made on Instagram last October, she didn’t realise she had conjured up an ascent into cash-rich Hollywood.

No sooner had the United Kingdom based Kaseke posted the picture than Hollywood’s royalty began contacting her. The first to get in touch was Brely Evans who was part of the star-studded cast of the 2012 movie “Sparkle” that also included the late Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks.

The curvaceous Brely also featured in The Man in 3B (2015) and Just Wright (2010). She is currently part of the American drama television series Being Mary Jane.

Kaseke, who owns a clothing label called Curvy Swan, told the Daily News on Sunday that she never ceases to look book at how her break into Hollywood came about.

“That was a surreal moment. I made a certain dress in October last year and I wore the dress and hat and it was on my Instagram.

“In no time I was in contact with Brely Evans…She loved my design and asked if I could send her some samples,” Kaseke said.

The Portsmouth-based fashion designer sent a box full of clothes to Loss Angeles where Brely resides.

“She loved them. She first wore one of my pieces late last year which was a skirt on a red carpet where she was host of a show. She was interviewing the likes of Meagan Good (actress).

“It was amazing to see her on the red carpet and on stage wearing my skirt,” she remembered.

When another Hollywood celebrity Deja Dee, who plays the role of Mrs. Caroline Davis on the television series Criminal Minds and who has featured in popular movies like Allegiant (2016), For All My Sins (2009) and Damn Foreigners (2015), contacted her, the former Nhowe Mission and CCOSA student realised that she was indeed steadily gaining a foothold in Hollywood.

“I guess I was in the right place at the right time. There is a list of other Hollywood celebrities that follow me. It is an exciting opportunity for me.

“Brely Evans recently informed me that she wore some of my items in an upcoming movie that she is producing, directing and acting in. I have been told that I will be on the list of credits for the film.

“I also have a couple of other actresses that I am in liaison with to create clothes and another project that I cannot reveal now where I will be commissioned to make clothes for a whole full production,” said Kaseke.

The success that Kaseke is now enjoying has not come as a surprise to those who have followed her career since she entered the Guinness World Records in February 2014 for making the world’s largest corset (A woman’s tightly fitting undergarment extending from below the chest to the hips, worn to shape the figure).

Kaseke’s corset has a maximum of 3.7 metres at the front and 3.3 metres at the back when laid flat.

“I had the then Mayor of my city (Portsmouth) Lynne Stagg at the event and a whole crowd in the city centre as I presented the corset,” she remembered.

The record-breaking fashion designer believes she was always destined to be a fashion designer.

“I grew up with fashion designing in the family. My maternal grandfather was a dressmaker. He had a sewing machine that my mother later on inherited. I later on got to inherit the same sewing machine too.

“I grew up watching my mother do it (dressmaking) and I did it full time at school. Fashion designing was one of my majors,” said Kaseke who regards fashion accessory designer Pam Samasuwo as Zimbabwe’s best designer.

The former resident of the Harare suburb of Highfield relocated to the United Kingdom (UK) in 2001.

“When I came to the UK I did other jobs and ventured fully in this (fashion designing) as a business in 2011 when I actually registered and patented my clothing label called Curvy Swan,” said Kaseke. Daily News