Our #WCW is Farai Simoyi is a British–Zimbabwean fashion designer, television personality, educator, and entrepreneur. She appeared on the first edition of the fashion design competition series Next in Fashion in 2020.
Farai Simoyi was born on 1 October 1983 in London, England. She lived her early childhood in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she attended early primary education at Groombridge Primary School before moving to West Virginia in the United States of America. She completed her primary and secondary education in the USA before proceeding to West Virginia University. She attained her Fashion Design & Merchandising degree at West Virginia University and studied design at Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in Milan, Italy.
Farai Simoyi began her career in fashion design in 2005. Over the years she rose to prominence through designing and consulting for celebrity brands, which include Beyonce, Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, Justin Timberlake, Rachel Roy, Anne Klein, and Robert Rodriguez.
In 2010 she debuted her brand Farai Inc at New York Fashion Week 2010, where she was identified as a ‘Breakout Designer’ by Time Out New York,She then went on to establish The Narativ House in 2017 which houses ethically-sourced artisan brands from around the world with an emphasis on sustainability and traditional craftsmanship through human-centered design.
Simoyi had her television debut on TLC’s design competition series I’ve got nothing to wearin 2007. In the series, design contestants were paired up with a client that had an entire closet of clothes yet still complained, “I’ve got nothing to wear”. The designers would invade the closets of their clients and pull garments with plans to upcycle them into new, revived garments.
Simoyi’s second television appearance was in 2020 when she appeared on the first season of the Netflix fashion design competition series Next in Fashion in 2020.She was the only African on the show which featured eighteen international designers.On the show, Simoyi was partnered with an American fashion designer, Kianga “Kiki” Milele. The two designers worked with each other at The Nicki Minaj Collection. The designers appeared in 5 episodes and exited after the 5th episode.
Simoyi became a Fashion Scholarship Fund Equity Committee member in partnership with the Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund in 2022. The Fashion Scholarship Fund Equity Committee works directly with the country’s most talented young students from diverse backgrounds and awards over $1 million each year in scholarships to help students succeed in all industry sectors, including design, merchandising, marketing analytics, and business strategy. Simoyi is also an advisory board member for the Council for International African Fashion Education representing North America and board member for the Philadelphia Fashion & Garment Industry Task Force.
Awards she won were:
The Next Best Designer – Essence list of 2020
Female Entrepreneur of the year – Zimbabwe Achievers Awards USA 2018
GC4W 20 Most Influential African Women Entrepreneurs & Leaders in America 2016
GC4W Top 100 Women in the World
Influential African Women To Watch – Ladybrille Magazine 2016
Designer of the year – African Entertainment Awards USA
Emerging Designer of the Year – African Diaspora Awards 2012
