Sy

Oumou (1952). Senegalese designer with five children and a series of three husbands. She is an innovative designer and a woman of grand ideals who has succeeded in melding the glittering lights of fashion with strong social issues, such as the emancipation of African women. Her dressmaking workshop in the medina in Dakar hosts students to whom she teaches the artistic techniques of African costume. Her project provides training for young people, not just in terms of craftsmanship, but in appreciating and valuing their own artistic talents, encouraging them to persist in pursuing those talents, giving them a sense of freedom and equipping them with the tools they will need to establish themselves in the West. To cope with so many demands, she has set up LEYDI, a workshop for design and for training in the arts, the traditional and modern techniques of costume, and African and Western influences. Pupils come from Senegal and other African countries, but even as far away as Europe and America.Haute couture and ready-to-wear, however, remain her chosen field, but she also collaborates with the world of theater and performance and teaches fine arts in Dakar and abroad. Oumou Sy designed and presented, in Dakar and Geneva, the performance La Vie a des Longues Jambes (Life has Long Legs); she “invented” the Dakar Carnival; and she opened Metissacana — the first cyber café in Western Africa — in the Senegalese capital. In 1998, she was awarded first prize by the Prince Claus Foundation (Royal Palace in Amsterdam). In 2000, she represented African fashion at the Universal Exhibition in Hanover and the Prince Claus Foundation voted her an Urban Hero. In 2001, she received the FRI Net Africa award (Yaounde). In the last ten years, she has shown in Dakar, Milan, Berlin, Paris, London, New York, Geneva, Venice, Lille, Brussels, Catania and many other cities. The Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam and the Kindermuseum in Amsterdam both house some of her creations, as does the Galerie Ifa in Stuttgart and the Kunsthalle in Vienna.