When the fashion industry first heard about Zimbabwe Fashion Week (ZFW) there was excitement in the air. After so many years of languishing in the waste paper basket of discarded threads designers wondered if this was the event that would mark the beginning of Zimbabwe’s fashion renaissance. The answer, unfortunately, is a sad no.

Day 3 of Zimbabwe Fashion Week, July 30, 2010, featured young and upcoming designers Maria Rukatya, Priscilla Ruzive and high school student Louis Fick. Their collections showed great promise. The highlights for the evening were collections by Chris Goredema, Yvonne Watadza and Priscilla Chigariro.

Things picked up pace on the second day of Zimbabwe Fashion Week, Thursday July 29, with four young designers showcasing their work. A show scheduled for the afternoon was cancelled so that a bigger show, featuring more designers could be held in the evening.

The first successful aeroplane, built by Wilbur and Orville Wright, took flight on  December 17, 1903. The duration of that first modern airborne adventure was twelve seconds- but it was a flight nonetheless. The first Zimbabwe Fashion Week (ZFW) was launched last night at a low key event at Harry Margolis Hall. It was not the huge  flight into fashion that the industry had hoped for- but it was a flight into fashion nonetheless.

Downtown Harare. A pair of slip-on tennis shoes will cost you US$2. They look as though they will fall apart after a few days wear but they are being snapped up like crazy. In the basket next to them are bras marked US$1. At Edgars, and Express a few blocks uptown the same garment- better quality- is ten times the price.

The Zimbo Jam brings you an amazing look at this Zimbabwean winter’s hottest fashion accessory. You will never look at them the same way again. The chill is out and so are the boots, in all shapes and sizes…

I will never forget the one afternoon when I was moving through a clothes boutique and heard the most piercing shriek ever. So sharp was it that I put down the garment I was looking at to track the source of that cry.

Winter is here and we all need to be geared up for the cold and look fab’ at the same time. Who says you have to sacrifice style for the sake of warmth? We’ve found a way to blend the two with our list of Jam Fashion winter wardrobe essentials.