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House of Tayo in the media.

Matthew Rugamba Matthew Rugamba

House of Tayo: story of an African menswear label, plus rethinking finance in fashion

"When he started House of Tayo, Rugamba had not a shred of experience in fashion or design, and only had a few bow ties lying around. What he did have was a blog post on Tumblr he posted in early 2012 about African fashion, which spoke about the way bow ties were going to be his way of telling the story of an Africa that is sophisticated and dignified."

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Matthew Rugamba Matthew Rugamba

The Big Problem With Calling African Fashion 'Tribal'

"While Rwandan designer Matthew Rugamba doesn't believe African textiles should be limited to African designers and brands, it does irritate him, he said, when designers draw inspiration from different African cultures, using African textiles and then employing phrases like "tribal" to describe them. "Some of the patterns and colors have great significance in different African cultures, so it is condescending to reduce some of these designs to a single phrase," he told HuffPost."

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Matthew Rugamba Matthew Rugamba

Get to Know House of Tayo’s Matthew Rugamba

When I sat down to talk to Matthew Rugamba, the upcoming star of the Africa Channel series House of Tayo: Journey of a Rwandan Designer, I expected to speak to an upcoming fashion designer about the typical topics: inspirations, background and how being from Rwanda inspires his designs. But what I found is probably what most people find when they talk to him – do not underestimate this 25-year-old.

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Guest User Guest User

Ode to elegance: Meet the 'Afro-dandies'

Classy and elegant, Rugamba's label House of Tayo combines bold African patterns and textures with western accessories to produce wax-print bow ties, colorful pocket squares and infinite scarfs for "Afro-dandies" in Rwanda and beyond.

We sat down with sartorially chic Rugamba to chat all things dandy: how to get the look; African influences; style icons and who he'd most like to see don his designs.

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Guest User Guest User

Hai Afrika Interview – Matthew Rugamba, Founder of House of Tayo

"I think I may have a slightly bigger passion for story-telling than fashion. I remember making my first trip to the tailors when I was about 8 years old. I went to have an outfit made for my family wedding. I found the whole process fascinating. After many trips to various tailors over the years I grew more and more in love with the process...."

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