00:04people from outside whenever they came here they just like wow what a dress why is it so big it's
00:11like a diamond as a fashion editor for refinery 29 i've been to fashion shows all over the world
00:29from gucci in milan to victoria's secret in shanghai but i've never been to one in africa
00:35let alone in windhook the capital of namibia in three days i have a seat at windhook's second
00:42fashion week ever straight line straight line this year the buzz is all about the modern makeover
00:49of a dress which an ethnic group has kept in style for over a hundred years
00:56they are the herero and this is the dress adopted from german colonizers its hemline
01:04puffy sleeves and large petticoats are unmistakably victorian but it's not a 19th century relic
01:11it's a living symbol of a history i had no idea existed
01:21the dress was influenced by the victorian press and the dress started to give them an identity
01:28so it's now part of the herero tradition
01:34esther is a historian and activist it is her life's mission to speak out about what happened
01:39to the herero people one thing that is associated with the herero people is either their dress
01:46or there is history of genocide tell me about the genocide when the germans came i don't know
01:54whether when they came they thought that the people who were living here were not human beings
01:59a lot of strategies were used the women were raped children were hanged between 1904 and 1907
02:0770 percent of the herero people were killed once one of namibia's largest and wealthiest indigenous
02:13groups the herero were nearly annihilated can you imagine that psychological pain that these people
02:21went through they tried to forget that so that they can restructure themselves as a community
02:28the herero women took a dress once worn by their oppressors and made it an emblem of who they are
02:34and how far they've come in ochemise a village on the outskirts of windhook 12-year-old pehaye is about
02:41to become
02:41a part of this lineage i joined her for what is perhaps the most significant milestone of a young herero
02:48girl's life getting her first dress are you proud to be herero extremely proud because god made me that way
02:57i have to appreciate the way he made me i wouldn't want to be somebody else instead of me myself
03:02are you excited to go shopping for the fabric yeah i'm really so excited
03:08pehaye her mother nico and i went to pick out fabric getting your first dress is a rite of passage
03:14they are handmade and often only worn once
03:17so i think that if you have a bunch of accessories you want to go for shorter sleeves then so
03:22it
03:22doesn't yeah do you want the sleeves to be flat or kind of like puffy a little bit puffy i
03:27thought you
03:27said you were gonna have her shoes
03:35it's covered in pearls that's really cool
03:46as pehaye takes her fabric to a traditional herero designer the history of pehaye's people
03:51will be stitched into the fabric of her first dress its debut will mark her entry into womanhood
03:58that tradition is what grounds another young woman who is about to make a debut of her own
04:03at fashion week being herero means everything to me it's my heritage it's where i draw strength
04:10from my character my values
04:15from the village to the city and now to the catwalk farah is bringing her past into the future
04:21in a modern herero dress
04:24this is the living room and oh the photos on the walls yeah
04:30it's all my extended family it's my grandparents it's my aunt and uncle on the wedding day
04:36and look they're all wearing the herero dresses
04:39the head thing what is what it's called that's called the oshikaiva
04:45the oshikaiva was added as a sign of the cow the symbol of the herero people
04:50oshikaiva has changed so much from photo to photo
04:53yeah it depends on like the ages and the times like that was huge my mom's one was huge
04:58it looks really modern
04:59fashion is a revolving door
05:01yeah yeah yeah
05:02so i mean when you grew up herera how much of a part of it was in your everyday life
05:06until i came to vindic in 2009 i was pretty much like a village girl
05:10my whole life was herero traditions you wake up you make fire you make tea then you go you milk
05:17the cows
05:18i feel like a lot of the hero girls and different tribal groups we try too much to move away
05:23from
05:23our cultures when that's a very important part of who we are and i don't think it's something to
05:29disregard or just throw away and tell me about winter fashion week i'm so excited for that because
05:36this is the first time i'll be walking in my traditional attire and i'll be doing it at fashion
05:40week so it's like my two loves coming together my fashion and my traditional heritage i would actually
05:45love to see your walk if you're willing to show it to me let's do it okay great
06:06as vara prepares for her debut the man designing her dress is planning to stir up controversy
06:12make bright don't you want to incorporate something else like a lighter trim it with a belt or something
06:19i'm actually known for the way i try to modernize the dress it makes it easier for young people to
06:26wear
06:26it and a way of keeping the dress alive my mother has a laundry business i definitely had a very
06:35strong
06:35connection because when we were young customers bringing a wedding gown and i would look at how it's
06:41made so when my mother was at work i would cut out expensive bettings and come up with a dress
06:46or
06:46something my family's business really inspired my career how much left do you have to do i need to
06:52steam a few and then i'm done mcbright is giving me a sneak peek of vara's dress what did you
06:58modify
06:58on this dress the jacket the sleeve the collar here the arms and you know the only thing that i
07:06kept was the length this is one petticoat this is heavy but this is the only way we could we
07:11got to
07:12modify it oh yeah i know it's going to be shock everybody as a herrero yourself are you worried
07:18about that though you know change is something difficult i understand but people need to get
07:24you know used to the change one shoulder one shoulder i love that piece of flare on the shoulder
07:36mcbright and i hurried to put the finishing touches on his show
07:39how do you feel
07:40i don't even know i have no words i usually have no words
07:44yeah so you feel like on the high oh yeah did you ever think that the first time you put
07:50a
07:50herrero dress on that one day you'll be wearing one on a runway no amidst the mounting frenzy backstage
07:57vara is finally given the horror kova she'll wear in mcbright's show
08:07i've been to many fashion weeks before but there is an electricity here like nothing i've experienced
08:14i can feel how big a moment this is not just for windhook but for the herrero
08:29placing this look in the context of global fashion gives visibility
08:33to a people whose history has been overlooked have you ever worn a carrera dress like this before no
08:47nothing this shiny or this color what would your parents have thought uh they probably wouldn't have
08:54seen the picture
09:00as the fashion world celebrates the future of the herrero dress people like esther work to ensure
09:06that the past is not forgotten as long as there is a hero living on this planet the struggle for
09:16the
09:16recognition of the genocide will continue she spends her free time and money educating the public
09:24and advocating for justice have you heard about the road genocide uh first time first time
09:32even if it takes us another hundred years we won't mind because we have been waiting
09:38hundred years preparation for the herrero people will mean the achievement of freedom
09:47wearing the herrero dress is about much more than just passing down a cultural tradition
09:52it's about resilience now it's finally pehaya's turn to represent the next generation of herrero women
10:04hi how are you how's your day it's cool it's cool yeah you excited to see your dress
10:12yeah it's true yeah it's true this is your day it's beautiful oh my god
10:31every herrero woman is different most important is that she knows who she is that women continue the
10:39practice of the practice of wearing hetero dresses it is important that people remember their cultures
10:46and the beautiful things about it i'm happy to be a part of the change to be winning souls of
10:52people
10:52and making people happy when they're wearing the hetero dress when you wear the dress it gives you that
11:00sense of sense of belonging it defines who you are as a person
11:06you
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