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
01:12it's a living symbol of a history i had no idea existed
01:21the dress was influenced by the victorian dress 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 a part of this lineage i joined her for what is perhaps the most significant milestone of a
02:47young herero girl's life getting her first dress are you proud to be herero extremely proud because god
02:56made me that way i have to appreciate the way he made me i wouldn't want to be somebody else
03:00instead
03:01of me myself are 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 so i think that if you have a bunch of accessories you
03:21want to go for shorter sleeves then so it doesn't yeah do you want the sleeves to be flat or
03:25kind of like
03:25a little bit puffy a little bit puffy i thought you said you were gonna have her shoes
03:35it's covered in pearls that's really cool
03:40we can mix this one with gold yeah what do you think yeah i think it'd be cool
03:46as pehaye takes her fabric to a traditional herero designer the history of pehaye's people will be
03:52stitched 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 hero means everything to me it's my heritage it's where i draw strength from
04:11my character my values
04:15from the village to the city and now to the catwalk gara is bringing her past into the future
04:21in a modern herero dress this is the living room and look at all the photos on the walls yeah
04:30it's all my extended family this is my grandparents this is my aunt and uncle on the wedding day
04:36and look they're all wearing the herero dresses this is the horokoma the head thing what is what is
04:43called that's called the oshikaiva the oshikaiva was added as a sign of the cow the symbol of the herero
04:50people oshikaiva has changed so much from photo to photo yeah it took turns in like the ages and the
04:55times like that was huge my mom's one was huge it looks really modern fashion is a revolving door
05:01yeah yeah yeah so i mean when you grew up how much of a part of it was in your
05:05everyday life until i came
05:07to vindic in 2009 i was pretty much like a village girl my whole life was herero traditions you wake
05:14up
05:14you make fire you make tea then you go you milk the cows i feel like a lot of the
05:19hero girls and
05:21different tribal groups we try too much to move away from our cultures when that's a very important
05:26part of who we are and i don't think it's something to disregard or just throw away and tell me
05:33about
05:33winter fashion week i'm so excited for that because this is the first time i'll be walking in my
05:37traditional attire and i'll be doing it at fashion week so it's like my two loves coming together
05:42my fashion and my traditional heritage i would actually love to see your walk
05:47if 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
06:11up controversy make bright cut it and don't you want to incorporate something else like a lighter
06:18trim it with a belt or something i'm actually known for the way i try to modernize the dress
06:23it makes it easier for young people to wear it and a way of keeping the dress alive
06:32my mother has a laundry business i definitely had a very strong connection because when we were young
06:38customers bringing a wedding gown and i would look at how it's made so when my mother was at work
06:43i
06:43would cut out expensive betting and come up with a dress or something my family's business really
06:49inspired my career how much left do you have to do i need to steam a few and then i'm
06:54done mcbright is
06:55giving me a sneak peek of vara's dress what did you modify on this dress the jacket the sleeve
07:01the collar here the arms and that's traumatic you know the only thing that i kept was the length
07:07this is one petticoat this is heavy but this is the only way we got to modify it
07:12i know it's going to shock everybody as a herrero yourself are you worried about that though you know
07:20change is something difficult i understand but people need to get you know used to the change
07:27one 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 i don't even know i have no words i usually have no words yeah so i'm
07:45still
07:45like on the high oh yeah did you ever think that the first time you put a hero dress on
07:51that one
07:51day you'd be wearing one on a runway amidst the mounting frenzy backstage vara is finally given
07:59the 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
08:44have you ever worn a herrero dress like this before no nothing this shiny or this color would
08:51your parents have thought uh they probably wouldn't have seen the picture
09:00as the fashion world celebrates the future of the herrero dress
09:04people like esther work to ensure that the past is not forgotten
09:08um as long as there is a hero living on this planet the struggle for the recognition of the
09:17genocide will continue she spends her free time and money educating the public and advocating for
09:26justice if you heard about the road genocide uh my first time first time even if it takes us another
09:34hundred years we won't mind because we have been waiting a hundred years reparation for the hero
09:42people will mean the achievement of freedom wearing the herrero dress is about much more than just
09:50passing down a cultural tradition it's about resilience now it's finally pehaya's turn to represent
09:57the next generation of herrero women hi bye how are you hi how was your day it's cool yeah you
10:11excited
10:11to see your dress yeah it's true this is your day it's beautiful oh my god
10:23really happy
10:31every hero woman is different most important is that she knows who she is that women continue
10:38the practice of wearing her dresses
10:43it is important that people remember the cultures and the beautiful things about it
10:48i'm happy to be a part of the change to be winning souls of people and making people happy when
10:54they're wearing the hero dress when you wear the dress it gives you that sense of belonging
11:02it defines who you are as a person
