Even the President of Kenya has worn his custom pieces. Yet, despite the celebrity hype, Avido’s heart is still at home. In 2019 when the pandemic hit, he shifted his workshop from high fashion to local communities, using sustainable materials to sew and give out nearly 23,000 free, reusable masks to our neighbors, alongside distributing food packs to hundreds of families who were struggling to get by.
David Avido going through the contract for the screening project at the Multi Choise Studios in Nairobi
Avido is using his massive global following to fight the deep-rooted discrimination facing differently-abled and gender-identifying people in the informal settlements. A project that feels closer to home than anything he’s done before. He calls it sustainable inclusion. He wants everyone to have a taste of his latest collection bypassing traditional models to feature the people we see every day but often gets ignored by society.
In this screening show, Avido included and put the deaf, people with vitiligo, the physically disabled and Beatrice who has albinism at the centre of attention. He also engaged members of the transgender community. As someone tasked with taking photos of the event, capturing these models wearing the vibrant, unisex Ankara and velvet designs wasn't just a fashion shoot, it was a heavy statement against the privilege and stereotypes that lock people out.
Avido and some of the participants at the Fashion Screening festival at Multi-Choise Studios in Nairobi
Avido started his art as a dancer, he knows exactly how brutal it can be to fight for respect when the world puts you in a box. He asserts that ‘I believes that human talent goes way beyond what you can see physically’ and he’s proving it by building structures to back it up. Through the Avido Foundation, he has set up mentorship and tailoring programs specifically for deaf women and young mothers in the community.
Leading the Catwalks
Kibera Fashion Week was a monumental project undertaken by Avido. Instead of keeping fashion behind the closed doors of luxury hotels, he brought it to the Olympic Bus Terminus, turning an actual neighborhood streets into a massive runway, letting the local kids see models walking right past their doorsteps.
Durin the catwalk show
Avido always says that great things can come from the places least expected, and looking through my lens at what he’s built, I know he’s right. It’s a project meant to challenge the exploitative global supply chains and shift the entire fashion conversation straight to the Global South.
