PARIS FASHION WEEK: Sakina M’sa, a Parisian fashion pioneer

By Agnes Ratniece and Giulia Zanatta

“No twelve-year-old girl should say to herself: ‘Fashion is not for me, because I have neither the codes nor the network to succeed in this environment’,” Sakina M’sa said in her blog.

Sakina M’sa is a sustainable fashion designer with a strong belief in inclusivity, women empowerment, and transparency. The fashion designer moved from Comoro islands (an archipelago in South of Africa) to France in the 1970s where she learned French. She created her very first fashion collection at the age of fourteen.

Sakina M’sa – fashion desire and the brand owner ( @sakinamsa Instagram, 2023)

Since then, Sakina has been very successful in collaborating with other designers such as APC, iconic jeans brands and PUMA for different occasions and fashion events. She has created shows in original and unusual places like women’s prisons and disenfranchised neighbourhoods, creating every time new collections and opening her fashion store in Paris ”Front De Mode”.

In 2011, Sakina started to create a catwalk during Fashion Week inside Fleury Merogis, a women’s prison, using inmates to share and spread a unique message: beauty for all. Since then, the designer has repeated the event every year. During the event, there is a hairstylist and makeup artist presence, different workshops and a film screening.

“Making poor people vibrate to the rhythm of the beauty and goodness of this profession of desires,” she proclaims.

Skina’s collections in the store. Video by Giulia Zanatta

Sakina believes that everyone should be included in the fashion world, even when they don’t have anything. Her collections are open to all ages, bodies and genders and to allow that, Sakina and her team create all the collections right from the basement of their atelier. In this way, she doesn’t overproduce but makes them on the demand based on people’s necessities.

Most of the fabric comes from dead stock materials sourced from the KERING GROUP which houses luxury brands, like YSL, Dior and Balenciaga.

*Fabric from KERING GROUP. Photo by Agnes Ratniece*

In Sakina’s fashion store, you can see her collections, ranging from clothing, accessories, jewellery, shoes and home decor. The entire environment is surrounded by bright colours, different fabrics and fantasies. Many of her collections are inspired by her culture and vision to create an inclusive and equal world.