“It was 2011, and I was turning 21,” designer Anifa Mvuemba sets the scene. “My friends and I threw a birthday bash and I didn't have any money but I had scraps of fabric.” Mvuemba fashioned those scraps into a dress, which she then posted to her (at the time) recently created instagram account. And it took. Friends and family began to reach out, requesting she craft them something similar. “I guess, word started to get out locally,” she muses. Soon, friends became strangers in her town, who then became strangers in different locales. “And that's how it started.” The “it” in question is the design affinity that evolved into her celeb-and industry-beloved fashion brand Hanifa.
Mvuemba didn’t attend a fancy fashion school. She didn’t train under Jean Paul Gaultier or Oscar de La Renta. Instead, she gleaned technical knowledge from a seamstress aunt who was making clothes for real people in lieu of a runway. A busy woman, the aunt in question didn’t have time to babysit Mvuemba’s fledgling fashion affinity. So the burgeoning creative watched. She watched as her aunt spread bolts of fabric on the floor and marked them up. She watched as she cut and sewed sections together. After spending hours on her living room floor deducing these foreign methods (the gaps she filled in with YouTube videos), she went home and made each garment seemingly hundreds of times herself until it was perfect.
Though impressive, attention to detail isn’t the preeminent characteristic of a Hanifa collection; it’s the collective range of vibrant hues. Think deep indigos, cherry reds, and dandelion yellow, among many others. We were pleased to find a similar sentiment applied to her own closet (where Hanifa features heavily). It’s a fashion lover’s candy store in there among the neon chiffon, bedazzled silk, and iridescent satin. “One of my favorite colors to wear is a fuchsia. When I'm wearing this color, I just know I'm standing out somewhere,” she smiles. “It just makes me feel good.”
Speaking of color, a number of Bottega-green shoe boxes perch perilously on her closet racks. “I had a season where I was just obsessed with Bottega [Veneta], like obsessed.” She respects the creative direction, noting the quality has always been impeccable but the wizardry with color and accessories in recent years is something of envy. “I bought my first pair of shoes for my first big article with the New York Times and that's when [the obsession] started.” She also admires Belgian designer Dries Van Noten for his chromatic dexterity. Her first purchase of his was an almost iridescent green coat that seamlessly slots into her rainbow closet. But she might not have discovered him had it not been for another of Mvuemba’s muses, the sartorially obsessed Amanda Murray. “She exudes this confidence where it doesn't matter what she wears, it just makes sense because this is who she is," Mvuemba explains of her style icon. "The clothes don't wear her, she wears the clothes. She commands the clothes.”
When Mvuemba won the InStyle Future of Fashion Award in 2021, she donned a violet strapless evening gown of her own design, trimmed in corresponding ostrich feathers. For footwear, she selected Christian Louboutins—that’s who presented her with the award. “Whether it's basic or something for a special occasion, I always want [the case] to be: you walk in a room and everyone notices,” she states with confidence. “Always my goal every time.” That attitude always applies to all of her designs, and, in most cases, the ensembles she wears. Mvuemba is admittedly a mood-based dresser. Sometimes, the color maven is dressed in neutral staples from Uniqlo, her favorite destination for basics. “If I'm having a weird month, I'm probably wearing a lot of black because that's just how I feel at the time,” she says, though sometimes she’ll toss a sparkly Mach & Mach heel on with her sweatpants. But all she needs is a shift in mood (or weather) and she’s back to experimenting, crafting special pieces to test on her own body.
One such experiment is a patent leather indigo trench coat, piped in white with oversized buttons down the front. Said outerwear opened her Fall ’21 show in Washington D.C. When Harlem Fashion Row presented Mvuemba with the opportunity to partner with Barbie and distill her designs to a miniature version of herself, this was the garment she selected. The coat exemplifies her affinity for construction, statement, and vibrancy, in the sense of both her personal style and design sensibility. The human-sized coat hangs proudly in her closet, the bite-size version cloaks the dolls perched on her coffee table. “Little me would be screaming,” Mvuemba laughs. “I mean, I am still screaming, but she would be so proud to see what we've been able to achieve over the years.” Shop her closet essentials here.
"I had a season where I was just obsessed with Bottega [Veneta], like obsessed. They do a really good job with their accessories. Within the last three years, I've seen more Bottega than ever. It has a lot to do with direction—with color and accessories—although their craftsmanship has always been insanely good. I bought my first pair of their shoes for my first big article with New York Times in 2020."
"When I moved, we had a few options in the building and this closet is why we chose this one."
"I still feel like we're still honing in on [the brand's aesthetic], but I think what I really wanted was to explore color. I was terrified of color prior to, so I focused on learning about color, understanding color. I also wanted to cater to women's bodies and curves. Especially as a Black woman, that's something that I also struggle with over the years. I wanted to make it a point to cater to different silhouettes because I have friends and families and moms and aunts and they also want to support and wear my clothes. I started as a size zero, two, and now, I'm roughly a size 14 or 16. So even making sure that I can wear my own pieces."
I did not know about Dries Van Noten until I saw Amanda Murray wearing it. That's one of her favorites. So I looked into and I was just like, 'Wow, he does color so well, he does print so well.' That's actually my first Dries piece that I bought and I'm obsessed with it."
"That coat was the opening look for our first fashion show in D.C. which was a monumental moment for us. When we got the deal with Barbie through Harlem Fashion Row, we felt that was the best option. It's just really cool to have a doll that looks like you wearing your clothes. Little me would just be screaming. I mean, I am still screaming, but she would be so proud to see what we've been able to achieve over the years."
"[When it comes to inspiration], I have so many Pinterest boards, it's actually crazy. And then, I love my coffee table books, of course. I love to travel and see new things or just get out the house, go for walks or visit museums. I live really close to a lot of the museums here in DC."
"Whether it's basic or if it's something for a special occasion, I always want everyone to notice when you walk in a room. You don't even have to say anything. That's always my goal [in every design]."
"Last November, I won the Future of Fashion Award from InStyle and it was presented by Christian Louboutin. The award show was in L.A. and my first show, was in D.C. the next day. So right after I received the award, I had to go straight to the airport. I wish I was able to bask into that moment because it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime type of things.
That dress, I had just designed and it was hanging in my closet. My mom always tells me, 'You need to always have something for special moments [in your closet]. You never know when they'll come,' and so I am glad I listened to her. When I found out, it was happening in a couple weeks. I tried it on and it was perfect."
"I remember watching my mom getting dressed in the morning. I was probably between eight and 10. I would say her style was very sophisticated. She would put on a nice silk scarf. She wore a lot of blazers in the nineties, and she always had her hair slicked back with a red lip. I just loved it. I think that's when I started to notice fashion. It's honestly where my interest started, just admiring my mom."
"This piece was really special because this is from a collection where we experimented with higher quality fabrics and challenged ourselves to expound on the silhouettes we usually create. We've done ruffles throughout the years. We always do color. We've also been trying to figure out a way that we can hone in on this gradient thing that we're been developing. That was the first time that we really dove deep into that experiment. We tried dip dyeing it and we tried printing it and decided that the print would be better. I am really, really proud of this piece. A lot of labor and love went into this dress and it came out so beautifully."
"I was inspired by Chanel [in my early days]. At that time, she was my favorite, and then I started to learn about Schiaparelli. Schiaparelli's work is just insane. I appreciate craftsmanship and artistry and they do a really good job at doing all of that and making beautiful art. Their seamstress are like scientists or something."
"Uniqlo is incredible [for basics]. I also love their sizing. I think their stuff is actually true to size. It fits well. I actually don't have to tailor anything when I buy stuff from them. And I love how when you shop there, they have that technology where you just throw everything in the bin and it calculates everything. It's really cool. So I love Uniqlo very, very, very much."
"Middle school was when I first really got to dress myself. So at that time, it was a lot of color blocking, headbands, that punk rock inspired look with when you wear a tank top over your long sleeved shirt, skater shirts, and things like that, lip gloss and all that crazy stuff. And then in high school, I started to refine my style a little bit as I started to mature. I don't want to say my style was conservative but it was reminiscent of how my mom would dress. I'd get a nice blazer and pair it with some nice pants or even jeans. That's when I started wearing heels. I started thrifting and tailoring oversized men pieces to cater to my size at the time."
"I think I'm in my sweatpants season right now. Today it's going to be casual and I'm going to wear them with sneakers but tomorrow, I'm going to dress them up with heels. But I go through different phases that have a lot to do with how I'm feeling. So if I'm having a weird, moody month, I'm probably wearing a lot of black because that's just how I feel at the time. Then there's seasons when I want to dress up, I want to try new things, I'm making special pieces for myself. This is where I'm experimenting with my own body and how I'm feeling. So honestly, [the way I want to dress] changes. It always changes.
"I [also] love my Mach & Mach heels. They're just fun. I know everyone wears them dressed up, but I love wearing them casually with casual stuff. I think it's so cute."
"I attach moods to colors. One of my favorite colors to wear is a fuchsia. When I'm wearing this color, I know I stand out. It just makes me feel good. So walking into my closet and seeing color just uplifts my mood. A lot of women are terrified of wearing color, but once you put it on, it compliments you so you feel good, you look good. You develop a relationship with color. You have to find your groove, figure out what you like and what you don't like. But that's very experimental, fun. I really enjoy it."
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