Iconic TV personality and proprietor of MIMI online shop Julie Gichuru together with her team held an event at The Mercury Lounge situated at The Junction Mall to appreciate Kenya’s top fashion blogger in the 2015 MIMI Fashion Blogger awards.
The competition which premiered in the month of September 2015 was one of its kind. The search for the top creative fashion blogger saw hundreds of submissions from fashion bloggers around the county gunning for the coveted winner’s package of Kshs 100,000 and a free photo shoot.
Muriuki Kagiri, award winning artist from the gospel trio Christ Cycoz and a Bachelor of Science graduate emerged as the winner from a wide selection of fashion bloggers. He was also the only male fashion blogger who made it to the top ten finalists.
“I had not expected such a high turnout of blogger submissions,” says Julie as she gave us the statistics of the competition. “I had only estimated around maybe 30 or so bloggers but by the time we had closed the submission period, the numbers were in their hundreds! It was really overwhelming.”
What shocked Julie even more was the fact that there was a male blogger who had made it to the final cut. She even expressed her sentiments saying that she really did not expect him to win, but she was proved wrong once Muriuki started gathering more and more votes. This comes in light of the fact that the fashion industry is mostly run by females, be it in designing, modeling or even blogging, but we were clearly proven wrong.
In attendance was several media houses, photographers, fashion enthusiasts and also some of the top ten finalists graced the occasion. Gilad, who is famously known for his hit song ‘Unajua’ featuring Wendy Kimani also stopped by.
Miss Turu who has been a fashion blogger for almost one year now and was also a contestant in the competition thanked the MIMI team for such an amazing opportunity for fashion bloggers to grow and get out of their comfort zone. She says that the competition also helped her grow a thick skin, especially with the negativity she had faced at one time on her social media platforms.
Shawn Osimbo; the 2nd runners up in the competition who is a fashion blogger, sports journalist and also a sports blogger also thanked the team for organizing the competition seeing as it helped her get even more and more creative with her blog.
The man of the hour Muriuki, did not have much to say other than to thank God for His favor that helped him win and also thanked the team in the strides they are making to see the fashion industry grow.
We can expect a lot more from Julie and her MIMI team in 2016 as they want to awaken the fashion industry. They also want to do more collaboration with media houses and work more with the top 10 finalists of the blogger competition.
One aspect that stood out in their plans for the year is the fact that they want to concentrate more on local fashion industry in terms of getting their merchandise. She says that for far too long, many people have been rushing to get westernized clothes and accessories without even realizing the bulk of talent and expertise we have in our very own country. We should work more in uplifting the local market and the people’s love for fashion as well.
