Dohrek takes a different perspective to the process of making clothes by blending traditional techniques with the resourcefulness of Senegalese tailors, resulting in unique, contemporary pieces. Bold cuts, classic silhouettes, and noticeable embroideries. Maty is deeply inspired by her mother’s love of fabrics and style, which instilled in her a passion for creating pieces that evoke nostalgia and emotion.
Dohrek advocates for a humanistic approach to fashion, prioritizing social responsibility through the utilization of local resources and talents for production and sourcing materials from deadstocks.
interview by
Stéphane Gaboué
Published 27/09/2021
nataal.com
Senegalese model Maty Ndiaye reveals her design talents with new womenswear label
Since she started modelling four years ago, Senegalese-born, Paris-based Maty Ndiaye has been on a roll, shooting with such photographers as Paolo Roversi and Koto Bolofo and landing a Valentino eyewear campaign. But her elegant silhouette and beaming smile are nowhere to be seen in her latest work for Dohrek. That's because she's the founder and designer of this new womenswear brand. Dohrek is a Wolof word meaning ‘mobile’, a nickname she was given when, while in high school in Dakar, her friends would drive past her and her best friend after school. They preferred to walk home, their slow pace giving them ample time to dream and talk about their desires to travel.
One of her dreams was fashion, the seeds of which were sown by her mother, a fashion fan who had a closet full of fabrics. She somewhat buried those sartorial pursuits when she arrived in France in 2015, enrolling in a biotechnology course. “It was easier to tell my family that I was going to France to study science,” Ndiaye confesses. But after just three months, she dropped out and moved to Paris. “I luckily found a fashion school that wouldn't ruin my mother.” She followed a bachelor in fashion design and pattern making with a masters in digital marketing while establishing herself as a model.
“I want Dohrek to give a positive image of a generation that dreams about discovering the world”
Last May, Ndiaye returned home to Dakar where browsing 1980s photo albums of her mother provided her with the inspiration for her first collection. She quickly shopped for fabrics there and spent all her holidays crafting the pieces. The lookbook was beautifully shot by photographer Bettina Pittaluga, who plays on the sweet and nostalgic feel of the collection. Ample momsy dresses, cocktail numbers and broad-shouldered jackets are worn with ladylike, bouffant hairdos and headwraps. Many will have a memory of an aunt who looked a like this but the end result is modern, notably thanks to a cropped sweatshirt and dresses with flesh-revealing cut-outs.
Ndiaye plans to show two collections a year and to have the clothes produced in Dakar, in order to showcase the very best Senegalese quality. "I want Dohrek to give a positive image of a generation that dreams about discovering the world, but that wasn't given the right to choose where to live," she says.