10 Things You Didn’t Know About Farai Simoyi

You’d think that moving from one place to another and then another all under the age of ten would confuse a child from discovering themselves but not in Farai’s case. This Zimbabwean native has come a long way to earn her sweet success. She has worked with some of the fashion and entertainment’s biggest names but she hasn’t forgotten where she came from.

Here are things you didn’t know about Farai Simoyi, the events that helped shaped the talented designer and some of her achievements.

1. Farai was born in London to Zimbabwean parents, she moved to Zimbabwe when she was a year old where she stayed until she was 10 and her family relocated to the United States.

2. She was first introduced to fabrics at the age of five whilst living in Zimbabwe by her aunt who owned a lingerie boutique. She would give Farai and her cousins the leftover material to play with and Farai would make clothes for herself and her dolls.

3. When Farai moved to the US, she enrolled in the psychology program at the West Virginia University but switched her major after completing her freshman year when she realized she wanted to do fashion. She graduated in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in fashion design and merchandising.

4. After graduation Farai spent her summer in Italy furthering her fashion knowledge as she enrolled at Nuova Accademia Di Belle Arti in Milan. She then moved to New York City.

5. Upon moving to New York City she worked as an assistant but worked her way up to technical designer. She also continued to work on projects of her own.

6. Farai was featured on TLC’s show “I’ve got nothing to wear” and she was invited to participate in “Style Wars”, a style competition that presents young designers and their designs to the public.

7. She was then hired as the senior designer for House of Dereon, a clothing line owned by Beyonce and her mother Tina Knowles. Other celebrity clients like Rocawear, Nine West and Rachel Roy soon followed.

8. Currently she is the senior designer for Nicki Minaj’s clothing line, her job is to make sure that that they design and produce a line that reflects Nicki Minaj’s vision for the brand.

9. Farai has her own self titled clothing line that she describes as bohemian luxury which she also has distributed in Zimbabwe. She has also shown her designs at New York Fashion Week.

10. Farai has won the Designer of the Year award at the African Designer Awards amongst other recognitions.