Luxury Recycle – a stylist with the Midas touch
Mozambican designer Hélio Manjate, better known as “Luxury Recycle”, has told the BBC he feels like he is “flying on a spaceship” after getting a top fashion accolade for the second year running.
He scooped International Stylish Icon of the Year at the industry award ceremony in Ghana’s capital, Accra, at the end of April. He was up against 50 other African artists at the Ghana Style Awards.
The stylist said that the award was important as it put him on a global footing – and gave opportunities to others in Mozambique, where high-end fashion is in its infancy.
“I’m opening a space for other creatives to showcase their work internationally,” he told BBC Focus on Africa radio’s Veronique Edwards.
He says that the job that really marked out his career was co-styling a video for DJ Tarico, a Mozambican artist, that featured Nigerian Afrobeats star Burna Boy.
“I think that is my biggest work… the song [Yaba Buluku] is a hit and is being played all over the world and people can see my work in the video.”
In fact, Luxury Recycle started off his career in music as part of a hip-hop group.
“I found fashion within the music industry because we used to do photo shoots – that’s where I fell in love with fashion.”
At that time he says he favoured black and dark colours, but things changed: “I became a bright stylist.
“I’m not afraid of mixing colours, I’m not afraid of trying new colour blocks – so that’s basically my identity as a stylist.”
The musician-cum-stylist says he chose his name Luxury Recycle because it underscores his fashion philosophy: “Everything I touch turns to gold.”
By BBC
