By Caroline Uliwa
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| Students inside AR101 listening to Ally Rehmtullah's class |
A household name in the fashion circles of Tanzania,
for over 14 years Ally Rehmtullah has carved a career in an industry that many
struggle to thrive in. Earlier this year
his brand opened up a fashion school called AR101, I thought to catch up with
him to map the dots of his trailblazing journey.
“I always think there’s no way you can do everything by
yourself, when I started in this industry there was no one to guide me, no one
to tell me what to do. Of course I met a tailor in Upanga (a suburb in Dar) who
really taught me how the industry was; his name is Titus I have so much respect
for him. It’s a tough industry…” Ally Rehmtullah
As a Fashion Designer
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| Fashion Designer Ally Rehmtullah at the end of his fashionshow 'My strings attached' in 2019 in Dar es Salaam |
You’d expect a man who has rubbed shoulders with most
of the celebrities in the country, to include the super models he has dressed
over the years like Flaviana Matata, Miriam Odemba, Happiness Magese. Would be
a little uppity but no, he manevoures himself from one person to the next in a
candid manner; devoid of pretenses guided by a sincere work ethic.
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| TZ Super Model Miriam Mademba dressed by Ally Rehmtullah in 2009 a little after they participated in London fashion week |
Chatting with him I got to learn of his work journey which began back in 2006 after his return from
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA; where he completed his tertiary studies at Baum School of Art. “I always wanted to be in the creative industry, but fashion was the last of my thought…studying Graphics & Fine Arts. When I was there as an international student you had to have full time credits. In my second semester my classes were not fitting right, so my counselor said just take a fashion course ‘because I think you dress up well, you have flamboyant choices in color’.” Ally Rehmtullah tells, how he entered the profession that has always made him feel most himself.
Ally would return back home in Dar es Salaam, to take his first job teaching Graphics at Desktop Publishing Institute earning no more than 250,000Tshs. Still with this he managed to save and cater for his first client, making an outfit for who is now the current District Commissioner of Temeke, Miss Jokate Mwegelo. Back then she was the MC for Redd's African Fashion Design Awards (RAFDA) and Ally designed her evening gown.
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| Ally Rehmtullah giving the bow at the end of his annual fashion gala 'enchanted jungle' in 2013 in Dar es Salaam |
When I asked him how he has managed to be successful
with the challenging infrastructure of the industry locally. “I know Fashion is
not an industry that is easy to sustain your lifestyle in Tanzania. I just
think you need to be creative and innovative. With fashion there are so many
different opportunities…
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| Ally donning on a T-Shirt of 'Streets of Dar es Salaam' |
Like I started with dressing ushers for corporate
events, this got me into the advertising agency business. You know when Peroni
launched in the market, I was told to dress ushers for them. The next time they
were like we have a promotion at this place, can we have two ushers and
costumes, I’m like yes. So slowly I got into activations and promotions.” Ally
shares of his climb which he stresses came one step at a time. Today he employs
over 18 people.
On mentoring fellow designers
When you get inside Ally’s store you’ll find other
fashion brands like Buganzi & Streets of Dar es Salaam. Ally believes in
uplifting young designers and so allowed the young jewelry designers of Buganzi
to showcase their pieces at his premier location. He as well has partnered with
young fine artist Ngaira Mandara of Streets of Dar es Salaam.
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| Ally & TZ super model Flaviana Matata as guest instructorshare a light moment inside a class at AR101 |
Three years ago Ally spotted Ngaira’s art works on
social media he then messaged him, asking for a meet which blossomed and the
two forged a partnership. Which sees them printing Ngaira’s artworks on fashion
items, like T-Shirts, baby clothes (they’re adorable), mugs etc. “So we also
have streets of Zanzibar now and streets of Iringa we’ve sold rights to
distributors in these regions. We just do the production for them we’re
currently looking for a distributor in Arusha...We trust each other I think
that’s very important, by now Ngaira manages all the funding with his influence
and my skills it was a good match.” Ally adds.
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| Tanzanian stylist Rosemary Kokuhilwa based in New York visits students at AR101 to shares her expertise |
Ally hasn’t stopped there in uplifting young designers
as now he runs a fashion school. AR101 currently offers short courses on
fashion; so far it has taught 11 students with a batch of six already graduated.
Ally saw a gap in the market in equipping young designers to thrive so he
partnered with skilled local fashion designers Anjali Bhokhataria, Michael Cyril
Michael & Diana Matto. Together with him, they are the current instructors
at the school.
“As these are short course we focus on practical work, imparting knowledge sufficient in education theory and ample with business skills. The students learn what it takes to translate inspiration from everyday things into designs. Like we had them take an alcohol line which had different flavors. They then had to translate that into clothes, in the end they came up with four looks.” Anjali of En Ka Tik brand shared some of the skills they impart to the students at AR101. She herself studied fashion design at the University of Capetown in SA.
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| Fashion Designer & Instructor at AR101Anjali Bhokhataria teaching a class |
Ally teaches a small part in the courses “I teach on local Tanzanian designers all these young designers times just don’t know who Manju Sitta is, or who is Ailinda Sawe but this guys opened doors for us” You can find out more on his brand & school here Instagram Ally AR101
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