Zambesi

In 1979 a child was born to designers Elisabeth and Neville Findlay in the New Zealand city of Auckland — a small studio by the name of Zambesi, named after the second longest river in Africa after the Nile. Two years later this studio grew up to be a boutique and a year after that it passed its first exams with a solo show at London Fashion Week. In 2000 Zambesi opened branches in Hong Kong and Japan, in 2003 it was named the most influential fashion house in New Zealand, and in 2005 Auckland Museum put on a retrospective of work by Zambesi´s designers.

During its nearly 30 year existence, Zambesi has gradually worked its way into seven other countries and, what is more, has done so with very good grace: apart from its own collections, Zambesi also stocks other popular brands, such as Helmut Lang, Comme des Garcons, Martin Margiela, Dick Mikkemberg, Levi´s RED and Nom*D.

The art director of Zambesi, Elisabeth Findlay, was born in Greece and would probably have made an excellent match-maker (and nobody does it better than Greek matchmakers), because every one of Zambesi´s collections is a marriage of the most varied colours and materials possible. Chinese silk and Australian wool, fine lace and rough-woven cloth — in Finley´s hands they don´t just simply combine, they complement each other. The label´s last collection is no exception…

In Russia Zambesi will be represented exclusively by CARA&CO.