Fashion Business Angola: Eric Raisina [Madagascar/Cambodia]

The brilliance of Malagsy-born designer Eric Raisina's mastery can hardly be overstated. A signature fearless fusion of bold, rich colours, coupled with a keen eye for luxurious details and craftsmanship - his textiles are handmade and dyed by highly skilled artisans in Cambodia - easily set him apart in a league of his own season after season.

For Spring 2012, the emphasis remains on 'haute texture' - Eric Raisina speak for couture with feeling, movement, and a bit of soul - with a dazzling selection of dyed raw silks, crochet netting and raffia, and layers in full plume. The most elaborate pieces (a layered one-handed dress with five colours, a neon green part crochet, part shredded stunner) were rousing displays of mastery. The more (relatively) understated looks wove ink blot dyeing in one look with slim silhouettes and free-floating caftan charm in others.

Colour also played a significant role in Eric Raisina's story-telling, as one might reasonably expect from a designer who copiously references the vibrancy of his native Madagascar - turquoise, lush purples, beautiful blue-green transitions, with a black and white detour in a variety of silhouettes from the fun halter mini to the glam, elegant - and sometimes sexy (a thigh high slit and plunging neckline in one look) - evening looks. All in all, a wide range of moods from the strapless, to the conservative, to the magnificent show stoppers. Variety aside, we can't help but long for the day Eric throws a layered haute jacket into the mix, or a pair of re-constructed pants - we love Mr. Raisina enough to want to see him do more than (mostly) dresses. Don't you?

Fashion Business Angola 2011: Christie Brown [Ghana]

For designers who take the wax print route, the challenge of re-inventing their appeal season after season is a significant and compelling challenge in itself. But not for rising star, Christie Brown, apparently - or at least not obviously so. Cutouts meet bare midriffs and signature fabric covered button embellishments, but the real stars of this show are the deft combinations and contrasts - panels of prints and solids co-existing, neon pops diffused with beige - and an overarching air of an increasingly confident and positively self-assured talent.

Modern, cosmopolitan pieces ranging from an effortlessly chic cropped jacket, high-waisted and relaxed, sporty pants, and ladylike charm by way of pleated skirts shone individually and collectively, offering a varied sampling platter of shapes and lengths for fluctuating spring moods. Fabrication was light and unfussy, contributing to the ease of several of the pieces - from colour-blocked print pantaloons to a cropped bustier complete with wax print straps.

Incidentally, while we love a little detail, the simplest pieces were the most satisfying, while the more elaborate (an electric cutout blue dress with with print strips for sleeves and a colour-blocked hemline comes to mind) pieces seemed to tackle much too much. The beauty of artful executions with minimal interruptions shone through, however, in a brilliantly cohesive collection from a refreshingly gifted designer.