Imane Ayissi

Presentation

Born to a model mother (elected Miss Cameroon in 1960) and a boxing champion father, he grew up in a family of artists and sportsmen. He was introduced to dance at an early age by the family group Les Frères Ayissi, performing at a number of events. In 1986, he took part in the ECCAS summit gala at the Palais des Congrès in Yaoundé, attended by seven heads of state from Zaire, Gabon, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Cameroon. A few years later, in 1992, the Assiyi brothers accompanied Yannick Noah on his Saga Africa European tour. In 1987, he was awarded the Medal of Honor of the French Republic at the Dijon International Gastronomic Fair. In 1990, he took part in the gala for the seventh summit of the Lake Chad Basin Commission at the Palais de l'Unité in Yaoundé, in the presence of the Heads of State of Niger, Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. He also won two Friendship of Culture trophies with the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon at the Italia 90 soccer World Cup. He then joined the Ballet national du Cameroun7 , and danced with a number of African artists for video clips, concerts, TV shows and other events, including Nayanka Bell, Kéké Kassiry, Baba Maal, Anne-Marie Nzié, Beti Beti, Marthe Zambo, Messi Martin, Gilbratar Drakus, Mama Wandja, André-Marie Tala, Georges Seba, Nabou Diop (Touré Kounda) and the Senegalese ballet Saf Tékékou, and the Guinean ballet Tonton Cofi directed by choreographer Jemes Sylla. He moved to Paris in the early 90s. He began a career as a model, modelling for some of the world's leading luxury brands (Dior, Lanvin, YSL, Valentino, Givenchy, Cardin, Montana...), as well as taking part in advertising campaigns and numerous fashion editorials. It was at this time that he decided to devote himself fully to his work as a couturier. Imane Ayissi creates haute-couture pieces, sold to order, and luxury ready-to-wear - distributed in South Africa, Cameroon and Japan. Imane Ayissi has presented his collections in Rome as part of AltaRoma. He is also a regular at African Fashion Weeks (Fima, Arise in Lagos, Nigeria...). But it's in Paris, during Paris Haute-Couture Week, that he presents his new collections.