February 6. 2 0 1 3 ____________ rhe Portland Observer
Black Hl'stOiy Month
Page 13
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
North. Portland
African
Heritage
onHis
Sleeve
Portland student
behind new
fashion line
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
Matthew Rugamba, 23, never
expected to become a fashion de
signer.
L et alone did he p red ict that
the b ow ties he had m ade behind
a m arket in a Rw andan alleyw ay,
using all his sum m er savings to
a pay a w om an on a p e d al-p o w
ered a sew ing m achine, w ould
end up on the runw ay in a L o n
don fashion show.
Four years after moving from Portland student Matthew Rugamba proudly wears his African heritage on his sleeve. Or,
Rwanda to Portland’s Lewis and Lewis & Clark senior is the man behind fashion line House of Tayo, which features snoo
Clark College, the Davis United prints.
by
World College Scholar and Inter
national Affairs major is set to
graduate in May and his fashion
line, House o f Tayo, featuring
bowties and snoods (neck scarves)
in eye-catching, distinctly African
wax prints, is taking off.
D esp ite his p a re n ts ’ in itial
thoughts that their son might come
home a diplomat, Rugamba is learn
ing what it takes to make it in the
fashion world after his work re
ceived national nods in the Finan
cial Times as well as African Prints
in Fashion and okayafrica.
H ouse o f T ayo com es from
the young d e sig n e r’s S w ahili
and K inyarw anda nam e, M atayo
or T ayo for short. R ugam ba has
plans to retu rn to R w anda to
expand his line and apply to fash
ion schools.
Inspiration for his project began
inside a Portland college class
room, sitting among his peers as
one of the token Africans in class.
Though he has lived in several coun
tries— Kenya, Swaziland, Uganda,
the U.K., Rugamba says people
were always looking to him for
Matthew Rugamba’s designs use bright colors and rich fabric with
continued
on page ¡4