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