Sakina m sa biography
Sakina m sa biography summary.
Sakina m sa biography
Heritage: Woven Dreams
14 April, 2009 - Published 11:59 GMT
By Veronique Mistiaen
Free online content from BBC Focus on Africa magazine
In the glamorous, exclusive world of French haute couture, Sakina M'Sa is an unlikely star.
Like her creations, M'Sa is the sum of many parts - a tiny woman from the Comoros, an immigrant from a working-class neighbourhood in Marseille, and a designer who follows her own dreams and embroiders the fashion world with a social conscience.
"My only strength in life is my difference," says M'Sa, dressed all in black and sitting in her workshop and showroom in La Goutte d'Or, a working-class neighbourhood in Paris which is home to a large population of Africans.
"It could have been my weakness but I used it to my advantage.
"It gave me the freedom to invent my own techniques and mark my difference, my singularity."
African roots
Free and defiant, M'Sa has tailored a profession for herself that suits her hybrid identity.
As a "fash