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African fashion and lifestyle magazine Arise brought its annual Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week event to new heights on Thursday with "African Icons," a runway show honoring the most celebrated designers from the continent. The show featured designs from Gavin Rajah of South Africa; Tiffany Amber of Nigeria; British-Nigerian Tsemaye Binitie; Maki Oh of Nigeria; and British men's fashion designer, and tailor to the stars, Ozwald Boateng. On the opening day of New York Fashion Week at the Lincoln Center Theater, these top designers gathered to show off their latest collections. We were there, and it was pretty impressive.
Ozwald Boateng
Models for Boateng, donning his Spring 2013 line, collect backstage. Fourth from the left is Joshua Kissi from the popular men’s fashion blog Street Etiquette.
Angela Simmons
Reality TV's Simmons attends the Arise Spring 2013 fashion show sporting a beaded African-print top.
Maki Oh
Nigerian fashion designer Maki Oh poses with one of her designs backstage.
Maki Oh
Tassles played prominently in several of Oh's designs.
Tiffany Amber
Prints and blinding colors were the stars of the Tiffany Amber collection. Folake Folarin-Coker is the line's creative director.
Tiffany Amber
This Tiffany Amber orange-and-blue maxi dress was a crowd favorite.
Ozwald Boateng
Boateng mixed standard European flair with a pinch of African inspiration.
Gavin Rajah
South African designer Gavin Rajah's collection dazzled with intricate headpieces.
Tsemaye Binitie
British-Nigerian designer Binitie ended his show and floored the crowd with this exquisite long, red gown.
Ozwald Boateng
After wowing the audience with his Spring 2013 menswear collection, Boateng ended the show with a formation of his models, congratulating them as he walked down the runway.
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