A West Virginia University alumna will share the secrets of her up-and-coming fashion design business at 5 p.m. Thursday (March 7) in 2001 Agricultural Sciences Building. Farai Simoyi (‘05) will reveal “The Business of Fashion from A to Z.”

Simoyi earned her bachelor’s degree in fashion design and merchandising from WVU’s Division of Design & Merchandising. Since then, she’s shown at New York Fashion Week, appeared on TLC and Lifetime, and been named the 2012 Designer of the Year at the African Diaspora Awards by Applause Magazine.

Most recently, Simoyi’s newest brand, FARAI, was featured at the Brooklyn Museum as part of its Target First Saturday. The event gives visitors the opportunity to enjoy free arts and entertainment programs each month.

Simoyi was born in London, England, the child of Zimbabwean parents. She lived in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she got her first taste of textiles and fashion, from her aunt’s lingerie company at age 6.

The Simoyi family relocated to Morgantown when Farai was 10. As a part of her studies at WVU, she spent a summer furthering her knowledge, studying at Nuova Accademia Di Belle Arti in Milan, Italy.

For more on Simoyi’s collections, visit http://www.faraisimoyi.com/index.html.

-WVU-

dw/03/04/13

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