Malawi’s multi-talented artist Janta has become the talk of the town in the wake of a fashion trend identified after his name.
Born Shukuran Mwachumu, he has introduced a fashion that has gained popularity among Malawi’s youths.
The influence is alluded to his award winning music video for the song entitled Divorce in which he embraced the outfit.
Zijanta, a suit made of Chitenje is made complete with just a short and a vest. When it is made up of a pair of trousers and a vest, it is still being identified by the same name.
Its simplicity makes it cheap and easy to acquire hence it is spreading like wildfire. The Lilongwe based artist used the costume in the video just like any other mode of clothing since he has given it zero effort in popularising it.
He only wore the suit in Divorce before ignoring it in his latest Ndapilira video that depicts two worlds.
In cities of Blantyre and Zomba the youth have been flocking to Zitenje shops and tailors’ bases to have suits of different colours made for them depending on preferences. Apparently nobody would like to be left behind this locally motivated fashion trend.
Janta follows in the footsteps of traditional musician Joe Gwaladi of the Ndinafa bulu fame to have his name attached to a fashion. The latter unknowingly surrendered his name to plastic slippers which were introduced to the local market in early 2004.
Gwaladi had his name on the slippers after helping his feet to a pair in one of his music videos. This complemented his popularity that he became a household name. The name for the footwear still stand despite the style getting eclipsed with new models.
Janta becomes the first Malawian urban artist to have an impact on fashion in the country. This is expected to upgrade his fame with the fashion he introduced having a high probability of penetrating rural areas.
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