Although Monica Kanari did not study fashion at tertiary level, she turned her hobby into her profession and has made a name for herself as one of Kenya’s most celebrated fashion designers. She is the managing director and head designer at Occasions and Days Fashion House, which she launched in 2000 after leaving the corporate world to pursue her passion full time.

Occasions and days focuses mostly on bridal wear and clothing for special occasions, and is known for the detail in its pieces, as well as for its ability to merge the traditional with the modern. Kanari’s initial professional ambition was to become a plastic surgeon, as she wanted to use her artistic skill to restore people’s faces and repair cleft lips for charity. At State House Girls’ High School her fine art teachers encouraged her, having noticed her artistic flair. However, after high school, she pursued a degree in Agriculture and Home Economics at Egerton University in Njoro, where she learned about fashion through observation, practice and repetition while sketching designs for her mother who was a gifted dressmaker and ran a thriving tailoring business. She also designed clothes for her friends.

In 1994, Kanari presented her designs at the Sifa Festival and made it to the finals. The following year, while still a student, she entered the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards and won first place in the student category.

She went on to represent Kenya in South Africa, which motivated her to take her passion more seriously. When she graduated, Kanari was hired by a brokerage firm in the field of Information Technology specialising in investment brokerage. She worked as a stockbroker for the next six years while continuing to design as a hobby, learning in her mother’s shop from the team of tailors there. Her mother guided her and taught her business basics such as where to source good fabrics and machines, and how to set up shop. In 1999, Kanari took a leap of faith and resigned from her job to set up her own business as a full-time fashion designer. The following year, she participated in the Smirnoff Fashion Awards again, and won in the professional category. With the prize money, she bought some used machines from a factory that was closing down. Her mother, who was ready to retire, also gave her equipment and transferred her staff to her daughter’s business. Occasions and Days was thus established in 2000 when Kanari was 27 years old. Her first workshop was situated inside her home in South B but after six months, she had so many orders that she could no longer work from home. She therefore moved to the South B shopping centre before later relocating the business to Hurlingham. Her experience in the corporate world taught her how to gauge the tastes of her potential customers and how to be accessible, to advertise and to modernise. Since then, Occasions and Days has grown steadily to become one of Kenya’s most trusted fashion brands.

In 2003, Kanari visited Australia and had the opportunity to train under Tracy Saywell, a professional fashion designer, to learn more about fabrics and to enhance her skills. In 2006, she participated in the REDDS Fashion Awards and took first place. She has on different occasions partnered with Samantha’s Bridal fairs and has been a staple in the wedding industry. She has also participated in the African Fashion Fair and FAFA (Festival for African Fashion and Arts). Showcasing her designs abroad has allowed her to broaden her client base considerably. She is credited with designing African wear that is both fashionable and appealing; she now designs items on order and dresses several Kenya celebrities. Kanari draws inspiration for her designs from a wide variety of sources, from simple ornaments to couture catalogues. She loves to incorporate cultural elements into her designs. As a veteran in the industry, Kanari believes that for Kenyan fashion to develop, we need to support the local scene. She acknowledges that there is a skewed mentality among Kenyans that buying local designs is too expensive, and believes that this mentality hinders growth. She however believes that the future of the industry is bright, and encourages accomplished designers to come together and mentor the younger ones.

In line with this, Kanari dreams of a time when school uniforms will be produced locally for growth to be realised in the cotton and textile industry. In collaboration with another fashion designer, Lucy Rao, Kanari started Pamba Mali Organic Cotton in 2014, an initiative to revive the cotton industry in Nyanza Province. Pamba Mali project targets women in Kanyagwal Village in Kisumu County and provides them with free organic cotton seeds. It also advocates for the revival of cotton ginneries in Kenya. The project aims to have enough cotton processed locally so that models can use locally made fabric on international runways.

In her work as a designer, Kanari trains and mentors upcoming fashion designers, convinced that this pushes the industry to grow. Many of her assistants at Occasions and Days have gone on to open their own labels, and although she recognises this as a challenge since she is forced to train new assistants from scratch, she also acknowledges that for talented young designers to grow and gain experience, they need to go out on their own. She insists that one can make a living out of fashion, but warns that it takes dedication, passion and resilience to learn the business. She urges young people to pursue their passions. She continues to study design online in order to improve her skills, as she believes that there is always something new to learn.