“There is a new wave that is transforming menswear, and I want to be a
part of it,” Moyo says. “I want to create progressive garments that have a
quiet sensibility about them and yet strengthen the originality of
my customer's wardrobe.”
Born in Zimbabwe and raised in Johannesburg, Gamu Moyo has always had an astute awareness of other cultures, especially those that were unfamiliar. As a result, her menswear designs are about an amalgamation of elements or identities: merging experience with information. She enjoys playing with duality, and juxtaposes silhouettes, textures, and proportions in a way that results in garments that have a unique aesthetic but a quiet sensibility. As a student at Parsons, Moyo has interned at Cynthia Steffe's new label, Cluny, and recently completed an internship at menswear label Rochambeau. Moyo comes from a family of seamstresses and knitters on her mother's side, but what they did out of necessity, she does out of love. "There is a new wave that is transforming menswear, and I want to be a part of it. I want to create progressive garments that have a quiet sensibility about them and yet strengthen the originality of my customer's wardrobe. I believe in a garment's integrity and that this is achieved through clean and strong silhouettes, as well as quality construction. I design for a man who seeks clothes that balance ease and luxury and can carry him through his day, his night, and the rest of his life.
"As a child, I prided myself on my 'expansive' general knowledge, and almost obsessively gathered information from a number of sources, even reading encyclopedias and dictionaries before bedtime. My senior thesis collection, Rumspringa, is essentially a collection about cultural assimilation. The Amish rite of passage allowed me to take aspects of Amish dress (such as lack of ornamentation, disapproval of buttons and zippers) and come up with a narrative that relayed an Amish youth becoming involved with a group of skateboarders. This collection integrated formal qualities of the Amish lifestyle with the urban and easy vibe of skate culture."