Mimi Plange
{{short description|Ghanaian born fashion designer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Mimi Plange
| image = Mimi Plange Photo.jpg
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| birth_name =
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| birth_place = Accra, Ghana
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| education = Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (San Francisco)
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| occupation = Fashion designer
| spouse =
| partner = Ibrahim Ndoye
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| website = {{URL|mimiplange.com}}
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| nationality = Ghanaian
}}
Mimi Plange is a Ghanaian-born fashion designer. She moved as a child to America, where she studied architecture and fashion.
Early life
Plange was born in Accra, Ghana. She moved to California with her family when she was young. She was raised in Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga.{{Cite web |last=Cannon |date=2021-08-13 |title=Mimi Plange In Conversation with Irk Magazine and CANNON with Questions by TK & Cipriana Quann |url=https://www.irkmagazine.com/post/mimi-plange-in-conversation-with-irk-magazine-and-tk-cipriana-quann |access-date=2023-11-17 |website=IRK Magazine |language=en}} She received a BA in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. After her education, she moved to New York and worked for both Patricia Fields and Rachel Roy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.studiomuseum.org/studio-blog/harlem/interviews-friends/who-mimi-plange-curatorial-fellow-monique-long-highlights-harl|title=Who is Mimi Plange? {{!}} The Studio Museum in Harlem|website=www.studiomuseum.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-08}}
She and her business partner, Ibrahim Ndoye, created a fashion line Boudoir D'huîtres but she later changed it to her own name Mimi Plange in 2010.{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/800941704|title=New African fashion|last=Jennings|first=Helen|date=2011-01-01|publisher=Prestel|isbn=9783791345796|location=Munich; London; New York (N.Y.)|oclc=800941704|language=English}}
Her designs are influenced by African heritage. Her customers have included Rihanna, Serena Williams and first Lady Michelle Obama.{{Cite news|url=http://ethicalfashioninitiative.org/african-designer/mimi-plange/|title=MIMI PLANGE - ITC|work=ITC|access-date=2018-01-06|language=en-US}} Michelle wore her A-line skirt on the ABC TV show The View. Plange was the Designer of the Year at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week South Africa.
In a 2011 article in The New York Times, Plange was quoted as stating: "I want to prove to people that African fashion can't be pigeonholed.... I can compete globally." Plange does not use traditional African prints or textiles in her designs. In her Spring 2012 collection, Scarred Perfection, she referenced the body scars that Africans would use as a mode of tribal identification. Plange explains, "I am motivated by those things that make us question how we represent ourselves to other people."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/fashion/africas-new-fashion-influence.html|title=Africa's New Fashion Influence|last=Oliver|first=Simone S.|date=2011-12-07|work=The New York Times|access-date=2017-03-08|issn=0362-4331}}
In 2015, she collaborated with furniture designer Roche Bobois to create Mahjong tiles and sofas dressed with her materials that were made in Burkina Faso.{{Cite news|url=http://www.atlantamagazine.com/homeandgarden/fashion-designer-mimi-plange-creates-exclusive-atlanta-furniture-collection-roche-bobois/|title=Fashion designer Mimi Plange creates exclusive Atlanta furniture collection for Roche Bobois |date=2016-10-04|magazine=Atlanta Magazine|access-date=2018-01-08|language=en-US}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
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Category:21st-century African-American people
Category:21st-century African-American women
Category:African-American fashion designers
Category:American fashion designers
Category:American women fashion designers
Category:Ghanaian emigrants to the United States
Category:Ghanaian fashion designers
Category:Ghanaian women fashion designers
Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:People from Ontario, California