Mimi Plange

Mimi Plange is a fashion designer born in Accra, Ghana. She moved to California with her family when she was young. She received a BA in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley and attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in California. After school, she moved to New York and worked for both Patricia Fields and Rachel Roy.

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.

Her designs are influenced by her African heritage and Victorian fashion.

First Lady Michelle Obama wore her A-line skirt on The View. Plange was the Designer of the Year at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week South Africa.

In an interview with the NYTimes, Plange states, “I want to prove to people that African fashion can’t be pigeonholed,” she said. “I can compete globally.” Plange doesn't 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."

Plange studied architecture and rarely uses traditional prints or textiles in her garments. Her Spring 2012 collection included gowns with intricately stitched bustiers that mimicked the body-scarring designs regarded as adornment in some parts of Africa. Her craftsmanship got the attention of André Leon Talley, who helped edit her fall 2011 collection. She collaborated with Manolo Blahnik on a shoe collection for the Spring 2012.