Beatrice Anna Arthur, better known as Bee Arthur, exploded like a bomb on the African Fashion scene over a decade ago and is undeniably one of the top African designers. Her exuberance and ingenious creative verve find flamboyant expression in her experimentations with colours and textures.
Bee’s originality gained her recognition at the Kora Fashion Awards in Sun City, South Africa with the title of Best African Designer, and thus established her as an astute creative force to be reckoned with in Ghana if not the African continent. Having recently embarked on a solo career to further explore her artistic capabilities, Bee now designs only under her own label—B’ EXOTIQ.
Undoubtedly, Bee’s fashion sense is a result of her Russian and Ghanaian heritage, as well the time spent living both in Ghana and Ukraine. With her innate sensitivity to colours and talent for drawing, Bee returned to Ghana from Odessa – a port city on the Black Sea famous for its fashionistas, composers, artists and ballet dancers - as a teenager with an alternative outlook on African fashion.
She dared to mix, blend and fuse different types of textiles, the result of which were and still are often uniquely original garments. Bee’s ability to create funky and fun clothing runs alongside an elegant and “wearable” range of garments destined for the more conservative clientele.
Having been cited in “Elegance Africaine” by Renee Mendy, a book that highlights some of the best designers on the African continent, this dexterous fashion designer has also granted interviews to the BBC AND RFi as well as featured in magazines like the West Africa Magazine, Africa Live (Germany), and ROOTS (UK). However Bee says: “It started as fun in 1995 - it wasn’t meant to be my profession as it was my hobby. I had wanted to become a Doctor, a translator or work as a teacher”.
A former recipient of the Young Achievers Award in Fashion in Ghana, Bee has participated in many major fashion shows across the African continent. She exhibited at “Afric Collection” in Cameroun, “FESPACO” in Burkina Faso and she has been invited by Exopa Model Agency to participate at this year’s Ghana Fashion Weekend in July.
B’EXOTIQ—“be exotic”—symbolizes an ingenious fusion of African and European cultures, a pure expression of her mixed origins and her deep love for symbolism and woven cloths from different parts of the world. This collage of textures, colours, symbolism and styles makes Bee’s style particularly distinct whiles paying homage to traditional craftsmanship of artists and artisans.
Despite Bee’s zeal for fashion, it is interesting to know that it’s not her only passion as she confessed to What’s On: “I am a passionate gardener and also a longtime collector of “bee” objects and who love reading”. She also loves stringing and designing beads as a way of calming her nerves after a hectic day. Even though Bee can now be described as a master of her profession, she has admiration for others for their classiness: “I admire Jean Paul Gaultier for his extravagance and Italian designers like Armani and Fendi for their classic designs”.
Her charming and exuberant personality, knowledge of languages (she speaks five languages) and creativity all fused are some of the prime things that have made her one of the icons in the Ghanaian fashion industry. On the question on how she will like posterity to judge her, she said: “I wasn’t scared to dare and I had alternative outlook on African fashion. I pushed the boundary of what is traditionally referred to as African fashion”.
Bee’s originality gained her recognition at the Kora Fashion Awards in Sun City, South Africa with the title of Best African Designer, and thus established her as an astute creative force to be reckoned with in Ghana if not the African continent. Having recently embarked on a solo career to further explore her artistic capabilities, Bee now designs only under her own label—B’ EXOTIQ.
Undoubtedly, Bee’s fashion sense is a result of her Russian and Ghanaian heritage, as well the time spent living both in Ghana and Ukraine. With her innate sensitivity to colours and talent for drawing, Bee returned to Ghana from Odessa – a port city on the Black Sea famous for its fashionistas, composers, artists and ballet dancers - as a teenager with an alternative outlook on African fashion.
She dared to mix, blend and fuse different types of textiles, the result of which were and still are often uniquely original garments. Bee’s ability to create funky and fun clothing runs alongside an elegant and “wearable” range of garments destined for the more conservative clientele.
Having been cited in “Elegance Africaine” by Renee Mendy, a book that highlights some of the best designers on the African continent, this dexterous fashion designer has also granted interviews to the BBC AND RFi as well as featured in magazines like the West Africa Magazine, Africa Live (Germany), and ROOTS (UK). However Bee says: “It started as fun in 1995 - it wasn’t meant to be my profession as it was my hobby. I had wanted to become a Doctor, a translator or work as a teacher”.
A former recipient of the Young Achievers Award in Fashion in Ghana, Bee has participated in many major fashion shows across the African continent. She exhibited at “Afric Collection” in Cameroun, “FESPACO” in Burkina Faso and she has been invited by Exopa Model Agency to participate at this year’s Ghana Fashion Weekend in July.
B’EXOTIQ—“be exotic”—symbolizes an ingenious fusion of African and European cultures, a pure expression of her mixed origins and her deep love for symbolism and woven cloths from different parts of the world. This collage of textures, colours, symbolism and styles makes Bee’s style particularly distinct whiles paying homage to traditional craftsmanship of artists and artisans.
Despite Bee’s zeal for fashion, it is interesting to know that it’s not her only passion as she confessed to What’s On: “I am a passionate gardener and also a longtime collector of “bee” objects and who love reading”. She also loves stringing and designing beads as a way of calming her nerves after a hectic day. Even though Bee can now be described as a master of her profession, she has admiration for others for their classiness: “I admire Jean Paul Gaultier for his extravagance and Italian designers like Armani and Fendi for their classic designs”.
Her charming and exuberant personality, knowledge of languages (she speaks five languages) and creativity all fused are some of the prime things that have made her one of the icons in the Ghanaian fashion industry. On the question on how she will like posterity to judge her, she said: “I wasn’t scared to dare and I had alternative outlook on African fashion. I pushed the boundary of what is traditionally referred to as African fashion”.
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