In 1973, she officially launched the Jil Sander label and within a few years had begun showing her collections during Parisfashionweek, but no one much noticed.
The big luxury houses will dominate Paris's fashionweek, with 99 shows, where attention will turn to Christian Dior's Raf Simons and Saint Laurent's Hedi Slimane.
Both labels are using every channel necessary to push their labels in the global market: from being represented by showrooms in Paris and New York and presenting their wares at FashionWeek, to getting picked up by major international retailers and e-tailers and garnering press coverage in influential international media.
The boom is good news for Dakar FashionWeek founder Ndiaye, who hopes the show will one day reach the heights of Paris and New York -- yet with a distinctly African style.