WE MEET THE MINI CATWALK QUEEN: ARIA DE CHICCHIS

Come along as actress, model, and fashionista Aria De Chicchis and her mother, Pam Mbatani, enjoy a fun day out in the Mother City.

New York’s catwalks are a second home to young Aria De Chicchis whose mother Pam Mbatani move to the city just over two decades to pursue a career in fashion marketing.

We got to catch up with the fashionista on her first trip back to South Africa in three years.

“Her fashion journey began when I used to take her to a New York Fashion Week,” explains Pam, “she was only one years old, and the cameras would come and take photos of her because everybody loved her style.”

And the rest is history. On the agenda is a photo shoot with photographer Dylan Louw.

“She is such a big personality and she definitely plays into that, her mom is so confident in what she’s doing and the two of them working together, they just gel,” says Dylan

As well as being a mother, Pam is her daughter’s manager and once lessons are done, you’ll find them on a fashion shoot, in a voice-over or filming a new commercial. But with all the glitz and glamour, it is still important to Pam that Aria knows her heritage.

“Bringing Aria to South Africa to learn about her roots has always been very important for me because she has to know where she comes from,” explains Pam.

Hailing from the township of Nyanga, Pam’s story is one of humble beginnings and is a story she wants her daughter to see. There is also an important life lesson behind it.

“By seeing that she will also understand where you come from doesn’t determine where you go.”

Before the pandemic, yearly trips back were filled with new experiences and on this one the art loving Ms. De Chicchis got to exercise her full creative skill set building her own bear at Build-A-Bear.

The next place on the agenda is Cape Town Ostrich farm, where Aria got to learn a bit more about these amazing animals.

“It’s great to bring her back to where I grew up and to create all his memories together is really amazing,” says Pam.

For all that Pam’s accomplished, she credits Aria as her greatest achievement, especially when watching her daughter do things she only dreamed of, living in a township.