WEAR HEARTS ON THEIR CLOTHES
Decorating your denim jacket in bright and quirky embroidered patches was a hot fad in the ’90s. This was a fun way to express your personality, and with fashion moving more and more towards celebrating individuality, we welcome the return of this trend
THE ’90s child will fondly remember collecting patches that had pictures of their favourite cartoon characters or statement. Sewing them on made for hours of DIY fun in which they customised and breathed new life into their favourite item of clothing.
Top international designers like Gucci, Miu Miu and Marc Jacobs have included patches into their latest collections – and it’s catching on.
Here at home, Levi’s South Africa has collaborated with the progressive creative collective, The Sartists, to explore distinctively South African identities and culture by creating seven patches.
The faces and storytellers behind the Jozi-based collective are Andile Buka, Kabelo Kungwane, Wanda Lephoto and Xzavier Zulu. They are all like-minded youth on a mission to challenge ideas in modern society and take a documentary approach to style and identity.
“Throughout the years, we’ve shared our own individual love of the Levi’s brand whether it was Xzavier customising denim on his bedroom floor years ago, or Kabelo and I thrifting our now 250-plus collection, in the streets of Johannesburg,” says Zulu.
“It was a dream come true to share our stories through a brand that has a growing voice in our communities and is one that we love.”
The patches were inspired by South African township culture, signage and vernacular art. The Sartists explain: “We’ve always acknowledged the exploitation of our history, cultures and traditions, and this inspires us to represent our people and take our culture forward by addressing the issues that rid us of our individuality.”
In addition to the patches, The Sartists created a localised lookbook that was inspired by the Spike Lee movie School Daze as well as famous ‘90s sitcom couples such as Urkle and Laura from Family Matters.
“A story on love and young love was at the centre of this conversation,” say The Sartists.