5 SOUTH AFRICAN FASHION DESIGNERS you should have on your radar

A new breed of SA fashion designer is staking their claim to rail space in your wardrobe. They are young, determined and unafraid of pushing boundaries.

RICH MNISI

Art enthusiasts, we have found your leader! Based in Joburg, Rich Mnisi’s contemporary pieces merge fine art, black culture and social consciousness with a new take on ready-to-wear fashion. The 26-year-old founded his brand in 2015 after winning the Africa Fashion International (AFI) Young Designer of the Year the year before. ‘I did very well through all the stages. I knew then that my voice was needed in the industry,’ he says.

He has since collaborated with various big brands such as Coca-Cola, Woolworths and Miller Genuine Draft, and his work has been featured

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on the pages of Vogue Italia, Elle, GQ and L’Official Manila. ‘It’s so great to have your work recognised,’ he says. ‘My work is honest, and I have to be proud of it before anyone else is.’

Rich recently added another accolade to his collection: Emerging Designer of the Year at the Essence Best in Black Fashion Awards in New York. ‘To win that award where pioneers like Rihanna, Billy Porter, Tongoro Studio, Zerina Akers and Zendaya are recognised for their amazing work was humbling,’ he says.

Despite the international acclaim, Rich still values the local market. ‘I wouldn’t [have got] all the recognition if our own people didn’t support us. Of course, it does take a little while for us to get into certain aesthetics as we’re a conservative nation,’ he adds.

The current unrest in SA worries this social activist but, he says, ‘I am hopeful that we will come together as a people.

I promise to put the same energy I put into my design innovations into creating sustaining innovations to protect our people.’

Rich’s family is a constant source of inspiration. ‘Whether it’s my mother’s personal style or a story about my late great-grandmother, I’m always drawn towards home to recharge my creativity.’

His latest collection, Milorho, combines luxury items with custom prints, giving it a modern streetwear edge. While he designs both menswear and womenswear, Rich insists that he is not bound by gender norms. ‘It’s the human body I design for, not people’s ideas behind them,’ he says.

Rich launched his new furniture range, Nwa-Mulamula:

Alkebulan, (a homage to his great-grandmother) at Southern

Guild Gallery in October.

His fashion collection of the same name is set to follow, he says.

'Whether it's my mom's personal style or a story about my great-grandmother, I'm always drawn towards home to recharge my creativity.'