Cultural references gussy up cool motifs
THIS weekend the Crystal Court in the Mall of Africa will be buzzing with fashion enthusiasts as they gather to view the 2023 autumn/winter collections by some of South Africa’s most influential fashion designers.
A total of 27 designers will launch their new collections on the runway while 40 will exhibit at the trade show for this year’s SA Fashion Week.
According to SA Fashion Week CEO Lucilla Booyzen, this year marks 41 seasons since its inception in 1997.
“We remain committed to the business of fashion, of marketing and supporting our designer entrepreneurs, creatively and commercially, and most importantly, to provide a platform which gives the visibility required to access the local and global fashion industry.”
According to Booyzen many of the distinctive tropes that have emerged within the local fashion culture – a fascination with re-imagining our unique cultural references in a modern way, a commitment to slow and sustainable fashion, gender and body inclusivity – are increasingly coalescing into a vibrant ethos with immense marketability.
Three days of back-to-back shows showcased autumn/winter 2023 collections from designers such as Amanda Laird Cherry, Ephymol, Rubicon, Black Coffee and New Talent competition 2022 winner Munkus. These designers offer a preview of what to expect.
Amanda Laird Cherry returns to Durban’s iconic Victoria Street spice market, formerly known as The Indian Market, to draw inspiration from the vivid structural patterns created by the pyramid-like mounds of the spice displays for the collection’s exaggerated woven cut-outs as well for the vibrant colours mixed with traditional isishweshwe cloth.
Rubicon, an award-winning brand established in 2002 by Hangwani Nengovhela, is known for releasing iconic collections with impeccable designs. Hangwani brings subtle African opulence to each collection.
For her AW23 collection, she taps into her Venda heritage and its natural features of the landscape such as the Phiphidi Waterfall to express the resilience, power and strength of women who, like water, adapt to challenges by discovering new paths to flow smoothly.
The AW23 Ephymol collection sees Ephraim Molingoana express the confidence to create a playful, eclectic and gender-fluid collection that discovers the feminine polarity of the masculine. Timeless, bespoke and luxurious remain the hallmarks of one of Jozi’s best-loved designer signatures. This season Ephymol collaborates with Hopewell Footwear based in Kwazulu-natal, developing shoes for his collection.
Molingoana has earned several GQ Best Dressed awards and counts many South African A-list celebrities as clients. With his work and personal style much loved by the media, the brand has showcased at SA Fashion Week since 2002.
Black Coffee designer Jacques van der Watt takes an evolutionary approach to design, building on what came before. His AW23 collection re-imagines the most basic of closet staples.
The collection metamorphoses from more utilitarian shapes at the
offset to floating exaggerated silhouettes at its completion. Underpinning everything is a larger dialogue about the re-evaluation of norms confined to the male and female forms.
Jacques van der Watt is a master of discreet style that refines craft, embellishing on traditions like millinery and applique and echoing African motifs but with a modern verve.
In her first collection after winning the New Talent competition in 2022, Munkus designer Thando Ntuli pays homage to her mother in her AW23 collection called Umama Wami or My Mother. Using her mother as a metaphor, she explores the feminine capacity to adopt a multitude of personas to remain the nurturing centre despite restrictions and challenges.
“Women are a kaleidoscope of colours. From darkness and cold, women bring light and warmth. Women bring life to any room entered. This collection aims to show the multifaceted feminine which also includes masculine qualities. I combine various weights of cotton fabric, from light and airy to heavier such as bull denim, to convey each persona. There is a focus on technical detail and pops of conceptual print imagery of my mother.”
As the creative director and owner of the brand, Ntuli uses the power of storytelling, through her clothing, to allow women to be their most colourful, comfortable and loud self. Taking inspiration from the generational line of mothers in her life, she wants to raise the voice of the everyday woman through craftsmanship.