GLAMOUR’S WOMEN OF THE YEAR

Once again GLAMOUR honours eight exceptional women who have made a mark in their fields. Read their full stories in the magazine’s September issue

THE STYLE ICON

Nhlanhla Nciza

She may be best known as part of the hit group Mafikizolo and owner of the record company Home Base, but Nhlanhla Nciza has loved fashion since she was a child growing up in Gauteng’s Kagiso township.

“My mom was a big style inspiration to me,” Nhlanhla recalls.

“She had a really great way of putting pieces together. I also loved Brenda Fassie, Madonna and Whitney Houston.”

In fact, Nhlanhla says, her own look was one of the things that first caught the attention of Theo Kgosinkwe, another Kagiso township local, when they met at a local talent competition in 1992.

Five years after that, Mafikizolo, the group that she and Theo created, was signed to a record label, and Nhlanhla abandoned her music studies at Wits University to pursue her prospects.

They didn’t have money for fancy stage costumes then. “We needed an image that worked with our 1950s marabi music, so I altered and customised whatever clothes I could find for the stage,” Nhlanhla says.

Her own fashion line, NN Vintage, with its showroom in Joburg, is the natural extension of those early days.

It was launched in 2007 in tandem with her first solo album Inguquko.

Nhlanhla plans to expand her circle of influence by collaborating with upcoming young fashion designers for her next NN Vintage collection. The eight winners of this year’s Glamour Women of the Year awards will be honoured at a celebration lunch at the swish 54 on Bath Hotel at Rosebank Mall on September 5.

Earlier in the day they will gather at the mall where the public will be able to meet them at an exhibition showcasing the winners and pages from Glamour magazine.

Taking pictures with the winners and posting them on social media will give the public the opportunity of winning prizes from the mall.