This article serves as another poignant example as to why I find our emerging contemporary local fashion scene so fascinating — a diverse pool of young designers who successfully manage to channel their personal life narratives into inspiration for their garments. Founded by three misfits, Mphikeleli, Thandekile and Mthunzi, Ixsnay is a creative collaboration which…
Home Affairs is a department of The South African government and its main functions [are] to protect and verify the identity and status of citizens and other persons that reside in South Africa. This makes it possible for people to realise their rights and access benefits and opportunities in both the public and private domains. …
“What will you wear when you see loved ones again?” In the middle of a Covid infested year – a tumultuous time in human history – that was the question that circled my mind as both a fashion enthusiast, optimist and someone who understands and appreciates the power of what we wear on our backs. …
“Innocence, sincerity, nostalgia, belonging, joy, desire, assurance” — These are just some of the terms Andrew Bolton, curator for the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute, chose to describe what American Fashion is today. This year’s exhibition, accompanied by one of the most maligned Met Gala beige carpets in years, is ‘In America: A Lexicon of Fashion’, only…
Through her self-titled clothing brand — Emelia Dorcas — the 22 year old designer has already developed a striking visual language by merging symbols and iconography from her Congolese heritage with her personal experiences as a part of her family and as a person from the Democratic Republic of Congo, living in Cape Town. After…
With a world still in the throes of the events that ushered us into the new decade, themes of love and calls for equality have shaped the ways in which people interact with one another and the world at large. We could all use a healthy dose of love and learn from a world framed…
Part of the charm of the younger generation is their careful balance of a nostalgia-based creation, with an almost equal dedication to affirming themselves and their future in all that they do. This precise balance — of two seemingly different approaches to creating and living — come together in a perfect marriage to form an…
This week marks the conclusion of fashion month across the globe and sees big names like Gucci planning their shows for Paris Fashion Week. For many brands, regardless of size, larger than life visions inspire the collections adorned on the catwalk, with many designers having taken the disruption to the traditional fashion cycle as inspiration…
The glorious, infamous ‘90s… a decade that some of us were born in and a decade that some of us were lucky enough to have truly experienced. In the world of fashion trends tend to be ciclicli so, what goes around comes back around. We’ve seen it within almost every decade belonging to the 20th…
I’ve been told that a dream about a snake could mean toxicity and trouble but it could also mean regeneration and renewal. The snake — cunning, stealthy, quick-witted, brisk — is an image that simultaneously inspires deference and produces fear. For Rich Mnisi, it is an image that began a sensuous body of work that…
September gives way to fashion month across the world. It marks the issue of major fashion publications, which tend to be the biggest of the year, with many fashion forecasters making predictions of trends to come for the following year. We’re also just coming out of New York Fashion Week and The Met Gala, with…
“Youth culture dominates when it emerges from the cracks of collective dissent, it also tends to be forged from the blood, sweat and tears required to interrogate societal pressures; especially during those ages when one’s view of reality is largely still under construction.” Holly Bell Beaton One could make the argument that beginning a brand…
