Prior to the advent of democracy in 1994, the South African fashion industry was dominated by international brands. It wasn’t until the launch of South African Fashion Week in 1997, that some semblance of identity began to emerge. This presence solidified over the years, and the shining lights of that time, the likes of Marianne Fassler and David Tlale, reaped the rewards. More labels entered the fray as the '90s drew to a close, and the dawn of the 2000s saw Thabo Mbeki’s dream of an African Renaissance draped in threads interrogating what it means to be South African in a country where multiculturalism was being heavily touted.
South African Fashion Week founder, Lucilla Booyzen, recalls the pre-1994 era as one where the fashion designers who existed, “all had bespoke clients.”
South Africa has had an array of high-end and street-level labels over the thirty years since freedom. The dawn of the 2010s witnessed another class of designers, one more intentional and bold while acknowledging the influence of its past. We can think about the likes of Rich Mnisi’s high-end garments, Ama Kip-Kip’s cutesy, colorful Jozi Northern suburbs, swag-inspired oversized fits and Sindiso Khumalo’s sustainable threads in this regard.
What has manifested over the past thirty years is that Mzansi has been spoiled for choice. Every garment tells a tale, and every tale has found an audience to embrace it. Below are eight among the many on offer.
Vukani Range Creations by Sonwabile Ndamase
Sonwabile Ndamase might be many things in South Africa’s fashion industry, but his enduring legacy shall be that of designing the iconic shirts that Nelson Mandela came to be associated with. “When I was designing this particular shirt, it was not [to make] a fashion statement. It was for a health purpose. Already Tata had a health condition. So I had, then, to clothe the ailing part of who he was inside, so that the people [can glorify] what they see outside,” says Ndamase regarding his motivation for designing the shirt. Madiba did his magic, and the shirt became a fashion item that has been replicated by many designers since.
Stoned Cherrie by Nkhensani Nkosi
Stoned Cherrie came to life during a period when Black youths were beginning to find their footing in a new and democratic South Africa. The early designs consisted of earthy tones and prints of symbols such as the African continent, an effort to both reflect and speak to the changing tides of the time. Afro-urban was chic, Biko was our father, Makeba our mother, poetry our gospel, and fashion the pulpit, the catwalk on which we sashayed while trampling upon the wounds inflicted by Apartheid’s anguish. Early Stoned Cherrie had it all: Sophiatown as the backdrop, jazz as the soundtrack, and Drum Magazine as the archive. Nkhensani Nkosi let us know that we were great, we were beautiful, we mattered. The label has grown to include a homeware range and an eyewear range, testament to fashion and design’s tendency to morph with the times.
Mantsho by Palesa Mokubung
Palesa Mokubung is part of the wave of young, Black South African designers whose take on fashion revolutionized the scene during the early 2000s. The multiple award-winning operations and creative processes lead at Mantsho has been making things from a young age. She founded Mantsho in 2004, but it’s only over the past decade that she got a firm grip and thorough understanding of her business model. She credits this to her personal growth, and to her decision to further her studies by taking a break to obtain a degree in fashion. “I’m able to create from a sincere place and from the heart. I know how to dive into my soul, to get my thoughts out, and put them in these shapes and in these fabrics,” she says. Mantsho was selected for an exclusive collaboration with global fashion retailer H&M in 2019, making Mokubung the first African to achieve the feat.
Loxion Kulca by Sechaba and Wandi
Photo by Oupa Bopape/Gallo Images via Getty Images.
Models during Loxion Kulca show at the South African Fashion Week on Day 03 on October 22, 2022 in Midrand, South Africa.
There’s no definitive brand as Loxion Kulcha when the fashion chat shifts to Mzansi streetwear. Founded by the duo of Sechaba Mogal and the late Wandile Nzimande in 1997, the label was bolstered by its association to Kwaito, and hence resonated with a core element of youth culture that fully embraced self-expression. Being caught red-handed without a piece of theirs in one’s collection was a mortal sin back then, something unheard-of. It wasn’t long before artists like Mshoza and TKZee jumped on the wave. Cool turned to urban lore when the hip-hop group H20 immortalized the brand with their lyric, "I'm Loxion Kulca like uSechaba no Wandi," on their 2004 classic, “It’s Wonderful.”
MaXhosa by Laduma Ngoxkolo
The early press image of Xhosa initiates seated in a line, eyes looking in every direction but that of the camera, donning knitwear that inspired descriptors like “new-age heritage,” was South Africa’s introduction to Laduma Ngoxolo’sMaXhosa. The Xhosa beadwork-inspired designs were aimed at the high-end consumer, and quickly became markers of financial standing for South Africans nationwide. It wasn’t long before word caught it. The company has continued to grow, with notable figures like Oprah seen donning their clothing, while institutions like the MOMA and the Smithsonian Institute have added Maxhosa garments to their archives.
Lukhanyo Mdingi by Lukhanyo Mingi
Lukhanyo Mdingi is an East London-born, Cape Town-based fashion designer whose colorful hand-woven creations have led to him winning the Karl Lagerfeld LVMH Prize in 2021, as well as the Amiri prize in 2023. “The premise of our label has always been rooted by considered and sincere design. Through collaboration, the aim is to create a hybrid between artisanal craft and modern design,” he shared during an interview. It’s these altruistic values that have propelled his work thus far.
Wanda Lephoto by Wanda Lephoto
A former member of the art trio, The Satirists, Wanda Lephoto is deeply rooted in post-2010 Jozi urban mythology. He came of age during a time when nineties-era kids were finding themselves, and has grown to develop a solid footing in fashion that explores what it means to be African in a world constantly shifting from one post to the next. “My vision is to communicate real things that happen in real time to real people that often go unnoticed. I want to create an archive of work for future generations to tap into that represents African people in a manner that they haven’t been represented before, but also in a manner that begins to heal,” he says.
Thebe Magugu by Thebe Magugu
Born in the small town of Kimberly, Northern Cape province, Thebe Magugu grew up dreaming of a world outside of the one he got to know — that of destitution and poverty, where chances came few and far between. So when the opportunity to migrate to, and study in Johannesburg, presented itself, he wholly availed himself, and arrived in a Jozi to a community of similar-minded creatives whose outsize aspiration trampled upon their small town origins. This combination of big dreams, dedication, and the willingness to put in work, as well as that assured outlook generational possess, led to him being selected for the LVHM Prize for Young Designers in 2019. He has ascended to greater heights since then, and if his latest campaign is anything to go by, only certified greatness lies ahead.
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