Fine print: Lisof first-years put designs on paper.
Fashion design school Lisof’s first-year students got off on a rough footing last Friday when they were plunged into a sea of Mail & Guardian back copies armed only with scissors and cellotape and instructed to create outfits worthy of a catwalk.
But the 150-strong cohort swam rather than sunk and emerged from their workshop with fitted, robust newspaper wear that bore signs of thoughtful conceptual design.
A dainty Hlologelo Molokomme wanted the top part of her outfit to resemble a great panpipe. This she accomplished by rolling up pages of the M&G and arranging the tubes in varying lengths across her chest.
Another student, Kylie De Vlieg, found it a challenge to get her outfit to stay on.
But by using three layers of newspaper tubes that collected into a tiny belt, she ensured her creation could withstand hours of parading and a wide belt made of magazines kept her corset in place.
Male students also displayed their design skills.
Nhlanhla Masemola sported a puffy jacket in the style of a hip-hop star that he made by crushing pages into balls and sticking them together.
First-prize winner Cleo de Gennaro was inspired by the latest Hollywood rendition of Red Riding Hood into creating a cloak of strung-together origami objects that took her three days to fold.
The students also had to create accessories made only of “found” objects.
Forks, pegs and washer discs were just some of the items attached to the rings of wire that adorned many necks.
Lisof director Shana Rosenthal said that the first-year students had put on an impressive show on the whole, despite being largely untrained, which boded well for the strength of the South African fashion industry.