South African fashion will take its first steps on the global catwalk from September 18 to 22 when five designers take part in London Fashion Week — one of four key events on the global fashion calendar.
Their participation is as a result of author and journalist Adam Levin meeting organisers from London Fashion Week while he was covering events at India Fashion Week.
“I was busy getting accreditation and the London people said, ‘Have you got any designers in your country?’ I said “Yeah! We’ve got some amazing designers, actually.’ And they said ‘Funnily enough we’ve been meaning to do something with South Africa’.
“The brief was that they wanted clothes women will feel fabulous in on the streets of London … they just wanted beautiful clothes.”
Levin handed in nine design portfolios, five of which were chosen by the British Fashion Council, which curates the London Fashion Week shows and its exhibition at the Natural History Museum.
According to Levin the designers have their own distinctly South African signature — be it Sun Goddess’s celebration of our African heritage; Lunar’s evocation of the country’s landscapes; Bongiwe Walaza’s meticulously detailed pieces in local textiles; Gideon’s eclectic expression of the multicultural energy of his Durban hometown; or Amanda Laird Cherry’s sensitive fusion of African cultures and contemporary lines.
It certainly hasn’t all been smooth sailing. Levin only secured sponsorship from Sun International a month before. And although the designers agreed to pay for their own flights, it still “costs a huge amount to do the stalls and to dress the stand, because if it doesn’t look good, who is gonna want to come?”
Amanda Laird Cherry is delighted to be included: “It’s an absolute honour, really awesome.”
Laird Cherry believes the trip will be beneficial in terms of gaining objective criticism and learning more about what the international market is looking for. “As South African fashion we’re coming of age and now we need to get feedback on whether we truly are on an international level, so it is nerve wracking.”
The South Africans have secured a prime 40m2 stand at the entrance and Levin has been hard at work selecting music, dealing with insurance and transport, spraypainting ostrich eggs and tree trunks and choosing flowers, furniture and other design elements to achieve a “luxurious, African” feel. [The stand] must be beautiful, luxurious, unique, African and contemporary.”
There won’t, however, be an actual fashion show. “They offered us an off schedule show — which is a show not in the main hall, but it is in the programme.” At which point Levin approached South African Fashion Week director Lucilla Booyzen, who advised that it wasn’t a good idea to put on a show at such short notice and without the opportunity to hype it in the media first.
“But doing the display is a fantastic opportunity to get clothes to people and stores, so next year, when we have time to mount a production, people will already know Lunar, Gideon, Sun Goddess …”
The designers are hoping that their participation will result in orders from stores. Sun Goddess’s Vanya Mangaliso says: “This is a great opportunity for South African fashion to be on the global fashion map. Now people can find out that we’re not just about curio shops and fleamarket type stuff, they’ll find out that we have unique contribution to the fashion world as well – it’s exciting to show a different side of South Africa.”
Media attention will help South African fashion because, as Levin says, “that is just as vital as the buyers”.
“I chose designers I knew could produce if they got the orders, because otherwise it is a disaster,” says Levin.
Levin believes this is the first step towards more worldly encounters, but stresses that campaigns should be focused. “The SA Unthreaded brand can now go from Beijing to Brazil, but it must be focused so we take the right designers, not the same designers everywhere — like for London Fashion Week they didn’t want couture, so I didn’t take Clive Rundle.” He adds that next year, Jan Malan will be creating an African show for Paris Fashion Week and that South Africa will be at the Global Fashion Awards in Los Angeles in December.
“I couldn’t be prouder of these five designers. It’s taken a decade to get to this point.”