Nandi Mngoma recently wed her “best friend” and South African celebrity-musician Zakes Bantwini (Zakhele Madida). This followed speculation about her pregnancy and a classic reveal when, dressed in a figure-hugging white dress, she showed off her baby bump on the ramp at the opening of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Johannesburg. The songstress and presenter also wowed United States’ fashion critics at the 2016 BET Awards in a monochrome mermaid dress from her own fashion line, Colour. E! News even wrote: “Work that dress.”
Mngoma, who also has a new song, Fly Away, with DJ Kent, reveals more to FORBES WOMAN AFRICA:
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1As an entrepreneur, why fashion?
Mainly because I feel like even from ancient African times, we as a continent have always been creating and inspiring the rest of the world and I want to continue this and share my creativity. It’s a challenging industry but one that I feel we as Africans need to own and be more business-orientated with. As a business, it’s not one in which huge amounts of money can be made but one with which you can potentially make a significant impact, which is why I started Colour.
2What’s your most treasured piece of clothing and why? My mother gave me a Zulu beaded necklace which means the world to me. I travel with it and it’s always received with interest.
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3Who are your favorite designers, and why? Carolina Herrera – she’s in her 70s and still believes in feeling good as a woman and making other woman feel beautiful. I’m inspired by her and how she embraces the aging processes and how she makes females feel beautiful, no matter their age or size.
Victoria Beckham – as she is also a media personality. I admire her transition from Spice Girl to respected designer. I have studied her and have been impressed with how willing she has been to listen and learn and be a student and that’s exactly what I have done.
Chanel – in terms of being daring and taking risks. Coco Chanel was very daring – she took a tweed jacket which was traditionally for men and made it something women could wear.
And lastly, the late Oscar de la Renta – simply because his designs were just beautiful!
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4If you were to design an outfit for one person in the world, who would that be?
Rihanna – I would love to put her in a jump suit that we have designed, possibly for one of her music videos. I think that it would look great on her!
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5Your proudest achievement so far…? Just being able to inspire people through what I do, expecting a baby, being a wife and family person and still continuing with my career. Also being at a point where I can embrace who I am. I believe that you can be career-orientated and a great mother. I watched my own mother do this and I want to do the same.
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6You are in entertainment; what qualities have you had to adapt to be a fashion entrepreneur?
The entertainment industry prepares you for a lot and there are many qualities and skills which I have used in my fashion career. I have found the fashion industry to be much more detailed and organized compared to the entertainment industry.
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7Success is…?
Knowing God.

Nandi-etch

‘Would Love To Put Rihanna In  A Jump Suit’

These designers showcased memorable collections at two recent fashion weeks in Johannesburg – and could well be on their way to becoming famous among South Africa’s swish set.
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<h3>Rich Mnisi/OATH</h3>
This 23-year-old has already won laurels as a young designer, and his collection is distinct and consistent. This season’s offering from OATH is for the female traveler, who wants to leave nothing behind and wear it all on arrival. A must-have for the stylish working woman this season is the cocoon coat.
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<h3>Celeste Arendse/Selfi</h3>
Having launched her brand only six years ago, this young designer is making waves in the fashion industry. Her apparel is inspired by architecture, and the forms and patterns in nature. Selfi is a Cape Town-based label that wants to capture the essence of the eras.
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<h3>Thabo Makhetha</h3>
Lesotho-born South African designer Thabo Makhetha-Kwinana launched her eponymous label in 2009. The brand has since received a number of accolades, including Nelson Mandela Bay’s Top 40 Under 40; she was also Designer of the Year at the ImpAct Awards (Arts &amp; Culture Trust). Makhetha produces unique functional capes and jackets made out of beauteous Basotho blankets, called Kobo Ea Bohali ‘Blankets of Prestige’. The label made its debut at SA Fashion Week Joburg in March.
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<h3>Nelson Makamo, collaborating with House of Olé</h3>
Though not a designer in the true sense, Nelson Makamo is an artiste you need to know and remember. He recently returned from Venice, where he participated at the annual Biennale. He collaborated with Olé Ledimo of House of Olé, who is known for his Savile Row-style classic-cut suits, but for SA Fashion Week, they added a glorious women’s collection.
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<h3>Natasha Jaume &amp; Carina Louw/Erre</h3>
Theirs is a fashion brand specializing in leather, aiming to provide the working woman quality wardrobe staples and investment pieces that can be worn both on and off duty. But at the Spring/Summer 2015 showing of SA Fashion Week, their fashion philosophy took another turn. Erre presented the Myri dress, which can be worn in different ways – we saw atleast 12 looks on the runway. Jaume says there could be more than 30 ways to wear the dress. This was inspired by the woman with a busy lifestyle who wants a simple dress she can wear in different ways for different occasions.

Selfi-pic-by-Chris-Townend

New  Kids On The Fashion Block

Every country in Africa seems to want its share of the fashion business, and forge its own style identity. What better way to do so than with glitzy week-long fashion extravaganzas?
South Africa has always enjoyed a lead in this department. Three of the most popular annual fashion fiestas here are the fashion weeks organized by African Fashion International (AFI), recognized for their association with the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Weeks of New York, Berlin and Miami. AFI puts together three events in Johannesburg and Cape Town, linking a luxury car brand with top fashion.
In addition, the country also hosts the South African Fashion Week, yet another showing of superlative design and talent. With as many fashion-forward events through the year, it is clear they are viable business platforms, particularly for the local designers who get to showcase their collections and be noticed by media and discerning buyers.
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“Once the show is over, the buyers, the press and couture clients move on to the next show on their list. The designer goes back to his or her showroom to get ready for the onslaught of buyers,” says AFI spokesperson Nicholas Maweni.  One of the designers who has benefitted from these fashion weeks is Abigail Betz. Her three-dimensional opening sequence raised the stakes at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Joburg held in March when South African model Lalla Hirayama appeared dressed like a geisha, complete with milk-white face, bold eyeshadow and pink lips. Her collection had elements of lace, some tartan and dogstooth for the winter jackets. Betz had sold two garments at a special preview for clients even before her collection had graced the catwalk.
“I don’t just send things down the ramp that are crazy and ridiculous that I know I can’t sell. Every single piece of fabric that I buy, every month of work, detailing, beading is very carefully thought through. It’s thought through for a very particular client base,” says Betz, who also has clients in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and overseas. Other designers like Shana Morland of Shana, see the fashion weeks as effective marketing platforms.
“Showing at fashion week allows us to bring our customers and the media into an environment purely created by us to launch our latest range. We are also able to give our customers a great experience of the brand,” says Morland. Though Morland hasn’t shown on international ramps yet, she has overseas clients who visit her stores in Cape Town and Johannesburg.
The fashion industry is indeed a competitive, challenging market. Over the past year, South Africa has seen numerous international brands making their way into the market, raising the competition. Morland says international brands are a threat when it comes to pricing.
“Maintaining a locally-manufactured label adds a lot to the cost, whereas international labels are getting the garments at extremely small costs. Our customers are people who value firstly local design but also the experience they get when walking into our store and having a one-on-one relationship,” says Morland.
Betz says the influx of international brands is actually welcome.
“It’s good for everybody. If we’re not exposed to what other people are doing, we’re just going to become stagnant and get left behind. It’s very important for us to have the stimulation to want to push and move forward. If other big brands are coming in, that’s good,” she says.
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Fashion weeks not only benefit organizers and designers. Every show generates its share of part-time jobs for the models, the interns and production companies working directly and indirectly with the event.
“At any stage during the fashion week, there are over 200 people employed and many SMEs supported through the AFI supply chain management,” says Maweni.
Through the partnership with Mercedes-Benz, AFI sends, through an exchange program, some of the designers to other global Mercedes-Benz Fashion Weeks.
Fashion designer David Tlale was the first South African to have a solo show at this year’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York, Autumn/Winter, after three seasons of installations. Maweni says the global collaboration is a great benefit to the business of fashion and supports a rich territory for brands wishing to associate with luxury, style and design.

A geisha In Africa

It was a warm, autumn evening; most of Windhoek had gone to bed early, as usual. On this night of socialites and fashionistas, fashion designers came together with musicians for an evening of wow.
Eyambukepo—meaning uprising in Oshiambo—was just that, standing tall for Africa.
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“I believe that it’s events like these that show the world what we, the youth, are about,” says Richard ‘KingRich’ Namwandi, owner of record label Bay Area Music, whose team founded the show  with Shewta Wahi, a Dubai-based designer.
This night of color and dash was a sign of changing times in the once sleepy Windhoek. Everywhere you look in the burgeoning capital city—with a population of 320,000—are construction sites and signs of growth.
“With Namibia being a relatively young country—independent for 23 years—it’s understandable why we are still in the process of breaking into international industries and markets on many fronts. However, entertainment doesn’t seem to be one of those anymore. The Namibian music scene has become very vibrant […] The fashion industry is growing at a similarly impressive pace. Last year, we had our first ever Namibian Fashion Show, which saw designers from all over Africa showcasing their designs alongside four Namibian designers,” says KingRich.
The line-up included the latest in musical talent and catwalk creations.
Hafeni ‘Happy’ Fransalso presented black and white evening wear with paisley details to applause. The College of the Arts Namibia graduate majored in fashion and design, visual arts and crafts. His collection of mens and womenswear included burnt orange and yellow fabric with geometric designs and fashionably oversized accessories. Happy, as he is known, is currently creating a line of accessories made from recycled materials.
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The greatest challenge to Namibia’s fashion industry, he feels, is the lack of home-grown fashion magazines.
“These challenges can be overcome when people realize and see the potential in fashion, not only as an industry to make money and look good but as an art,” he says.
That evening the catwalk was also home to Namibia’s rising singers, rappers, kwaito and R&amp;B performers, from Blossom and Beast to KevyGuy and Brain The Tool.
The most popular was Ruusa Ndapewa Munalye, known as Blossom. This soulful singer was nominated in 12 categories at the Namibian Annual Music Awards (NAMAs) and was named Namibia’s Best Female Artist of 2013. She scooped three other awards including: Best Kizomba; Best Newcomer and Best Shambo.
“My music reflects what is most close to my heart—messages of my roots, love, hope, and freedom,” she says.
The award-winning guitarist has performed in the United States and is touring Europe.
“The fashion show was great as it brings growth and exposure to the Namibian fashion industry. The mix of music and fashion strengthens the display of these great creations,” she says.
There is synergy between the two art forms.
“I believe as an artist, personally, that your style has to be top every time you come out. If you want to maintain an image, if you want people to respect you for your certain image, you have to be fashionable at all times. I believe they are one and the same at the end of the day,” says KingRich, who performed that night.
The sub-Saharan African country has been host to other large-scale fashion shows, as the tough-to-crack industry grows.
“The Namibian market in fashion only really started in the last two or three years, where you can actually do fashion shows like this, showcase your creativity and see how far you can push the barrier […]” says Tsatago Garoëb.
The 30-year-old happened upon his flair for fashion in high school, when he designed his sister’s graduation dress. Garoëb studied fashion and textile design at the University of Namibia. Today, he owns a fashion label—House of Tsatago, also known as H.O.T—which has dressed numerous Namibian celebrities.
His adventurous style lives through his eccentric dresses; after all, he was an assistant to David Tlale—an award-winning South African designer—during last year’s Namibian Fashion Show. Garoëb tests the boundaries because that is what fashion is about.
“I wanted to play with fabric. I wanted it to be fun, which is why I used chiffon, because it is free moving. And I wanted to incorporate fabrics like lace because it’s quite transparent and very dangerous but this accentuates a woman’s beauty. I wanted whoever is wearing my garments to feel free, beautiful and sexy, hence why I called this collection ‘hot, hot, hot’ because all of my garments were pretty hot,” he says.
The final collection, with an African feel to it, came from Shweta Wahi. It drew a standing ovation.
While other 10-year-old girls were playing with dolls, Wahi was sewing.
“For every birthday I would ask for a sewing machine or a mannequin or something to do with stitching or fabrics,” she says.
The self-taught 22-year-old—who has an eponymous fashion label—had featured in as many fashion shows as her years. This was the first of many more to come in Africa for the Indian-born designer, who was raised in Dubai and studied in Canada.
Wahi was the youngest designer at Ottawa Fashion Week in 2012 and has also showcased on the Toronto and Dubai fashion circuits.
“When you show up and people see that you are a young girl, they feel that you might be working for the person who is supposed to show up. They find it a little difficult to take you seriously, until they see your work coming down the catwalk,” she says.
Wahi interned for the winner of the first season of Project Runway Canada, Evan Biddell, who is also self-taught. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in visual arts at York University and qualified as an image consultant at George Brown College.
“When I start cutting the fabric, I don’t use technical patterns, because I never studied fashion at school. There is a dialogue between me and the fabric, and I drape it around a mannequin and just nip and tuck where I feel it fits […] If something goes wrong, there is always a way to fix it, you make it look like a beautiful mistake,” she says.
Her advice to aspiring fashion designers?
“I definitely think marketing has a lot to do with it and it depends on how you market your label because you have so many talented artists out there. I’ve seen so many people who are amazingly passionate and they can’t get their label out there; they can’t get the exposure they deserve. If they brush up on their business skills and maybe find a business partner and collaborate on marketing they can definitely have a sustainable business.”
But it’s not just about profit, Wahi has used her talents to raise over C$50,000 ($48,000) for charitable organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross and Haiti Relief Fund, to name a few.
This is only the beginning for Eyambukepo, it will return to a different country in Africa each year, and hopes to grace the catwalks of the world’s fashion capitals.

Tonight Windhoek,  Tomorrow the World

For many years fashionista Omoyemi Akerele had been pondering the dearth of fashion designers in Nigeria. From her musings, she realized that the issue was not the dearth of designers, but limited platforms through which designers could showcase their works. This was the case for decades despite the efforts of pioneers such as Shade Thomas-Fahm who worked tirelessly throughout the 1960s to bring attention to the industry. Her fervor and creativity laid the foundation for the fashion industry, while she also inspired a plethora of designers to pursue their passion.
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Akerele is one of those stylists that have taken the baton from the pioneer in her commitment to extend the frontiers of the fashion industry. She started a fashion consultancy in Nigeria at a time when little attention was paid to the industry. Her vision is for the industry to flourish and be acknowledged all over the world.
“There is a lot of promise in the Nigerian Fashion industry… So much untapped potential [and] I see my role as a catalyst,” says Akerele.
It was her vision to see Nigeria and Africa take its rightful place in the global fashion industry that drove her to create Style House, a fashion agency that promotes and supports the industry. But this was not enough.
“There was a need for a unified platform that designers could benefit from by showing their work to the industry at large. I thought that if the designers could come together to show under one platform, we would get the press and the whole community involved during this period. There’s more strength in that as opposed to different individual shows at different times of the year”, says Akerele.
Her vision culminated in the launch of the Lagos Fashion and Design Week (LFDW) in October 2011.
Pulling off such an event was no easy feat. After various attempts at securing sponsorship, MTN, the telecommunications company agreed to sponsor the inaugural event.
“What MTN was offering us, was low compared to what we needed to pull off a show of this size, but when you have a vision, you know there’s got to be a way this can work so at least you start,” she says.
In the end, the inaugural Lagos catwalk on the runway set the bar beyond her expectations.
Another challenging issue was scouting for young designers. This was due to certain constraints such as funding, rent textile availability and lack of training and resource centers, which impede the development of the local industry. The average designer has little or no accessibility to funds. Product continuity is stifled by limited supply of certain fabrics. Designers who can afford to produce their own textiles are few and far between and this greatly increases the final cost of the garment.
In other parts of the world, the education sector places emphasis on empowering the fashion entrepreneurs through colleges and resource centers. The industry teams up with upcoming designers who are willing to give their time and energy to teach fashion and its workings. In Nigeria, fashion has no representation in the academic establishment and there are very little collaborative efforts in the fashion industry. The average fashion enthusiast is a graduate of an international fashion school or is self-taught.
“Recently, I got an email from one of our international partners, asking for a list of fashion universities or colleges in Nigeria. I could not reply to the email for two weeks. I was so ashamed. It is amazing to know that about 90% of the industry is self-taught; the other 10% obtained their degrees from international institutions. There are 1% [of Nigerian designers] that probably rely on private people like Ginani or Ituen Basi who run individual fashion courses but in terms of proper institutions that run courses, we have none,” she says.
“I was on the London underground and I saw adverts of British fashion universities. This year, a report was put out for the British fashion industry. As we speak, its contribution to the economy from both retail and the industry brought over £200 million into the economy and they are still focusing on how to make the schools and the industry better to ensure that they produce more. We do not even have fashion universities that function here. That really breaks my heart,” says Akerele.
The visionary founder of LFDW believes that her annual catwalk runway will continue to unearth and support the latent talent in Nigeria. The inaugural event last year brought to the fore names such as Bridget Awosika who received rave reviews from Vogue UK. The fashion magazine described her work as “authentic African design”. This was a proud moment for Akerele. When asked about the event she told Vogue that “the event marks an awakening among some designers here who have been able to gradually evolve from what they come to accept as fashion—let’s call it a more traditional approach—to a place where they now understand that there’s much more we can offer…”
With the amount of effort going into its preparation, LFDW 2012 promises to be even bigger. The event—sponsored by MTN, RIM, Blackberry, Virgin Atlantic Airways, British Council and Porsche­­­—will not just end with the runway. After the event Akerele wants to give designers more exposure in the local and international market.
“The plan is to raise the stakes, not necessarily by doing more things but in strengthening and solidifying the vision. We are just trying to make sure that we do this better and create a better experience for people out there. The pop-up stores come up right after fashion week in London. We believe that it is important for press and buyers to attend. As we speak, Nigeria is not yet a destination for buyers so we decided to take the people to the buyers. We are going for different appointments with buyers to position Nigerian designers to benefit from that. We are also working on the Nigerian market as well so designers can work together. We are working on garment manufacturing companies that can make clothes for Nigerian designers. We are also putting pressure on all the companies that are setting up malls across Nigeria, lobbying for spaces for designers in some of the malls. The more locations the materials can be bought, the bigger the impact on the industry. We want to make a difference in the businesses of these designers.”
Akerele is also the ambassador of the ‘Buy Nigeria’ campaign, an initiative to promote Nigerian made clothes. Her vision for the near future is for the Nigerian indigenous fashion industry to contribute significantly to the GDP and this can only be achieved through indigenous fashion retail.
“Nigerian designers have to think of how to make their designs accessible to the 150 million Nigerians out there. The more people consume, the more people will be aware and the bigger the industry,” she says.
The future of fashion is promising and surely more progress will be made considering the effort industry faithful are putting into its development. Akerele’s tireless task as an ambassador and catalyst for the Nigerian industry has earned her remarkable acclaim with both local and international fashion communities. She has managed to inspire tangible change within the industry in a relatively short period. When asked about her plans for the future, her face lit up and in an alluring response, her reply was ‘Watch this space’.

Tag: Designers

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

‘Would Love To Put Rihanna In A Jump Suit’

New Kids On The Fashion Block

A geisha In Africa

Tonight Windhoek, Tomorrow the World

Why Fashion Breaks My Heart