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THE 100th ISSUE: 100 Innovations, Inventions & Icons From Africa

Brand Voice by Gert-Johan Coetzee 



A &nbsp;fashion designer who believes you can never dream too big, Gert-Johan Coetzee is revered as one of South Africa’s most celebrated designers; synonymous with his signature style, sophistication and panache. Gert-Johan doesn’t simply design dresses, he designs relationships and delivers dreams for his dynamic and esteemed clientele of women in Business, Entertainment, Politics and Royal African Families. 



Fashion courses through Gert-Johan’s veins, and has been his
passion since he was eight years old, designing dresses for his pencils, out of
tissue paper. Over two decades later, his dedication to dressing women how
they’d like to be addressed, has seen Gert-Johan rise to the top of his game in
South Africa; dressing newsworthy women like Former Public Protector Thuli
Madonsela, Miss Universe 2018 Demi-Leigh Nel- Peters, Miss World 2014 Rolene
Strauss, and Media Personalities Minnie Dlamini, Lerato Kganyago and Bonang
Matheba, to name a few. His talent has an international scope of significant
superstars including the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Kourtney Kardashian, Kristin
Cavallari, Lauryn Hill, Kelly Rowland, Fantasia and Tiwa Savage. 



A decade of designing is a formidable feat, as the Fashion
Industry is fast-paced, and as an Entrepreneur in an ever-evolving environment;
in order to achieve the commercial and creative success that Gert-Johan has
enjoyed in his ten year tenure, requires passion, perseverance, determination
and a delicate balance between business and creativity.&nbsp; 



His successful collaborations with global brands such as
McDonald’s and Ferrari speak of his commercial understanding of business, which
is a rarity in the creative world of Fashion. Without self-discipline, success
is impossible, and in the enterprise of Fashion, success is not exclusively
measured on making profits, but in the creation of brand value; which
Gert-Johan has mastered with his eponymous empire. In addition to his Couture
and Bespoke Bridal Collections, Gert-Johan has created GERT, his Casual Wear
Collection as well as an exclusive Ready-To-Wear Range available at selected
luxury boutiques. His Menswear range adds to his impressive portfolio.



Gert-Johan has become an influential individual in his own
right, and debuted his career in television as a mentor on Project Runway South
Africa. With a passion for mentorship and sharing opportunities and knowledge,
Gert-Johan has established a bursary programme that sponsors two new students
annually, with three-year bursaries in Fashion Studies at his alma mater, The
Northwest School of Design.&nbsp; 



Gert-Johan is also a Social Activist who uses the power of
his platform to highlight social issues. From breaking down prejudices to
breast cancer awareness, from championing education to addressing violence
against women; as well as raising awareness about endangered wildlife and
eco-consciousness in fashion, Gert-Johan’s bi-annual collections, shown at SA
Fashion Week, have sparked conversations with their social focus.



Gert-Johan has won numerous awards, including South Africa’s
Most Promising Young Designer in 2006, at the age of 19, and South African
Designer of the Year in 2010. He’s also shown at International Fashion Weeks in
Canada, Angola and Nigeria and has a growing following across the African
continent. 



In his illustrious career, Gert-Johan has created some of South Africa’s most memorable masterpieces, and together with opening SA Fashion Week SS20 in April this year; the upcoming Gert-Johan Coetzee Retrospective, taking place in Sandton City&#8217;s Diamond Walk, in collaboration with Martini Dolce 0.0. from the 19th of March until the 26th of April 2020, will showcase some of his most iconic creations as well as the women who wore them. 



In addition to the Retrospective, in celebration of a decade
of Gert-Johan Coetzee, comes a passion project expertly crafted in the heart of
Grasse, the perfume capital of the world on the French Riviera, in the same
perfumerie where some of the greatest fragrances such as Jean Paul Gaultier,
Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Dior and Balmain are manufactured. A signature scent
that is anchored in authenticity, inspired by Africa and reflecting her
essence; but artfully constructed by the finest French noses, comes Gert-Johan
Coetzee’s first foray into fragrance. 



Double Platinum Eau de Parfum by Gert-Johan Coetzee
comprises a cocktail of memory and emotion; and is reminiscent of Rustenburg’s
signature platinum mines, where Gert-Johan grew up. Designed for the diverse
South African men and women who wear Gert-Johan Coetzee’s Collections, the
delicate combination of the softness of rose, which represents feminine
fragility, paired with the smoke of masculinity, comes a sophisticated scent
offering aromatic abundance in every spritz. 



“A signature symphony of success,” every detail of Double
Platinum is deliberate, and Sarah Langa, the face of Double Platinum Eau de
Parfum, embodies the epitome of a Gert-Johan Coetzee woman – confident, kind,
powerful and graceful with a sophisticated soupçon of sex appeal.



This is the beautiful beginning of a brand new direction for
Gert-Johan and his Business Partner, Brand Manager and husband Vicky Visagie,
as they branch into diverse dimensions for the Gert-Johan Coetzee brand.



Double Platinum Eau de Parfum was launched on the 27th
February at Skins Cosmetics in Sandton City, Johannesburg, and will be
exclusively sold at this outlet.

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A Decade of Gert-Johan Coetzee

The 33rd edition of the South African fashion week kicked off with a bang this year. Celebrating fashion from the spring and summer collection, we had a look at what some of our local designers brought this year. Forbes Africa’s Karen Mwendera filed this report.

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Glitz And Glam At The South African Fashion Week

Thuso Mbedu was nominated for the 45th International Emmy Awards in New York in November, for her role as Winnie in Is&#8217;thunzi. She did not win, but the actress, who is also an entrepreneur, still wowed in her blue Gert-Johan Coetzee dress. We spoke to her weeks before the ceremony.
<ol>
<li> Did you ever think you would be nominated for an Emmy?</li>
</ol>
One dreams of such accolades but never thinks they are attainable. In my wildest dreams, I would attain such in my mid-30s or 40s, if I am lucky. This nomination was truly unexpected but it was a pleasant and most humbling surprise.
<ol start="2">
<li> Have you planned your speech?</li>
</ol>
Yes, I have and simply because I want to thank all those who supported and believed in me. I need to make sure I emphasize hard work and the pursuit of excellence is never in vain. This is just the beginning of great things. Even if I don’t bring the award home, I will still use the very same speech to thank everybody. The speech will not change; just the platform and time. I truly am grateful for the opportunity.
<ol start="3">
<li> If you don’t win…</li>
</ol>
I’m going to keep at it. I can only push harder and get better. Again, this is just the beginning. I will work with my colleagues to ensure the global audience stays aware we have talent to be reckoned with. International productions must know when they come to our country to shoot their productions there is a great talent pool they can choose from. They can use us to tell our stories and we are also available in aiding to tell the global stories because we are more than capable. I am very excited about the future of acting in South Africa.
<ol start="4">
<li> What we don’t know about you…</li>
</ol>
I love dogs.  I’m a dreamer — with a very vivid imagination. I am a creative artist whose mind is always working overtime. I see possibilities and opportunities in almost everything. I’m very sensitive to what others go through. I once forced my housemates to go star-gazing. It wasn’t anything fancy because we cannot afford the fancy things yet. I drove them to the rooftop of a mall and we put our fleece blankets on the ground and looked at the stars.
<ol start="5">
<li> Where to from here?</li>
</ol>
I will definitely continue creating my own work. I want to produce films and series that will be consumed globally. It’s not just about me. I have to work hard in order to attain my ultimate goal which is to open an orphanage or an arts academy where kids will be taken care of. I want to reach a place of such influence that people with money will want to sponsor the upbringing of a child even if they do not want to adopt a child. The basic foundations are integral. I want to ensure that as many kids as space and finances will allow will have those foundations of love, support, education.
<ol start="6">
<li> What roles would you want to play?</li>
</ol>
I have three ‘ideal’ roles. Viola Davis (Annalise Keating) in How to Get Away with Murder, Taraji P. Henson (Cookie Lyon) in Empire, and Heath Ledger (Joker) in The Dark Knight. The aforementioned characters differ in immense ways and they are characters that would certainly challenge me as an artist. I always welcome challenges as they result in growth. I know for a fact that with each of these characters I will find myself questioning my ability to act at some point because they are so complex.
<ol start="7">
<li> On the set of my first role I was feeling…</li>
</ol>
Excited but very prepared. I had to deliver and did not want to drop the ball. I was the only new face in a set of veterans but they were very welcoming and the director was very open in terms of what was to be expected of me. I spent most of my free time getting knowledge from the veterans and it is knowledge I use and pass on to others.

7 Questions With… Thuso Mbedu

According to her Twitter profile Thando Hopa considers herself, “A down to Earth dreamer with her head in the clouds. A Modelling Prosecutor who sneaks in some poetry here and there. Neva a dull moment. lil too bright for that”.
Gert-Johan Coetzee, a South African fashion designer, was due to show his collection at Vancouver Fashion Week but was stuck in a rut. Hopa was just the inspiration he needed.
“As I walked past her, it was almost like a light was shining in my eyes from the side,” says Coetzee.
Hopa had turned down modeling offers before and was indifferent to this one, but took Coetzee’s business card with the promise to find out who he was. The rest, as they say, is history.
Before this, Hopa never considered modeling and never wanted anything to do with it. It was her sister’s words of encouragement shortly before her chance meeting with Coetzee that persuaded her to take his card.
Hopa grew up in Lenasia South and later moved to Walkerville, both situated in the south of Johannesburg. She attended the private St Martin’s High School and acquired an LLB from the University of Witwatersrand.
Two years later she became a prosecutor with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the youngest in her Johannesburg group of recruits. Hopa says her biggest challenge was not only to learn to deal with people, but also to set aside her prejudices and stereotypes.
Hopa has albinism, a genetic condition that results in a partial or complete lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes that affects one in 20,000 people worldwide. The prevalence is much higher in Africa, with an estimated one in 2,000 affected. A recessive gene needs to be present in both parents for their child to be born with albinism.
Hopa was four years old when her brother was also born with albinism. As one of four children, she recalls not being happy because she was used to special treatment and attention, which she had to suddenly share with him. Their bond was strengthened by their ability to relate to each other better than  their other family members simply because they faced the same problems. Hopa feels her presence made things, to some extent, a little easier for him but acknowledges that they had to face different social experiences.
Those with the condition are vulnerable to sun exposure and bright light, almost all people with albinism are visually impaired, and the majority are classified as legally blind.  Hopa is no exception. She is very short-sighted and has trouble seeing street signs, causing her to rely on cabs most of the time.
She had a very happy childhood and was protected from the sometimes cruel world by her family. She recalls the first time her difference was made obvious. The  first day of school provided more than just education for little Hopa. The other children refused to sit next to her or touch her.
“I never felt the burden of being different because every time I went home I was loved, and I never looked different from anyone else. That’s the way they treated me. I never actually saw color,” she says.
Hopa spent her adolescent years questioning beauty and trying to figure out where she fitted . There were no role models that looked like her; she felt she was too different to be beautiful.
“I found myself wanting. Because in terms of media, in terms of everything, the responses I got from friends, from guys, I just didn’t feel like I was beautiful,” she says.
It was only in her university days that Hopa decided to redefine beauty. The determined Hopa set out on a mission to look hot, by her own definition, every day and to work on her confidence. She says she went through many style phases, including rock and Rastafarian.
There is no contractual agreement between Hopa and Coetzee, following her entry into fashion. The two have a friendship that Hopa says was fortified by last year’s South Africa Fashion Week.
Two weeks after meeting Coetzee, Hopa was scheduled to walk in his show for the event as the face of his collection. The only problem was that Hopa didn’t know how to walk in heels. The designer gave her a pair and told her to practice. Hopa says this was an emotionally confusing time for her. Her biggest fear was falling, but she says the support from the team and her family cushioned her.
“Gert must have checked up on me a thousand times that day,” she laughs.
In the end, Hopa felt triumphant.
Hopa’s goal for her modeling career is to stop being uncomfortable with albinism and reject the superstition and prejudice around albinism. She says that people are either in awe or repelled by it.
“We just want to make it another shade of normal,” she says.
People with albinism face harsher circumstances and social experiences in Africa, most severely in east Africa. The persecution of people with albinism is based on the superstition that certain body parts of albinos have magical powers that bring prosperity, while another says they are cursed.
Albinos are abducted, mutilated and their body parts sold.
A report by Canadian charity organization, Under The Same Sun, for the United Nations states that there were 155 attacks, including deaths, documented in Africa between 2006 and 2012.
Hopa says the problem is cultural and that she’s never had to worry about her life  because she’s different. All she can do is deal with the social circumstances she’s used to and understands.
Albinism is not new to the international modeling industry; top models include Stephen Thompson, Diandra Forrest and Shaun Ross. The world’s first albino model was Connie Chiu from Hong Kong. She got her first big break with Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris.
Hopa is at ease in front of both the judge and the camera. Her two worlds do not demand too much to require her to choose. So in the meantime, Hopa will remain a prosecutor during the week and a model on weekends.
Hopa’s dignity is her greatest asset and that’s all the NPA asks of her.   FL

Tag: Gert-Johan Coetzee

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

THE 100th ISSUE: 100 Innovations, Inventions & Icons From Africa

A Decade of Gert-Johan Coetzee

Glitz And Glam At The South African Fashion Week

7 Questions With… Thuso Mbedu

Fashion’s Legal Eagle