The cheek of holding a fashion show in the Voortrekker Monument–where boots, swastikas and khaki were once common–captures the sassy spirit of the new design scene that has emerged in South Africa since apartheid collapsed. “My clothing celebrates our identity,” says director Nkhensani Manganyi, of the popular Stoned Cherrie label. “Our new sense of self, our new assertiveness.”
Before 1994, says Dion Chang, a director of South African Fashion Week, chain stores would send scouts to London, Paris and New York, who would then return to South Africa and design almost exact imitations of what they’d seen. Now, he says, with an emerging black middle class creating a huge demand for fashion, South Africans are taking pride in local designers who have created their own authentic signature. In the last year, says Chang, staid chain stores have come onboard, ensuring that the designs shown in South African Fashion Week will make it into store windows.
And the rest of the world–entranced by South African designers’ innovative use of indigenous fabrics, their mix of high fashion with street credibility and their emphasis on clothing with a social message–is beginning to catch on. Rock star Lenny Kravitz bought a wardrobe of clothes designed by Craig Native, whose punky outfits are now sold in European stores from Oslo to Berlin. The famous Regent Street shop, Liberty, stocks designs by Amanda Laird Cherry, who combines international trends like kimono-style outfits with traditional South African fabric.
The one thing all the new designers have in common is a social conscience. Native, based in Durban, makes a point of sourcing his materials, down to his zippers, from struggling businesses in the inner city. Elsewhere, the fashion industry has rejuvenated the once derelict garment district of Johannesburg; even in the poorest neighborhoods, like Soweto, fashion shows displaying top labels are now commonplace. One of Stoned Cherrie’s most popular T shirts is printed with the face of the murdered antiapartheid activist Steve Biko. “We have an identity that sells,” says Chang. “Everything is possible.” That’s the hallmark of great fashion.
