South African Fashion Week Celebrates 21 Years In Fashion.

South Africa’s oldest fashion week celebrated 21 years in fashion with its A/W2019 collections at Sandton City as well as some off site locations for select designers. South African Fashion Week has helped launch the careers of many big fashion designers who got their big breaks through SA Fashion Week’s New Talent Search. To mark this auspicious milestone, SAFW had installations of fashion from the old and new fashion designers who have been working with SA Fashion Week through the yes and as attendees we got to  travel back in time as we went through some fashion from designers like Rubicon, Clive Rundle, Sun Goddess, Black Coffee to young designers like Bayanda Khathini, Kasified Clothing, ERRE and Judith Atelier just to mention a few.

SA Fashion Week also partnered with the Department of Arts & Culture to present the BRICS showcases featuring fashion designers from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The designers showed some great collections drawing inspirations from their continents and cultures and adding a twist of modern fashion. The designers that stood out for me were Chinese  womenswear brand Heaven Gaia, Russian womenswear brand with eye catching head gear Irina Stetsco  as well as South African womenswear brand Muntsho By Palesa whose collection drew inspiration from the East African Masai tribe. 

Young and brilliant fashion designer Cindy Mfabe won SA Fashion Week Talent Search and her collection was a unique mixture of pastel colours with black and white as well as precise and creative cuts that I loved so  much. As part of her prize she will have a solo show next season and I am sure that she will have a great collection for she is unpredictable and super talented. Menswear designers, Ntando XV Ngwenya, Bayanda Khathini and Blank had great collections with lots of bright colours a great selection of styling as well as an old school fashion from Blank with big afros and cool fanny packs paired with their garments. These young designers have grown tremendously since showing at SA Fashion Week and they are the future of SA Fashion and I love where our fashion is headed.