Cape Town - They’ve been stared and gawked at. On the face of it, Mark and Helna Williams definitely stand out from the crowd.
Mark, dressed in black from top to toe, says his favourite item of clothing is a velvet shirt with a hood and tails, which every one mistakes for a coat. Half of Helna’s hair is black, and the other side is red. Her favourite garment is a black lace cravat.
“Goth can be used as an adjective to describe our personal style, but it goes a lot further. We don’t like to be put in a box,” says Mark.
Beneath it all, they’re just an ordinary couple who do ordinary things.
“People always stare, we’re used to it. But it passes because we go to the same places and they get to know us,” says Mark.
In a room in their Mowbray home, decorated in shades of black and grey, there are rails of corsets, and complementing skirts, cravats and elaborate lace collars with neck ruffs.
The Williamses are the creators of Wolf Clothing. It was their alternative way of dressing that led to starting their business. They are both from Rustenburg in North West, where there was nothing available to suit their tastes.
Helna recalls that in the early ’90s, when baggy clothes were all the rage, she’d appropriate her father’s pants. Much to her parents’ disdain, her underwear would show. As a teenager, her style changed and she started wearing all black.
“My parents asked me to please stop wearing black, and said they wouldn’t buy me any more black clothes. But they were glad that my panties weren’t sticking out any more,” recalls Helna.
By the time the couple met, they’d both been making their own clothes. People took note and soon they were making clothes for their friends, family and acquaintances too. They had no training in fashion or designing, but each had learnt the basics of sewing from their mothers. Practice, trial and error taught them the rest.
By the late ’90s, their main market was the Joburg and Pretoria club circuit, before they moved to Cape Town and married in 1999. She wore a dark purple dress that she made herself, and he wore black with a green velvet jacket and pixie boots.
When the Williamses arrived in Cape Town they faced a bit of competition from six other people making alternative clothing. Experimenting and finding out what they were really good at gave them the confidence to carry on and to survive the industry. To begin with, Mark mostly handled the leather and metals, while Helna focused on fabrics. Now, 16 years on, they’re both all-rounders.
Today the club scene has pretty much died out, but there is still a demand for what they do. Their clientele ranges from theatre groups, to the growing number of burlesque dancers, to women in need of wedding dresses. And yes, they make them in white too. But black is the ultimate canvas – it complements all other colours, they say.
“We enjoy dressing up. By dressing up, you create the space for others to do it too,” says Mark.
The two have a teenage daughter.
“It’s very strange how normal kids find what they’ve grown up with. She accepts us, and doesn’t try to imitate us,” says Mark.
Of course, she’s faced questions from her peers about her parents. She shrugs it off. While there are still those who stare, people in general have become more open-minded. At first, parents wouldn’t want the Williamses making clothes for their children, but that’s changed and they make a lot of matric ball outfits.
Their signature garment, the corset, can take up to 16 hours to make. The most popular fabric is still black satin, with black taffeta a close second. They start with a consultation, and getting to know the client.
Teenagers, especially, don’t really know what they want, but Helna enjoys running through the options with them, and finally reaching the “Ah, yes!” moment when they find their perfect match.
“This isn’t just about making clothing, but understanding what people want from their clothes,” says Mark.
Cape Argus