Cape Town - South African businesswoman and designer Vanessa Gounden has opened a flagship store in London.
She is one of the first designers from this country to open her own label in the UK.
Located in Conduit Street in Mayfair, The Vanessa Gounden store opened on Wednesday evening in the presence of fashion writers, musicians and gallery owners.
Gounden, who has an atelier in Cape Town and calls both Pretoria and London home, launched her label in London in 2011.
Her latest collection, My Africa, now hangs in the new store, with the Japanese-inspired autumn/winter collection Furaito to follow soon.
Gounden was born and raised in Durban, and became a primary school teacher.
Post-1994, she worked as a change management director for the SAPS, before doing human resources for the National Intelligence Agency.
She and her husband, Sivi, later started a mining industry company called HolGoun.
She told Weekend Argus, “This is a huge milestone for every South African designer.”
Her inspiration for the decor of the store is art galleries, she said.
“The space appears more as an exhibition, not retail. London spaces are difficult. The store interior has much white. It is like an art gallery,” she said.
Among the guests at her opening were fashion writer Antonia O’ Brien, singer-songwriter Molly Downes, and director of the Brancolini Grimaldi Gallery Isabella Brancolini.
Her My Africa range for spring/summer 2015 consists of contemporary dresses and suits, skirts, tops and jackets, and kaftans. “It is still summer in London. My Africa is still here... Furaito will be here in the first week of July,” she said.
This autumn/ winter collection is inspired by Japanese birds and their migration.
“We’ve taken from the Japanese experience, while the clothes are still comfortable. If you look at the translation of Furaito, it means fight or flight. We have the karate suit silhouette.”
Gounden is based and resides in South Africa, but travels to the UK as her label is London-based.
Her home is in Pretoria and her second home is in London.
She said she would love to show at fashion weeks in South Africa, or exhibit at an art gallery here.
She is concentrating on London Fashion Week in September to show a spring/summer collection for next year.
Weekend Argus