It’s been over three years since I attended the South African Fashion Week. Ever since the pandemic started, I’ve been watching it online, but this season I decided to get out of the bubble and watch it live.
SA Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2022 collections are currently underway at the Mall of Africa, north of Joburg.
And I must say, things have changed over the years. The vibe is different, but it was interesting to see new faces.
Speaking of which, we finally got to see the collections presented by the New Talent Search Finalists.
They were given the theme “Show Us Your Prints,” and Munkus by Thando Ntuli won this year’s competition.
She was happy to win, considering that she applied last year but couldn’t make it.
“I entered again this year because I wanted to push myself and get my name out there in the industry. I found that Munkus could use the platform. Munkus is big on print and colour, and I felt that the brief this year was a part of who my brand was.” she says.
Minga Ndiko of Sixx6 was the first to showcase, presenting a womenswear collection of pleated skirts with hand-painted paintings and knitted handbags.
Mekay Designs came through with the festival vibes on her collection of colourful off-cut denim. Calvin Cebekhulu went for black and beige denim with wide pockets detailing on the jackets. Ipikoko went for a minimalistic approach.
The second show was the Cruz Collective by Sipho Mbutho, Micheal Ludwig and Fikile Sokhulu.
Sokhulu showcased ruffled multi-layered dresses with puffy arms, while Michael Ludwig went big on neon colours such as lime and peach.
And Sipho Mbuto, who was the last designer to showcase played around with different fabrics by mixing and matching them to create subtle detailing.
Showcasing tonight are Artho Eksteen, Ezokhetho, The Bam Collective, Amanda Laird Cherry, Helon Melon, Judith Atelier and Mantsho.
SA Fashion Week SS22 started on April 28 and will end on April 30 with the menswear collections.