It’s no secret that menswear is a sore point for the South African fashion industry. There’s a serious drought of talent. I can’t say ‘lack of’ because I’d like to believe that we do have some talented young designers who will one day soon surprise us with their brilliant take on menswear. Sure we have the likes of Shaldon Kopman, Stiaan Louw, Ole Ledimo, David West, Carducci and Fabiani representing for the dudes, but the fact is that South African menswear is severely underdeveloped.
Last year, fellow blogger Marco Riekstins weighed in on the issue after the African Fashion Awards failed to award a menswear designer accolade. “Menswear needs a category to inspire a struggling medium.,” he blogged. “Cancelling such an award feels like we have given up on menswear altogether when we still have enough time to provide support. Even if we help current menswear survive what can we say of those looking to make a career of men’s fashion in the future?”
Earlier in 2011, at African Fashion International’s Fasttrack competition, a young menswear designer by the name of Nkululeko Msibi went largely unnoticed.
Personally, I’d like to put a stop to the moaning and begin to share stories about menswear designers. Over the next couple of months I’m going to be posting a series of profiles, Q&As, etc about menswear designers, known and unknown and hopefully help to get the debate started on how South Africa can give support to this, what Marco refers to as a ‘struggling medium’.
Should you have any suggestion for menswear designers anywhere in the country that I can profile, please do not hesitate to either leave a comment with their name and a little background info or email me on sandisongubane@ymail.com
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| NAKED APE AT THE SA FASHION WEEK S/S 11/12 PIC:SIMON DEINER/SDR PHOTO |
Earlier in 2011, at African Fashion International’s Fasttrack competition, a young menswear designer by the name of Nkululeko Msibi went largely unnoticed.
Personally, I’d like to put a stop to the moaning and begin to share stories about menswear designers. Over the next couple of months I’m going to be posting a series of profiles, Q&As, etc about menswear designers, known and unknown and hopefully help to get the debate started on how South Africa can give support to this, what Marco refers to as a ‘struggling medium’.
Should you have any suggestion for menswear designers anywhere in the country that I can profile, please do not hesitate to either leave a comment with their name and a little background info or email me on sandisongubane@ymail.com
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