JOHANNESBURG — “It must have been a scheduling boo-boo, but it really was unfortunate that two important fashion weeks were happening at the same time in different parts of Africa,” said Felicity Spies, founder of the South African fashion boutique Egality, who chose to attend Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Africa (MBFWA), held in the Melrose Arch complex in suburban Johannesburg instead of Lagos Fashion and Design Week(LFDW) in Nigeria.
Both events were billed as pan-African fashion platforms, one organized by the Africa Fashion International (AFI) and the other by Nigerian creative agency Style House Files headed by fashion powerhouse Omoyeni Akerele. They were both held from Oct. 28 to Nov. 1.
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“It is such a shame that there was this overlap,” Spies continued. “It’s impossible to be in two places at once, and I think both events were affected. In South Africa, we didn’t have as much press in attendance as before, and there were not as many standout shows.”
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October generally was a hectic time for African fashion, with the veteran showcase South African Fashion Week (SAFW), now in its 18th year, taking over the runways at the tents in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosebank, Johannesburg, from Oct. 15 to 18.
“This was an excellent fashion week for us,” said Lucilla Booyzen, SAFW founder and director. “Fantastic media interest and attendance in every show was packed.
“For me, it was clear there was a definite shift this season. The designers’ autumn-winter 2015 collections showed great depth. It was as if the designers had a better understanding of their market.”
That understanding was appreciated by the number of buyers who attended SAFW this season, according to Annette Pringle, a German expatriate, formerly with Hugo Boss, who has been running The Fashion Agent showroom for the last three years, and manages the post-event Buyers Lounge.
“We had a record 93 buyers from South Africa and Southern Africa and the feedback was that this was the best Buyers Lounge so far,” she said. “Mainly because the standard of the collections really is now at a level they can work with perfectly. And there were 45 labels exhibiting at the SAFW Buyers Lounge.”
Pringle and Booyzen agreed that each collection was marked by its own identity, and cited industry stalwarts Clive Rundle and Jacques van der Watt of Black Coffee as showing notable collections, and also singled out those of Kat van Duinen, Rubicon and Sober.
Whether it was SAFW, MBFWA or LFDW, there was excitement surrounding the men’s wear collections, which prompted calls for a separate men’s fashion week.
Booyzen noted that 13 men’s wear designers showed their collections at SAFW this season, prompting her to set aside one day devoted to men’s wear. Seven new labels were launched through this platform. In South Africa, she said, “we have a generation of men who are more fashion-conscious and more sophisticated than their predecessors. They buy contemporary, directional and high-end designers.”
For Colin O’Mara Davis, editor in chief and creative director of the online fashion magazine Gaschette — which won Fashion Communicator of the Year during the Africa Fashion Awards held at the end of MBFWA — the preoccupation with men’s wear is quite recent, and could be ascribed to a few factors, from clothes signifying social status to an increasing interest from designers in playing with silhouettes, fabrics and colors.
Thus, there was an influx, during both shows in South Africa, of emerging men’s wear designers, “offering an innovative and trend-focused take on African aesthetic, anticipating a more pronounced global appeal,” he said. From the just-concluded MBFWA, the standout designers worth following, he said, include Mille Collines from Rwanda, Laurence Airline from the Ivory Coast, KikoRomeo from Kenya and two South African labels, Maxhosa by Laduma and Oath by Rich Mnisi.
Mnisi is a particularly exciting talent to watch, said Spies, as he has developed a confident signature, something she was able to chart when he interned with Egality as part of his prize as one of the AFI FastTrack winners revealed during MBFW Joburg earlier this year. Mnisi went on to win AFI Young Designer of the Year at the MBFWA Africa Fashion Awards.
Spies played the role of mentor to Mnisi, but pointed out that her approach was not so much about getting involved in the design process, but helping the youngster understand “the nuts and bolts of the industry, what it takes to be successful. He was keen to get a commercial training. I must say, it all came together during his show. It was excellent, he had developed his look and he created clothes that are accessible to a younger market, with price points ranging from 795 to 1,500 South African rands [roughly $71 to $140].”
Spies also praised Mille Collines, the Rwandan label designed by Barcelona native Ines Cuatrecasas together with Marc Oliver. “The range for men and women was spectacular. I’m particularly delighted that Ines is setting up in Cape Town. She is one of those designers who innovate in print without being predictable with African fabric.”
Influenced by the vibrant energy of the Kigali neighbourhood of Nyamijyosi, Mille Collines used a mix of leather, micro twills, scuba chiffon and crepe, and featured digital prints. “The clothes have that sporty feeling,” said Spies. “It suits our lifestyle and our hot climate.”