CAPE TOWN — South African Menswear Week strode into its second year with some apparent traction.
The presence of a handful of international buyers at the Cape Town Stadium, where the Southern Hemisphere fall collections were staged, not to mention all the key national and regional retailers was a clear indication the South African man is becoming more receptive to designer fashion.
“He’s definitely more aware of his appearance and is paying more attention to style. He is also a little more liberated and ready to experiment with accessories and statement pieces. There’s a new flamboyance and fearlessness. African influences are being embraced and flaunted,” said Michelle Heslop, the director of The Bromwell, one of South Africa’s newest retail concepts located in Woodstock, Cape Town.
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Veteran men’s wear designer Craig Port, who presented a highly praised collection called “Defined Geometry” offering sleek variations on the urban uniform, observed that “men’s wear has evolved immensely. Having a men’s fashion week in itself is an incredible opportunity, as 25 years ago there would be one fashion show with 10 designers and one of them would be men’s. Then we got Fashion Weeks, which would have 10 ladies’ shows and then maybe two men’s shows. Now it’s a whole week. This implies that the SA man is interested and wanting to have a personal style.”
Buyers cited the commercial viability and energy of the men’s collections this season. Allana Finley, merchandise director for Oxosi.com, a New York-based social and global marketplace “for new Afro-modernist design,” said that, in addition to wearability, her typical customer “wants something that stands out but is accessible, has a message of wearable consciousness. He is looking for pieces that tell a story and don’t try to look too hard to be fashionable.”
Buyers said the standout collections included Chulaap by Chu Suwannapha, Rich Mnisi, Craig Port, FMBCJ, Jenevieve Lyons, Magents, Sol Sol, Merwe Mode and two labels that showed at Pitti Uomo in January, AKJP and Lukhanyo Mdingi x Nicholas Coutts.
Finley singled out Chulaap as an example of “wearable consciousness.” Suwannapha’s theme for his sophomore South African Menswear Week season was “Make Art Not War,” which he explained was “an unconventional military story with a global African vibrance.”
Known for his mixing of prints, he called his distinct patterns less traditional and more “retro and edgy vintage. It’s Afro-futuristic.”
Sinqobile Ntombela, a buyer for the South African mass-market fashion and home furnishings and accessories giant Mr. Price, said Chulaap stood out for its “African theme, which makes it not only different, but gives it the ability to make an impact globally. The fabrication and the textures were amazing.”
Indeed, the international appeal of many of the collections was unmistakable. Chulaap already retails overseas via Oxosi.com, with prices ranging from $80 to $400, and Suwannapha wants to “make this collection more accessible worldwide.” The challenge, he conceded, is in balancing his full-time job as fashion director for the Media24 group of publications and running his own label at the same time.
Another designer who focused on prints was Craig Jacobs, the creative director of FMBCJ, who Finley referred to as “the king of ‘shweshwe’” for his use of the traditional African print, adding that “his reinterpretation of ‘shweshwe’ always surprises me.”
For South African Menswear Week, Jacobs presented “The Gathering,” a collection that featured his signature of “blending sportswear with an African aesthetic, introducing geometric prints and dissecting contrasting materials to punctuate the clothing.” Jacobs also introduced a new spear house print with a view to “building our visual vocabulary.”
Buyers were equally impressed by the clean lines and subtle details shown by designers whose style tended toward the sleek and restrained. Jenevieve Lyons presented a collection that put her “in the same league as international conceptual designers, a great talent,” Ntombela said. Finley felt she was “very promising because of her construction and ability to make strong silhouettes out of muted tones.”
Ntombela also noted that Rich Mnisi’s range was “current and well-executed, and the silhouettes were on a par with what was shown on the international runways for fall.”
Merwe Mode, a Capetown-based streetwear line designed by Deeva van der Merwe and Sarah Wocknitz, struck Finley for “its simplicity and clean lines, which exemplified very well-made clothing that is crucial to exporting to global markets.”
South African men’s wear could compete on a global stage, said Finley. She felt that its advantages in international markets are in “brand equity that comes from social metrics behind the making of the garment, i.e., job creation, fair trade, the use of sustainable fabrics.” The price points were also attractive for the labels she intended to carry.
Ntombile, who calls himself an “activist for local brands,” said that “with labels like Laduma and Sol Sol being sold internationally, and guys like Mdingi and Coutts being invited to show at Pitti Uomo, not to mention the many labels selling internationally online, it’s clear to see that SA is up there with the best. The level of craftsmanship, fabrication, well-styled and trendy ranges keeps us in the race and we can only get stronger.”
Didier Magents of streetwear label Magents underlined the importance of seeking global markets with the local currency, the South African rand, plummeting against major currencies.
“We are only just starting to go back into the international market,” he said. “We started with Germany last year, with the U.K. to follow this year. We do smaller stores in the States with the aim to connect through a solid distributor there. We need to focus on international distribution like never before. [The current economic crisis] should be a wake-up call to focus on other markets.”