If the GLOVE fits

On the eve of SA's biggest HIV testing campaign, Claire Keeton attends a fashion show where the models would rather wear condoms than go bare

Modelling shorts, a belt and a hat made of condoms, with hands painted on his bare chest, Joshua Nicole stalked down the catwalk for the Aids Consortium gala dinner's fashion show.

Whistles and applause signalled the rising excitement among guests, which soared when female models flounced around him in an array of extraordinary dresses.

The dresses, conjured out of condoms by South African design students, represented a new frontier - raising HIV awareness through fashion.

This was their first display in Johannesburg.

"Tell the person who designed them to design a condom suit for me," said the minister of health Aaron Motsoaledi at the gala dinner. "It can be the new style in South Africa and I can wear it when Parliament opens."

In his enthusiasm he posed next to the MC, former Generations actress Palesa Mocuminyane, who was wearing a stylish red condom dress.

The garments were created for a condom fashion-design competition.

Behind the scenes Yngve Sjolund, a makeup artist and stylist who has worked with celebrities like Madonna, Demi Moore and Nelly Recchia, and done a fashion shoot with Paris Hilton, added glamour to the show.

Generations actress Lulu Nxozi modelled a bridal gown by Samantha Bailey. Lara Klawikowski designed the dress that won first prize and the crimson dress that came second was made out of 30000 strawberry condoms by designer Kutloano Molokomme.

He said at the time "having to view (condoms) as part of our everyday life, as part of fashion, like jeans and tops, makes it easier to relate to them".

Molokomme is from Spero Villioti Elite Design Academy in Johannesburg and Klawikowski is from the Cape Town College of Fashion Design.

The SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union and SA Fashion Designers Institute initiated the contest to make condoms more popular and "infuse HIV prevention with fashion".

Funder Masculan donated 50000 condoms towards the manufacture of the garments.

Artist Fiona Kirkwood, who was one of the judges, stated at the prize-giving ceremony last November: "I was intrigued about how the designers would tackle the sticky problem of the lubricant on the condoms and just what they would do with them to create an outfit.

"The results show real innovation: rolling condoms and weaving them through black lace; joining them, cutting them, inserting red fabric into them; sewing them together still in their foil packets; making patterns out of coloured condoms; weaving thin strips to make a bodice; wrapping them around plastic tubing."

Sex therapist and speaker Professor Elna McIntosh said before the show, "Condoms used to be made out of sheep gut. We're lucky these are not."

Durex condoms celebrates its 80th birthday this year, she said.

McIntosh spoke about the need to eroticise safer sex, making an example of a sex worker from Texas who could put on condoms with her mouth.

"We need to go further, we need to break the silence," said McIntosh, referring both to the silence around sex and the stigma around HIV.

The theme of the dinner, held at the Pyramid in Johannesburg, was overcoming stigma and changing the face of HIV.

Judge Edwin Cameron - the patron of the "Positive Heroes" campaign - said South Africans could overcome stigma.

"Stigma is inside our minds, like racism. It is from the mind and we can let it go."

Cameron was one of the first high-profile South Africans to publicly disclose he had HIV and has been living with the virus for more than 22 years.

His message - in this era of effective treatment it is time that we all see HIV not as a death sentence, but simply as another chronic, manageable disease - was echoed at the "Ubuntu" dinner.

At the dinner four Positive Heroes, including singer Tender Mavundla, spoke honestly about their experiences.

Mavundla and the Makhathini Jazz Band provided live entertainment at the dinner.

She said: "I was living in denial for a long time and the virus was playing me," she said, talking about life after disclosing her status.

"I have a social life, I have a sexual life, I have a boyfriend," she said, emphasising that life goes on.

Soccer player Arthur Zwane spoke about the need to know your HIV status - an important message as the Department of Health and the SA National Aids Council prepare to launch the country's biggest HIV testing campaign on April 15.