African Couture: Design that brings out the best in us

24 July 2014 - 02:15 By Rea Khoabane
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Culture influences what trends become fashionable. Culture has a role to play in defining the identity of a society, and can have an effect on how styles change.

The Inspire Design competition is a new campaign by Samsung Electronics South Africa to discover the best up-and-coming designers from a range of creative industries - fashion, furniture, homeware and décor - and was launched during Africa's first international design fair, The Guild, in Cape Town earlier this year. Last week Lesiba Mabitsela and Navarre Ebersohn won in the fashion category.

Mabitsela's 2014 fall/winter capsule collection is the result of a juxtaposition of influences: Islam, Africa, drapery, modernism, gender, modesty and poverty.

He said his designs are inspired by imagining what Africa would have been like had it not come under the influence of colonisation. Mabitsela believes the future of South African design lies in drawing from our various cultures and social identities.

Ebersohn also believes South Africans should move out of the shadow of Western-oriented design and rely on our own culture , letting the global market adapt to us.

"My designs are given a contemporary edge by the combination of materials that are unusual."

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