One of our greatest exports in fashion has always been unique textiles but thanks to St Reign, bags are about to be all the rage. Samkelisiwe Mhlongo, the founder of luxury craft brand St Reign, is part of a bicontinental fashion initiative by AfroLab Digital.
AfroLab Digital aims to promote collaborations between black designers from Africa and South America. Through learning each other’s cultures, members of the AfroLab initiative also tell their stories through apparel and accessories. This can be seen in the Nostalgia Collection, which saw designers challenged to work on new and old pieces.
“We spoke a lot about the similarities in our cultures. Especially the history of their slavery and our apartheid,” said Mhlongo who said there were also conversations about finding their roots as designers and ensuring that buyers felt the same pride.
Embracing her heritage, Mhlongo looked at the matriarchs of her family for inspiration. The silhouettes of Mhlongo’s Nostalgia bags recall her mother’s work as a hairdresser, recreating the sculptural hairstyles that form part of the bag’s handles. Mhlongo also captured this with the exposed seams that mimic the patterns of plaited hair. The square shape of the bag is a throwback to vintage leather briefcases.
“I wanted to honour the black female crafters we grew up seeing as children. Even though they had so little, they created amazing things.”
Collections from each designer also promote pride within black cultures, something Mhlongo feels strongly about as a mission to “building a new Africa”.
Mhlongo is now looking to introduce womenswear and shoe ranges that will carry the minimal aesthetic of her bags.
