'My collection is the essence of me'

On the third floor of an iconic Victorian-style building in inner-city Johannesburg, designer Thula Sindi and his team are hard at work.  

The melody of cooing pigeons and taxis hooting is drowned out by the hum of sewing machines in two of the rooms. In another room sequins, lace and satin offcuts are scattered on a table and several white pages with sketches are pinned to a wall. On a metal clothing rack alongside are garments which match the sketches.  

These are part of Sindi’s spring/summer collection for SA Fashion Week, which is at the Mall of Africa this weekend. 

“This collection focuses on my favourite things; it’s really about the essence of me because this is my runway debut back at SA Fashion Week. It’s a way to reiterate, this is who I am and this is what I do. I feel like it's a greatest hits with a few touches, which for me is apt because I've been doing this for a long time. So it's nice to be able to do that,” Sindi said. 

It’s been several years since the Klerksdorp-born designer showcased his work at the show. Sindi’s return comes after his December show at the fourth annual Cape Town Resort Collections, founded by designer Gavin Rajah.  

Describing the experience as “the most fun I’ve had in a long time”, Sindi decided it was time to come out of hiatus.  

With almost two decades in the industry Sindi knew his greatest hits approach was long overdue. His love affair with SA Fashion Week goes back to the beginning of his career. After he graduated from the London International School of Fashion he got his first job at Vlisco, a Dutch textile firm. As chief designer, Sindi made his SA Fashion Week debut under the company in 2005. The following year he launched the Thula Sindi label and the line made its debut at the 2006 event.  

He later shifted focus to build the Thula Sindi brand and opened three Africa Rise concept stores which feature designers such as Imprint, David Tlale, Gavin Rajah, Fundudzi, Rubicon and Ephymol. The stores bring together African fashion, beauty products, fine art, jewellery and accessories under one roof.   

Explaining why he stopped doing fashion shows, Sindi said: “Sometimes you stop because it’s not fun any more. Around 2018 I stopped doing fashion shows; they’d lost their use. So now that I’ve found a new use for them, I’m doing it again. I get great pictures, I reconnect with new customers and it gives me a chance to get the studio to do stuff in a collection format. Usually we create new products and they go straight into store. So the process is sew, store, sell and repeat. It's almost disconnected because we're not building a complete story to present as a fashion show.”  

An integral part of Sindi’s process when creating his fashion week story are the 10 models who will take to the runway in his outfits. In March when we first met Sindi, it was at Rosebank’s Mesh Club for the model castings. About 100 lanky women dressed in black lined up at the upmarket Keyes Avenue venue where they’d get to strut for Sindi, Lunar and Palesa Mokubung of Mantsho.  

At that stage Sindi hadn’t started designing or conceptualising his collection because he first picks his models and draws inspiration from them. But it’s not just the model that inspires, it’s the clothing itself.  

“I'm inspired by clothing, from the fabrication, to what we can do to manipulate and what we can do to create desire,” Sindi said.  

One of his favourite pieces is a sequinned dress with a matching gown. His signature oversized zips and layered textured looks form part of this year’s collection, which will also feature proteas, Sindi's favourite flower and floral obsession.  

Having sourced the fabric locally and designed the pieces, he said working with the same six-person team he started with in 2007 has made the process effortless. Aside from seeing himself as a master manipulator of material, Sindi says fashion should create desire while being fun and practical.  

“We must realise we’re almost concocting drugs that we show people and we want them to go 'I’ve always wanted that'. People always have clothing; no-one is walking around naked. So we're not serving a function. We serve a need, we're creating desire, we're creating beauty. That's where we fit in. So it's not disposable fashion. It's trying to produce designer clothing that's practical but still attractive and beautiful and fun for us to make,” Sindi said.