Pick n Pay packets kickstarted Siyethemba Duma's fashion career

Designer Siyethemba Duma of Matte Nolim is all about making clothes that women can't help but want to wear. He tells us how he got started in the fashion business and shares some of his fave things

16 September 2018 - 00:00 By Nothemba Mkhondo

My fashion career started when I entered a competition back home in 'Maritzburg, KZN, and for some reason I decided to use Pick n Pay Plastic packets to make the top. This led to them paying for my formal fashion education at Durban University. From then on, I knew I wanted to start my own brand come hell or high water.
I started out making pocket squares for men in Durban and then later found a vacant corner inside a fabric store and started working from there. I started making what women wanted and I got to understand the woman's body better. Then I moved to Joburg to build my brand, Matte Nolim, to what it is currently.
I felt my previous MNOLIM collections had given people a very narrow idea that Matte Nolim was just bell sleeves and wide legs. So for my latest collection, which showed at Cape Town Fashion Week in March, I looked at a woman who is more sports driven even when she is at the office, she still obsesses about her latest sneakers and tailored leggings. She's sporty but she's not here to play games.
My favourite designer is Victoria Beckham. Her understanding of herself and how women see themselves in her vision is to be admired.
My favourite item of clothing at the moment is a pair of high-waist track pants for men by MNOLIM - they are similar to the ladies' ones that we showed at the last fashion week (see main picture).  I also think every woman should have a MNOLIM red crocodile sleeve jacket in their wardrobe.
If money were not an issue, I would buy Picasso's Le Rêve.
The last thing I bought was a semi-cropped denim jacket.
I currently have my eye on the new Puma Thunder Spectra sneakers.
My favourite fragrance is Tom Ford Oud Wood.
Two grooming products I swear by are, Dermalogica Special Cleansing Gel and Environ Vita-Complex Super Moisturiser. My girlfriend says they are good for my face.
The last book I read was Born a Crime by Trevor Noah...

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