September 1, 2004
By Lucille Davie
THERE'S a quiet bubble of excitement at the Fashion Shack as designers bring their garments in and hang them on racks, pinning size and price details on them, in preparation for the shack's opening on Wednesday, 1 September.
The Fashion Shack, in the fashion district in downtown Johannesburg, promises to be a place that Joburgers flock to for designs created by some of the city's most exciting young designers, among them Bongiwe Walaza, Khutala Mokgohlwa and Linda Kulu.
The Fashion Shack
Lovely linens, embroidered with beads and buttons, denim, stretched and plain, and ethnic shweshwe (African print) abound, from the corporate elegant to the funky fun, in long and short skirts, dresses, tops and pants, as separates or suits.
The shack, the brainchild of Rees Mann, who is responsible for the revitalisation of the fashion district over the past two years, has shiny corrugated iron walls, brightly patterned vinyl floor, an enlarged township shack photograph filling one wall, and will soon have hubcaps running up the walls.
Mann says he based the design of the shack on Craig Fraser's book entitled 'Shack Chic', a photographic collection of colourful shacks. What Mann is looking for now is indigenous images like Koo to further enhance the feel.
In all 40 designers - who will be on hand to respond to customers - will be represented at the shack. If a garment in another size or fabric is desired, the designers, who operate from the six storey building above the shack, will consult with the customer directly and take the order.
Designers
Bongiwe Walaza is painstakingly labelling her designs as she ruffles through the rack. After qualifying as an electrical engineer - "my father wasn't into fashion and wouldn't allow me to study it" - which she practised for 10 years, in 1999 she finally completed her designer course at Natal Technikon and moved to Joburg in 2000. She has picked up an array of awards, including the Dupont Lica Paris award and the Mnet Africa Design, as well as being a finalist in other competitions.
The Mnet award took her to the 2001 New York Fashion Week, where she demonstrated her
amazing talent with a stunning range of elegant earth-coloured skirts and tops with an ethnic flavour.
Walaza recently exhibited her designs in Switzerland in a show for the high commissioner, a process she will repeat in Vietnam in coming months.
She describes her gear as "African design but modern", under the label of 'Likos'. She is keen to open outlets countrywide, and market her gear overseas, together with another designer at the shack, Linda Kulu.
Kulu, whose elegant selection of men's black linen shirts, with plain embroidered lines around the neck and sleeves, is very popular, says, "I've had samples taken overseas by visitors, who are looking for an outlet there."
Kulu says she loves working with linen, describing it as "very friendly" and has used plum and pink linen for her women's wear. Her inspiration comes from "being African", and the lines she often puts into her designs come from traditional Eastern Cape costumes which she is simply modernising. "I love embroidered lines, aprons and buttons," she beams.
Like Walaza, Kulu worked on her own for many years, until they were drawn into the SewAfrica Fashion Hub, an incubator project to develop clothing design skills. The designers are in the building and guided over a two-year period to develop a viable business plan with the help of Open for Business, an entrepreneurial and empowerment initiative, funded by the City of Johannesburg, Investec Bank and Technikon SA.
Kulu says she loves working with her contemporaries, as it's "time we learn to work together, you don't grow in a corner, it's good to have the competition".
Khutala Mokgohlwa is another designer diligently hanging her range on the rack, an elegant range of pale blue denim and teased linen, with African print trim and buttons and beads. She recently exhibited at the South African Fashion Week, and she is "very excited" about the launching of the Fashion Shack.
Fashion hub and district
Mann stresses that these designers only have two years in which to enjoy the benefits of the fashion hub, which involves a package deal providing them with space for creating their designs, access to pooled machinery and equipment that they would not otherwise be able to purchase, changing rooms, a display area and administration facilities such as secretaries, telephone, fax and boardroom facilities.
After the two-year period, they are expected to have learnt sufficient skills to enable them to branch out, establish themselves in the market and open retail outlets.
Garments in the Fashion Shack
Last year money was pumped into the fashion district in an effort to revive it and give it a particular identity. Colourful mosaic stitches now run up the pavements of 20 blocks. Some of a set of 48 large steel garment patterns have been erected on street poles, as well as 11-metre tall threaded colour gateways, which will demarcate the district.
The fashion district, has been operating in the eastern part of the CBD for over half a century, takes up 20 blocks - End Street in the east, Von Wielligh Street in the west, Market Street in the south and Kerk Street in the north. The northern section of the district has several Art Deco residential blocks, in a largely industrial area with textile factories and clothing shops.
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