July 3, 2006
By Neil Fraser
ONE of the five pillars of the inner city strategy is supporting economic activities, and one of the economic activities that has been identified for support is that of fashion.
As far back as November 2000, I first wrote about the concept of establishing a Fashion District (Citichat 42/2000). This was to be in the eastern end of the CBD bounded by Market, Jeppe, End and Von Wielligh streets. In the 1950s this area had been the centre of a thriving garment district – in November 2001 I wrote of how the area conjured reminiscences of "movies of the rag trade in the early days of New York, the hustle and bustle, clothes hanging on fashion trolleys being pushed across the roads from building to building by young appies in the trade - the streets clogged with railways delivery trucks all trying to offload fabrics into six storey buildings with only one or two lifts whilst finished goods were being rushed down the same lifts and staircases".
But the industry fell upon tough times and, from the 1960s, started to decline and eventually sections of the this area became quite blighted, suffering from major urban decay.
November 2001 saw the opening of the SewAfrica training centre at 109 Pritchard Street, as Rees Mann, entrepreneur and doyen of the rag trade and an aficionado of the precinct tried to breathe new life into it (Citichat 44/2001).
Then in February 2003 I wrote about The Fashion District, Joburg's latest Phenomena in Citichat 7/2003. In March 2004, Rees bought another building in Pritchard Street and the Afsew Centre was opened with a unique concept for developing new talent and housing accomplished designers. (Citichat 7/2004).
So, though I have been writing on and off about this initiative for five years, there has been little to show on the surface besides Rees's initiatives. But all that started changing last year when the behind-the-scenes planning and scheming of the previous years started coming to a head. A Fashion District Institute was established with an interim board of directors and an executive director in the delightful person of Chantal Collet. The council expropriated a building, almost a complete block between Pritchard and President Streets, which will shortly be demolished to make way for the Fashion Kapitol – in essence a public space or square dedicated to fashion complete with ramp, cafes and "boutiquey" shops.
An investor has bought the 1920s Gallo building that backs onto the Fashion Kapitol for restoration. (As Clive Chipkin in Johannesburg Style, Architecture and Society says: "The juke-box design was thought appropriate for a major record distribution company. This is not only the first example of the Art Deco revival in the post-war period (appropriating Modern Movement vocabulary) but also the earliest Johannesburg example of post modern architecture".
Another investor has bought four buildings for conversion into low-cost housing and trendy real industrial-space lofts. Two weeks ago I mentioned (Citichat 20/2006) real industrial lofts to rent further east down Pritchard Street and shortly afterwards received an email from the owners saying "as soon as the word was out, all the lofts were gone in a matter of days".
So things are starting to move – fashion is starting to swing!
City's merchandising competition
Now the City has come to the party in other ways.
Teaming up with the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA), the Fashion District Institute (FDI) and Sanlam, the City launched a competition to seek out items or products that could form part of the City's contemporary range of merchandise which will eventually sell through retailers and be used by the City as mementos for visitors and guests.
The competition was divided into three categories: Fashion Design, Accessory Design and Functional Items. Each category represented a potentially vibrant economic sector within the city with the idea of seeking out exciting, innovative and creative work which would best show off our local talent to the rest of the world. Each category carried two prizes, R25 000 for the winner and R10 000 for the runner up.
The resultant City Merchandise Awards, scheduled to be an annual event in future, was held on Tuesday last week at Bassline in Newtown. And a fun evening it proved to be – even though there was no electricity. (At least candlelight was appropriate in this instance – it won't be for a 2010 soccer match!)
The judges included Bongiwe Walaza, a highly talented designer operating out of the Fashion District; Monna Mokoena, the owner of the MOMO Gallery in Parktown; Adam Levin, who, apart from being involved in product development and design, was the joint winner of the prestigious Alan Paton award for his book Aidsafari; Eugenie Drakes, who amongst many other things, runs piece, an initiative that collaborates with craft artists from all walks of South African life, exposing their designs to buyers through his shops in Rosebank and Sandton; and well-known fashionista Dion Chang, who was the MC for the evening and is programme director and official spokesperson for the South African Fashion Week.
The criteria that the judges set for judging entries were:
- "A reference to the culture of Johannesburg, our environment as well as directing this into a new vision for style and culture.
- A high degree of versatility and quality of production that would encourage locals and tourists alike to buy into the concept of Johannesburg.
- The products had to be original and never before marketed in their exact form within South Africa."
Over 500 products from around 378 entrants were submitted, ranging from local craft workers to design professionals and students. I saw quite a number of these during the judging process, the majority of which were quite stunning, reflecting the huge depth of talent this city possesses. It must have been a tough call for the judges who narrowed down the field to 10 in each category and ultimately two prizewinners.
The first prize in the Accessory Design category was shared between two contrasting designers – Bethuel Mapheto and Kevin Friedman. Mapheto for a "set of brooches made from recycled materials showed both initiative and expressed the creativity of our communities. They are fun, funky, inexpensive to produce and are ready to roll out onto the streets of Johannesburg"; Friedman for an entry that clearly reflects recognisable elements of Johannesburg in designs which can be applied to both precious metals and fun and funky materials.
The second prize was awarded to Marcel Steinberg for his "stunning range of pictographic bracelets highlighting images of the urban city centre".
In the Functional Items category, first prize went to Peter Nthombeni for his range of crockery featuring the Johannesburg logo and second prize to Linda Williams for her cushion design and the various applications of the design over different media.
Finally, in the Fashion Design category, the winner was a collaboration between Yda van de Walt and the Imali Visual Literacy Project for their three kimonos in red, white and blue, which the judges felt "showed a fresh expression of sights from the streets of Jozi which have been incorporated into highly desirable items which are well designed and executed and reflect the multiple layers of Johannesburg".
The runner-up in this category was Ntando Xorille from Urban Afrika Visual Lab for his three patch-sewn skirts featuring the skyline of Jozi - "a young sassy take on fashion and definitely ready for the streets of Jozi!"
Wrapping up the presentations, Chang commended the City of Johannesburg "for having the insight to interface with our young designers and to provide a forum for them to express their take on the city as well as providing an opportunity to network with big business and hopefully find a way to become self sustaining in the near future".
The next phase of this process is for the selected entries to be manufactured and distributed for sale. It's about time that we had classy merchandise for Jozi lovers and tourists and hopefully these will be available by the end of the year and the silly season.
Thank goodness that the award ceremony was not another Oscar performance with inane speeches and performances! But one award winner who did ask to speak, Ntombeni, poignantly recalled the first time he had won a design award. It had been in the apartheid era and he wasn't allowed to go into the venue where the awards were being presented without a white escort. Now he was able to celebrate his award, as always should have been the case.
In one of my previous Citichats, I summarised my take on the Fashion District: "It's all about people, about the clashing and merging of cultures and history resulting in economic regeneration, in products that are relevant for today made by people many of whom were denied the opportunity to do so yesterday. It's all about visionaries who have the ability to turn dreams into on-the-ground realities."
That still applies and Tuesday evening was the proof – Design Rocks and the Fashion District Swings (the latter ever so slightly, but watch this space!)
Stay cool, Regards, Neil
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