Latest news with #AfricanFashion
Mail & Guardian
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Mail & Guardian
A dress worthy of a gallery
Mother of all garments: Nomzamo Mbatha (right) in the dress designed by Gert-Johan Coetzee (left) for season 2 of Shaka iLembe. The moment Nomzamo Mbatha stepped onto the red carpet at the Shaka iLembe season 2 premiere, time paused. Cameras clicked, audiences gasped and fashion lovers across the country leaned in closer. What she wore wasn't just a dress, it was a declaration. Bold, regal and layered in symbolism, the creation by South African designer Gert-Johan Coetzee was history retold in stitches, shells and silhouette. 'I was very excited to make this dress,' Coetzee says, his voice alive with passion. 'I love doing work that carries meaning, and the story of Shaka Zulu is not just important, it's empowering, especially for South Africans.' Mbatha, who portrays the Queen Mother in the epic historical drama, gave Coetzee full creative freedom to bring his vision to life. What emerged from his studio was an exquisite piece rooted in traditional Zulu culture, adorned with African symbology and elevated by futuristic craftsmanship. Coetzee calls his signature style 'African baroque with a modern twist' — a fusion of ornate drama and indigenous storytelling. The term 'baroque' conjures images of 16th-century grandeur: voluminous skirts, rich embroidery, lace collars and opulence. At first glance, pairing this with Zulu heritage might seem contradictory. But that's exactly where Coetzee thrives. 'That is who I am as a designer,' he explains. 'My style is African baroque. The dress is quite traditional, and very Zulu. It has a lot of beadwork, but it also has a lot of meaning.' At the heart of the dress is the cowrie shell, a symbol embedded in African cosmology. 'The beading is full of cowrie shells,' Coetzee says. 'Being African, we know that cowries signify abundance, wealth and spiritual protection. So, the whole dress is literally raining with cowries.' It's not just embellishment for visual effect, it's cultural code, woven into fabric. Portraying the Queen Mother, a critical figure in the lineage of power, required more than beauty. It demanded reverence, strength and presence. 'Nomzamo is playing the Queen Mother. She needed to look queen-like, yes, but also powerful. Intentional,' Coetzee says. 'She's not just a figure in history; she's the woman who birthed the king. Without her, there would be no Shaka.' This maternal, yet commanding, role shaped the garment's design. Structured shoulders inspired by Zulu shields evoke protection and leadership. The voluminous silhouette offers majesty, while intricate beadwork, hand-sewn over weeks by a team of nine artisans, brings spiritual richness. Yet the designer didn't rely solely on the past. A major component of the dress's armour-like construction is 3D-printed: 'It's one of my favourite things,' he says, pointing out the technological touch. 'This is fabric manipulation with modern tools but the essence is traditional. This is what I love — fusing Africa with innovation.' While Coetzee is known for his luxury couture, worn by global icons such as Cardi B and Lizzo, he remains firmly rooted in African soil. 'If anyone else had tried to make this dress, it would've ended up being a rip-off of my work anyway,' he says, half-joking. 'So I'm glad Nomzamo came straight to the source.' The dress draws inspiration from Coetzee's past beaded creations but elevates the aesthetic: 'It's similar in technique to the skirt I did for Cardi B but it's something different. This one is rooted in narrative. It's not just a showstopper, it tells a story.' That commitment to storytelling is what defines Coetzee's brand. While fashion trends change, his core remains. 'People come to me for a specific aesthetic and that's what I deliver,' he says. 'I always tell young designers, 'Create a signature the world hasn't seen, then stick to it.' That's how your work becomes recognisable globally even when others try to imitate it.' Coetzee's designs have found resonance internationally, with features in the US and UK. 'We sometimes feel small here in Africa. But the world is watching. They want what we have — our stories, our symbols, our spirit,' he says. Indeed, Coetzee's work is cultural diplomacy. He brings indigenous African aesthetics into global high fashion — on his own terms. 'The cowries, the shields, the armour, the structure … none of it is borrowed,' he emphasises. 'It's owned. It's African. And it's powerful.' Beyond the historical Queen Mother, Coetzee drew inspiration from a lineage of powerful women — both fictional and real. 'I was channelling the energy of Joan of Arc, of Princess Diana and of modern heroines like Princess Shuri,' he says. 'Not their style but their spirit. Women who shaped worlds.' Mbatha fits into that lineage: 'She's strong. Everything she plays is strong. She empowers power,' Coetzee says. 'This dress needed to reflect that inner strength, not just beauty.' Crafting the dress was no small feat. Each cowrie shell was hand-sewn. Each bead was placed with precision. 'It's incredibly labour intensive,' Coetzee admits. 'We had nine women working on it for almost three weeks. It's couture at its highest level.' Even the materials were hand-selected to honour tradition and artistry. The beads resemble ostrich egg shells but are made of a unique clay composite. Their earthy tones — black, cream, ivory and hints of gold — give the garment a regal, yet grounded, look. The final result? A dress that could walk a red carpet or sit behind glass at a museum. For Coetzee, design is not just about aesthetics, it's about meaning. 'Fashion should honour where we come from,' he says. 'This dress pays homage to Zulu culture, to African tradition, to maternal power, to modern innovation. It's all of those things in one.' Even accessories hold significance. Coetzee shared a prototype for a clutch bag inspired by a calabash, used for carrying water. 'We hollow it out and drink from it,' he says. 'That's part of who we are. So we took that and turned it into fashion. That's the future of African luxury.' Despite the grandeur of his work, Coetzee remains modest. 'I don't go to many red carpets,' he says with a smile. 'I prefer to stay behind the scenes. Let the stars shine. My job is to make them shine brighter.' But shine he does. Through his intricate designs, cultural reverence and unapologetic authenticity, Coetzee is reshaping how the world sees African fashion, not as a trend, but as timeless art. And the dress? It's not just a garment. It's a story stitched in beads and power. A love letter to Africa. And a reminder that royalty isn't just born, it can be made.
News24
05-06-2025
- Business
- News24
Style star Lunathi Mampofu reveals her fashion secrets
When she's not tugging at heartstrings playing powerful characters in shows like The River, Inimba and Fatal Seduction, Lunathi Mampofu makes the world her runway with her fashion-forward looks. While the award-winning actor has been deservedly getting her flowers, taking home accolades from the Royalty Soapie Awards and the Feather Awards, Lunathi remains as humble and driven to take care of her family, revealing that although she was winning awards she was out of work and had to sell her car to support her family. Through it all, the 38-year-old thespian and mom remains a shining star in the entertainment industry. Not just for her captivating onscreen performances, but also for her distinct street style. Lunathi always brings her best, whether it's a tailored 'fit exploring her androgenous style or sporting bold prints on the red carpet. 'My clothing is a form of expression of how I feel at that time,' Lunathi tells TRUELOVE. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lunathi Mampofu (@lunathimampofu) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lunathi Mampofu (@lunathimampofu) From a fashion line in the works to drawing inspiration from her mother, Lunathi dives into her eclectic fashion sense. How would you describe your personal style? 'I dress how I feel, I design how I feel and most of the stuff I'm dressed in I've designed or I've inspired the designer to do them like that. I always like to look different, my mom was always the type of woman who would not dress like anyone else ... She wouldn't go into the typical shops that everyone shops in but she will go and find boutiques and all that stuff because she always wanted to look different and I think that's what I kind of draw from, obviously, because she used to dress us like that as well as children. But I don't like to look like anyone else, to be honest with you.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lunathi Mampofu (@lunathimampofu) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lunathi Mampofu (@lunathimampofu) What's next for you in the fashion space? 'I'm inspired by clothing a lot and I am going to start my own clothing brand soon ... It's been in the pipeline, it's something that I'm working on, and I'm praying to God to just direct me through it and I do it as well and as hard working as I do my craft. 'I want to give my all and I want to have enough time. That's something, unfortunately, that we don't get enough of.' A lot of your style includes bold shoulder pads. What do you love about making that kind of statement? 'The shoulder pad thing, for me, is just like, it gives you what we call isidima (gravitas). Shoulder pads [are] like i-petticoat. You know the petticoat thing that our parents used to wear underneath and then they wear with stockings and they'll wear their heels? It's one of those things that are staples that presented what a woman - poise. What isidima looks like and for me, that's what it is. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lunathi Mampofu (@lunathimampofu) 'I was brought up by a woman who was constantly looking beautiful, loved herself, carried herself well to a point where you'd be scared to even say hi type of a situation because she's got that thing and I feel like i-shoulder pads do that for me.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lunathi Mampofu (@lunathimampofu) What colours do you love against your skin? 'Nudes. I love nudes, I love black. But I think the colour of my skin complements, the shade of my skin, let me just say, is open to complementing a lot of different colors. That's why I like to experiment and play with them. But I am a natural colour woman.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lunathi Mampofu (@lunathimampofu) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Lunathi Mampofu (@lunathimampofu)
The Guardian
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
From gallabiyas to kaftans, how African style went global
Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. This week, I look at the globalisation of African fashion, and how its popularity is part of a wider cultural takeover. I use the phrase 'African fashion' purely for convenience. In reality, there is no such thing that can be grouped under one name; there are only themes or regional concentrations. North Africa tends to favour a one-piece – a gallabiya, kaftan or head-to-toe swaddle of cloth. Sub-Saharan Africa is less categorisable, with bold prints and waxy or stiff material in west Africa, white linen in east Africa and intricate beadwork in the south. But these, too, are vast generalisations because even within each country the influences differ. The category is more a vibe than a style – that is to say, you know 'African fashion' when you see it. And then there's the distinction between fashion and everyday wear: gallabiyas, tobes, boubous, church outfits. 'Fashion' implies a stylised attempt to channel the genre or interpret it, rather than simply elevate casual clothing. It is a genre that is rising in popularity yet hampered by commercial and stylistic limitations. African and African-inspired fashion houses, based on the continent and abroad, have not only increased in number over the past two decades – African exports amount to more than $15bn a year – they have penetrated the luxury sector. African diaspora designers such as the Haitian-Italian Stella Novarino have become behemoths in the industry, and the Ethiopian model Liya Kebede's brand Lemlem has straddled high end and high street through a recent collaboration with H&M. Several smaller brands have been going strong for years. Zuri, a brand from Kenya that makes a single trademark patterned dress, has a store in Soho, New York. Dye Lab ships internationally and is holding a series of pop-up stores all over the world in 2025. So numerous and dispersed are these labels that a website, Ichyulu, curates almost 40 of them. The movement reached its cultural watershed at the Met Gala last month, for which the theme was Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. Several African designers – including Adebayo Oke-Lawal, the Nigerian head of Orange Culture, and South Africa's Thebe Magugu – were among those who dressed the stars. The rise in popularity is partly driven by a surge in purchasing power among the African middle classes, as well as an increase in younger and more affluent consumers of African origin in the diaspora. The mainstreaming of African fashion has followed the mainstreaming of the continent's music such as Afrobeats. The likes of Wizkid and Burna Boy have pioneered their own fashion collaborations and iconography, merging cultural influences in a patchwork of styles. But the rise of African fashion also speaks to two other factors: the growing clout of Black and African-born celebrities, and their adoption of an aesthetic on their own terms, rather than defaulting to the western mainstream. Black celebs have been making more deliberate fashion choices, particularly on the red carpet for Black-led films. The Kenyan-Mexican actor Lupita Nyong'o wore a cowrie-shell headpiece at the Wakanda Forever premiere in Los Angeles in 2022 and the Nigerian-born British star of Sinners, Wunmi Mosaku, frequently wears African prints at film launches and festivals. Beyoncé's collaboration with Tongoro took centre stage during her 2023 tour. The Senegalese brand hailed the tie-up on Instagram with the caption: 'Welcome to the African Renaissance'. One of the great virtues of African fashion is that it doesn't do mass-market production. Therefore, the quality is higher, the collections smaller and slower to drop, creating a much less disposable shopping experience. But it's not cheap. The higher-end brands, which are sold on luxury websites such as Net-a-Porter and featured in Vogue, are inaccessible to the average consumer. Even an item from a smaller brand can cost hundreds of dollars. Sign up to The Long Wave Nesrine Malik and Jason Okundaye deliver your weekly dose of Black life and culture from around the world after newsletter promotion There is also the matter of physical presence and logistics. Few of these brands have bricks-and-mortar shops across the continent or in western cities. For those in Africa in particular, online shopping can involve an expensive trial of customs and duties – and you can forget about returns and exchanges. It is a great irony that a fashion movement that subverts western uniform for more authentic styles can sometimes itself end up being exclusive. That exclusivity can be self-fulfilling. As a consumer, I feel the conceptual elements of African styles can at times overlook the everyday. African prints are indeed bold – the opposite of the popular 'quiet luxury' (and thank God for that) – but there is a middle ground that sometimes is missed. While the few pieces I have hunted down at sales and pop-ups are coveted and loved, I wish there was more that could be blended – a motif, a nod to a tradition, an emblem – that takes the style away from the event and elevates the mundane. African style is not just about statement but also colour, texture, practicality and even a bit of mischief. To receive the complete version of The Long Wave in your inbox every Wednesday, please subscribe here.
