At 56, Nothemba Sitiwe is old enough to be 22-year-old Anazo Mdlamza’s mother but the pair share an enduring love of clothes and fashion.
Sitiwe and Mdlamza were among a host of upcoming fashion designers who got a chance to showcase their creations at the eighth annual eMaXesibeni Fashion Show, organised by the Umzimvubu local municipality recently.
Though a young Mdlamza, who hails from Qumrha village in the rural hinterlands of KwaBhaca (formerly Mount Frere), grew up loving to wear pretty clothes, she did not know anything about the world of fashion designing until she was in grade 8.
To her, good clothes came from shops and you had to pay for them. She had no clue they were actually someone’s intellectual creations.
“I was 16 when I was at Osborne Senior Secondary in KwaBhaca. At the time, I was doing a lot of science subjects. My childhood dream was to be a nurse,” she said.
“The turning point was when I would see some of my fellow pupils who did consumer studies who would make these nice shirts, trousers and pyjamas that they would showcase at the school’s assembly.
“Suddenly, it was like a light bulb had just switched on.”
In grade 10, she convinced the school to allow her to drop some subjects and let her tackle consumer studies.
She matriculated in 2021, but was unable to study fashion design.
But when Mdlamza heard about the eMaXesibeni Fashion Show, she did not think twice about putting her name down.
She was able to convince her grandmother to assist her financially so she could buy fabric and started making tracksuits.
She said when she started designing her own clothes as part of her school curriculum, her grandmother had been shocked at her talent and asked her to work even harder to hone it.
However, she was surprised to discover that at 22, she was the youngest designer whose creations would be showcased at the eMaXesibeni Fashion Show on the day.
“I was very nervous because I thought it was probably a show for people of my age.
“But the older designers took me under their wing and treated me like their little sister.
“I also had a lot of them praising me, saying I had great potential. I even had people coming up to me asking for my numbers, promising that they would hit me up to place orders.”
Now that she has tasted the limelight, Mdlamza has set her sights on conquering the SA fashion industry and possibly getting an opportunity to showcase some of her creations on global stages.
Sitiwe, a mother of three from Sugarbush village in eMaXesibeni, was introduced to the world of fashion at a much earlier age.
As a young girl in grade 3, she would keenly watch her older brother making alterations to his Mpondo traditional trousers. Her mother was also a talented seamstress.
“I would watch and copy what my brother did. He was also very gifted in knitting and I would take his things and try to emulate him,” Sitiwe said.
She was, however, only able to enrol for studies at the Ingwe TVET College in KwaBhaca at the age of 35. There, she learnt about fashion, clothing construction and pattern construction, among other things.
She said she was fortunate to have been invited to showcase her creations at the eMaXesibeni Fashion Show last year too, an event that opened her eyes to new fashion trends.
“Usually I do wedding garments and design clothes for cultural events like imigidi (traditional initiation homecoming ceremony).
“We also sew clothes for churches. We live in a modern world and this fashion show has helped put our names out there. Now I am able to make money from my craft.”
Umzimvubu mayor Zukiswa Ndevu said the theme of this year’s show was “African Memoir: experiencing the growth of Xhosa fashion”.
She said the event was designed to give an opportunity to up-and-coming designers from the region to showcase their designs to the greater Umzimvubu community.
“We want to celebrate the talent of designers in Umzimvubu and also give them a chance to exhibit their work on platforms of this nature.
“We have also supported more than 80 local designers to showcase their talents.”
DispatchLIVE
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