The SA Fashion Week (SAFW) Spring/Summer ’22 Collections was the gift that kept on giving! In proud partnership with Cruz Vodka, OPPO, and MAC Cosmetics, this year’s three-day spectacle marked twenty-five years since the launch of the internationally renowned fashion show, which showcases the country’s freshest designing talents.
Day one of the SAFW saw the exhibition’s Talent Search finalists: Thando Ntuli, founder of MUNKUS; Nichole Smith, founder of Ipikoko; Mikhile du Plessis from MeKay Designs; Calvin Lunga Cebekhulu of Czene.24; Sanelisiwe Gcabashe from Gjenelo Couture; and Mimangaliso Ndiko, founder of Sixx6, flex their artistic designs. Thando Ntuli, the founder of sustainable fashion brand MUNKUS, was crowned the competition’s winner. She walked away with a R20 000 cash prize, which will be for the development of her brand. The Soweto-born designer will also get a free runway show at the SAFWSS ’23 to bring life to the collection from that particular brand.
On the second day, new and well-established fashion designers blazed the runway with their effulgent creations. The SAFW runway flaunted brands from Mzansi’s well-known tastemakers while also giving some of the young, up-and-coming talented designers the opportunity to debut their handiwork.
Twenty designers were featured, including internationally acclaimed doyens and doyennes: Ephraim Molingoana of Ephymol, Amanda Laird Cherry and Palesa Mokubung of Mantsho, who was the first African designer to collaborate with reputable retail clothing brand, H&M.
What was clear from the collections on the third and final day of the SAFW is that dopamine dressing is guaranteed to take over summer ’22! From the lime-green and orange sets modelled by Loxion Kulca to the lavender suits by Franc Elis, a pop of colour is guaranteed to keep you on-trend this coming summer.
After an elegant launch party at Fireroom Restaurant in Midrand, the fashion extravaganza got off on a great start and ended on a glorious note of sustained beauty.
