Lessons from Africa Fashion Week

The African, South African in particular, Fashion industry is in turmoil, yet again. Following Africa Fashion International’s blunder of fashion awards, bloggers and murmurs are questioning Africa Fashion International’s intention when it comes to Fashion.

I have just read a blog post by Miss Milisuthando Bongela, please read it (here), it’s a fantastic read – though laced with anger and total disregard for AFI in its entirety – and it awakens dormant issues regarding the fashion industry.

Before going on a rampage, I think it’s absolutely fair that I agree with her on the prematurely thought Fashion Awards: what is the selection criterion, for instance? For Grace Jones and Michael Jackson to be awarded “prestigious” awards as they did was absolutely nonsensical. Fashion Awards need to be carefully thought through!

South Africa, and the rest of Africa, needs a fashion council – and my sentiments on this are substantiated by Fern Mallis who was slightly perturbed by our lack of a National Fashion Council (read here)– during a fashion seminar hosted on Friday the 2^nd of July. Amongst other profiles that the National Fashion council will have will be to establish a working relationship with other African Fashion Council to keep abreast of cross-continent fashion-related issues. I will rest assured in future when, for instance, Black Coffee wins the Best Designer award because I would know that their work is known throughout the continent and it cannot be disputed by a Fashion critic and follower in, say, Tanzania.

A Fashion Council will also assist to plateau the AFI and Lucilla Booyzen (the biggest fashion week conveners in South Africa) issues, if media is anything to go by, who I believe compliment each others work. Lucilla Booyzen hosts a national fashion week (as with most African countries) which has found, praised and hosted some the country’s finest designers – Black Coffee, David Tlale, Clive Rundle to name a few – and her contribution to South Africa’s Fashion industry is undeniably tremendous! However, through her work for the national fashion industry, there has been a minimal effort to cross the border to expose our talent to the rest of the African continent and beyond. Enter AFI. AFI’s effort to open communication channels between South Africa and the rest of Africa has proven to be successful. In a matter of two years, Africa Fashion Week has become an international force that can no longer be ignored. Africa Fashion Week, through AFI, recognized a gap in the market and filled it successfully, elevating from where Lucilla seems to have left off which proves to be a complementary (silent) partnership. Furthermore, AFI has taken work by other Country-based fashion weeks and amalgamated it into one big fashion week which enjoys international media attention – which is a good start to entering the global market.

So is it fair to disregard AFI’s efforts citing reasons such as: it exploits African designers and offers nothing instead… well, let’s face it, that’s nonsense. The online boutique store that AFI will be launching will also see designers, whose clothes are not readily available, being made available to the national and international market – another direct example of how AFI is trying to rectify the lack of support and exposure African designers are getting.

Fine examples of the AFI’s Africa Fashion Week success stories are Thula Sindi and Heni who have both received local and global interests and they both generated income through the onsite boutique and will both be stocking for www.36boutiques.com (an online boutique). Thula Sindi also managed to secure 1 new Johannesburg based stockist while keeping his old stockists happy with his recent collection (and orders have been placed). Heni over and above securing local stockists has been invited to sell his collection at the London Trunk sale, which coincides with the London Fashion week, AND has been invited to design homeware items which will be sold by an online stockist. So to state that AFI pushes for La bon vie for the Motsepe’s and guests is absurd!

Lessons learnt: South Africa needs a Fashion Council. South Africa needs to stop hosting multiple fashion Weeks which are a waste of time and money! How about 2 national fashion weeks or trade and road shows under Lucilla Booyzen’s umbrella (to source fashion talent and to inform South African buyers and clients of what’s available to them) and One BIG Africa Fashion Week under AFI (which follows the continents fashion contribution) and then perhaps an awards ceremony that will be overseen by the continents Fashion Councils? A fantastic marriage of Lucilla and AFI’s skills, talents and international influence is what the Industry needs – not a ridge fuelled by media who obviously prefer one over the other.

Next time we hear of Bunmi Koko- who are being stocked by Harrods as of now, ahem…- winning designer of the year, heads should not turn to try to figure out who and why.