4 designers to know ahead of this year's V&A's Africa Fashion Exhibition.
s “encyclopaedic” aesthetic articulates the “histories of the African continent at risk of being forgotten”. His Alchemy collection references, the spiritual call experienced by his “young lawyer and stylist friends” to become traditional healers. Prints are inspired by divination tools, such as seashells and a pencil sharpener.The architect-trained, Cape Town-based designer’s North Star collection alludes to quilts sewn by members of the Underground Railroad in America.
celebrate Zulu wedding rituals and Harriet Tubman. Traditional fabrics, such as French toile de jouy, are interwoven with stories of South African womanhood.works with artisanal communities in the Eastern Cape, Burkina Faso and Somalia to create his fabrication-focused designs. His label’s lustrous and tactile Perennial collection champions South African raw materials and the handcrafted technique of felting. “These are paradigms not celebrated enough,” Mdingi reflects.