Tag: fashion design

Orphan Street Clothing Shop – an innovative space defying mainstream retail experiences

Cape Town’s fashion narrative has expanded to encompass a new phase within the increasingly world class city with the opening of Orphan Street Clothing Shop, on Orphan Street. The store launched on the 2 November attracting lovers of street style and modern-day chic alike. The idea for this new dynamic space came about from husband and wife duo, Matt and Molly Kieser. O.S.C.S houses the Maylee and Sol-Sol brands, designed by the pair individually.

Progression within the Cape Town fashion landscape has accelerated resulting in a more interwoven aesthetic with a distinct approach to design, textiles and imagined buyers. Features on multiple platforms such as Bubblegum Club, Hyperbeast, and Highsnobiety acts as forms of a testament to the accolades that Sol-Sol has received over the years. Explaining why South-African fashion-centrics and other street style fanatics over the globe regard the label not only as trusted but as one of our nation’s greatest.

Maylee might not be as widely celebrated as Sol-Sol regardless, but Molly’s designs show an intricate understanding of the need for minimal, quality clothing for women. The small scale of her brand is an indication of personal choice and adds a certain flair to every collection that is produced. Before the launch of O.S.C.S, Sol-Sol and Maylee have operated from the well-known Corner Store shop in Cape Town. A space of their own is not only a suitable step for both brands but also a welcomed decision that can be surmised by simply looking at the turn out at their launch.

The interior design elements of the new O.S.C.S store makes use of light colours, a few darker areas and earthy elements such as some small sections of marble which was tastefully implemented. All and all a minimal, uncluttered, pristine space prescribing to modern retail design aesthetics. The smaller store set up is removed from fast paced fashion retail that can sometimes be overwhelming. Not being a fan of crowds or packed spaces and an avid admirer of these two labels, I’ll be sure to pop by the shop when I’m in town for what I imagine to be an almost tranquil shopping experience.

The launch was paired with the release of their Spring/Summer ’18 collections showcasing one-offs, a few collaborative pieces as well as superbly constructed items. The launch factored for all elements that make launches great, progressively different styles for Spring/Summer ’18, Jameson Whiskey kept everyone’s pallets quenched, and DJ’s Luca Williams and Jon Laura took charge of creating steady energy for the event with their beats.

In O.S.C.S the Kiesers have created a space seamlessly toning their ambitions for these two, praise worthy South African labels. Creating a new frontier that compliments the already fashion swarmed district. I look forward to seeing the growth of this new space on Orphan street and what the future of Maylee and Sol-Sol have in store for its devout wearers.

24 November 2017
IKsasa Lami by Siyababa Mtshali // Conscious Design and Time-travelling Narratives

The technological time-traveler, appears brazenly in this dimension. Donned in silver chains and tassels. The imposing presence is revealed through a semi-fictioned narrative. Young designer, Siyababa Mtshali explores the space between the past, present and future. The figure that appears in this series of images is conceptualized as a Zulu prince. This prince “was banished into the future after the assassination of his father (King Shaka Zulu) in 1828. His jealous family knew African royalty would have no power over the land in the year 4087. His ancestors captured his body in the portal as he flew through time.”

“This editorial explores the contrast between robotics and culture where black magic and modern technology fuse together to create a new dimension”. The visual articulation of this prince stemmed from Siyababa’s design process. “My design process begins with written words, where I develop characters and personalities. This includes names, social backgrounds and the time where my character is placed – going as far as to highlighting insecurities and hardships. Thereafter, I pick up a pencil and sketch what I believe best describes the essence of my character.”

Originally from Kwa-Zulu Natal, “Johannesburg has shed a different light on my views on the fashion industry. The competition so is real! In most I’ve gained support from people that I highly respect, who insure the quality of the work and originality of my craft. A special shout out to Didi Nsthudisane.” Siyababa’s work is also steeped in politics, as a firm proponent of the Pro-Black Movement. His writing often explores issues around Homophobia and Afrophobia. “These are acts of hate. I believe as a nation that was previously oppressed we have no right to oppress others, let alone burn them.”

The space and articulation of gender is also one that Siyababa explores, “there is a thin between masculinity and femininity in fashion. I explore different silhouettes and fabrics assigned to a specific gender during my design process; I intersect them to make genderless clothing.” It is always refreshing to see personal politics translated into process and conscious design.

“Masculine and feminine roles are not biologically fixed but socially constructed” – Judith Butler

Creative Director/Photography: Khensani Mohlatlole

Make-up: Jessica Goldberg and Rebecca Mofokeng

Styling: Siyabonga Mtshali

13 October 2017
Trotse Tert // Advocating Self-Acceptance in the Digital Age

In the pastel pink Wild-West of bejeweled flip-phones, albino pythons and shotguns Blünke Janse van Rensburg reigns kween. Soft sunsets merge into mountainous peaks and ravines. An imagined reality of unapologetic self-actualization. A space between nostalgia and now. An insertion of self into the visual imagery of the early 2000’s internet aesthetic. Trotse Tert explores digital space on her own terms.

Trotse Tert was spawned from the Afrikaans environment of Die Moot, Pretoria.“I was bored and very lonely, so I decided to create Trotse Tert and dedicate every moment in between nonsense to it. The name sounds a bit conservative but obviously it’s not. I could do much better at being a tart, it’s a time of exploring and not feeling ashamed of it. So it felt right and very applicable to call it exactly what it is I was trying to do.”

Blünke describes her digital aesthetic as, “erg trashy, but trashy chic. Superficial and contradicting AF.” She was drawn to digital collage over its analogue ancestor because, “firstly, it’s less messy. I don’t have to spit and paste, although that is fun too, but no sticky fingers are involved. Secondly, it’s the possibility to create everything and anything. At this point in time, reality is really restricting, I can’t go where I want and I can’t have what I want, but in digital form it’s all mine. I take ownership of the things around me. I have it all there because I created it for myself. Thirdly, I’m such a forgetful person, I forget my passions and dreams when times get tough so the collages really helps to put things in perspective again.”

Having graduated from the Elizabeth Galloway Academy of Fashion Design Blünke also engages in the space of fashion design. She considers each piece she creates, in fashion or collage as imbuing an alternative conceptual relevance. “Mostly it just reflects my feelings, dreams and desires while other times it’s just pretty nothingness. I also like to think that the collages speak for themselves. Everything I place in a collage means something to me. You are allowed to make your own assumptions on what everything represents.” She is interested in people’s own reflections and insights.

The ideological framework that Blünke draws on is rooted in a sense of self-acceptance. “Accepting who I am, alone, without anyone else,” is at the crux of it, “you could have really amazing and supportive people in your life that can believe in you endlessly, but you also have to motivate yourself, you have to believe in yourself to get up every day and work towards the things you want, the things that is needed to be done. That’s not easy. So it’s about truly and fully believing in oneself and realising its hard and sometimes very lonely. It also feeds on self discovery and innovation.”

3 May 2017
Anthony Smith- Waar brand dit?

Anthony Smith, founder of South Africa’s most befokte clothing label, 2Bop, has always lived by his own rules and he’s proving that you don’t need to buy into the lily-white-old-boys-club-hierarchy of the traditional Cape Town creative industries in order to level-up. As a kid he’d be skating and shooting hoops and skieting games from the rough Northern areas to the idyllic Summerstrand and Kings Beach while his ‘art’ teacher plotted new drawing formulas for the class to conform to. Even back then he was too organic for graph paper, could dallah pump fakes against the systems of constraint. Smith tells me about growing up in a coloured community in PE and at 15, being a bit insecure moving from a ‘ghetto school’ to a ‘fancy private school’ where “all the kids knew Shakespeare and shit” but how he soon realised that kids were just kids, the only difference was access. So he’d make his own spaces, skating across racial divisions and jamming the arcade games which flourished in the blind spot of apartheid’s gaze.

There’s a richness to childhood experiences which we never really realise at the time; how can you properly articulate the victory of discovering Double Dragon 2 in your grandparent’s street when you’d started to expect all the good games to be in the white areas? Or the excitement for other kids being good at the games because it meant seeing all the levels and characters and bosses without spending your own 20 cent pieces? It’s not about some kind of misplaced nostalgia, it’s about formative experiences that remain relevant to 2Bop today. Smith’s brand has never bought into the legacy of inferiority that still remains ‘post-apartheid’, it’s always taken pride in local culture, manufacturing locally and channelling Afrikaaps or coloured club culture through remixed Strictly Rhythm Records aesthetics. But all of this diverse texture is exploded open, utilised in a way that opens up appeal rather than shuts down access, drawing on the value of the lo-fi as a platform for the imagination. You can play just about any game today on an emulator and that’s cool, it doesn’t hack the power of the OGs who know the Juicy lyrics when they see them. Smith’s already two-steps ahead, establishing his own company called Premium MFG and Co., producing for like-minded clients and upcoming brands. He also his eye on eventually going full circle to actually producing video games and is already bringing arcade style home by creating a new game controller prototype.

For all of his success, Smith’s incredibly humble and expresses immense gratitude for his team and the counter-culture checkpoint at Corner Store in Cape Town. He’s cracked the code and is subverting the structure through the communal and collaborative, bringing on interns, hiring young designers, and creating work with all different kinds; from well-established artists to a 6 year-old kid named Kayden. Smith’s pioneering a new business culture; while you were rushing to take notes, he was utilising the resources to make full colour print-outs for logos of the future. While you were networking with corporates, Smith was realising the value of friends who could hustle with heart and who held skills that didn’t fit into lame-ladder job descriptions. There are other ways that you can do things, power in articulations that don’t conform to narrow definitions of language and 2Bop’s the turnaround jump shot. What company do you keep?

You can follow 2Bop on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and get gedruip through purchases here and here

Editorial: Anthony is in pieces by 2bop, i & i & Patta

25 August 2016