Bubblegum Club

Tag: izikhothane

  • Sula Africa: The fostering of a fashion community

    Tshepo Pitso, aka Don Dada, is part of a street culture that has evolved into a movement and a fashion community. Izikhothane are the kings and queens of South African brands, bright colours and flamboyant fashion combinations. Don Dada informs us that they have attempted to erase the fragmentation and rivalry between izikhotane crews by creating one – Material Culture. He expressed that this has been significant because it has burgeoned a collective sense of pride and connection between izikhozane from different parts of the country.

    Plugging into the politics of representation, Don Dada expressed that sharing the videos he created on YouTube was crucial as it ensured that izikhozane culture had a place on the internet. This allowed insider documentation of the people and style that is recognizably izikhozane. “We can’t have lost memories,” Don Dada states. This aids in the preservation of izikhozane identity, which Don Dada states is an important motivator for continuing to find ways to share and connect izikhozane from across the country. This self-made exposure has also attracted local and international media. Don Dada sees this as a way to inform people of the culture’s core and to avoid misunderstandings about what they stand for. It also allows for people to recognize that there is a uniquely South African fashion style, that is growing through self-referencing.

    The event, Sula Africa, is a coming together of izikhozane. However Don Dada explains that all people interested in fashion are invited. “We are inspired by fashion…We meet as Africans in fashion. That’s why we say Sula Africa”

    In closing, Don Dada reflects on his aims as a participant,  promoter and preserver of the subculture. “We don’t want to change the style. We are trying to keep it the way it was. We want to keep the identity the same. I don’t want someone who was a skhothane a long time ago, when he sees the current skhothane, and say ‘No this is not skhothane’. He must see that we are still izikhothane. We are still brave and we are not scared.”

    Credits:

    Featuring – Don Dada

    Camera – Jamal Nxedlana 

    Motion Design – Lex Trickett 

    Sound – Griffit Vigo

    Editing – Themba Konela

  • Chris Saunders: Hyperconnected Fashion

    Chris Saunders is an award winning Johannesburg photographer and filmmaker who documents the richness of South African fashion, ranging from subcultures like the Izikhotane to individual street style.  A key theme within his work is how fashion connects South Africa to global culture.  He has practically applied this in his collaborations with UK producer Okzharp,  whose music is released on the cult Hyperdub label. Along with music videos, they also worked together on the 2015 film Ghost Diamond. Starring dancer Manthe Ribane, the film is a visually opulent exploration of Johannesburg which draws on uncanny convergences between Zulu and Japanese mythology.

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    His latest photographic series extends this theme of cultural convergence.  Working with clothes made by the New York based EDUN label, Saunders explores how the garments themselves are reminiscent of local styles. He found striking similarities with both the Swenakas,  a classic Zulu fashion culture in which men peacock in designer suits  and the Pantsula dance style, which he has long been documenting. Both subcultures are characterised by a competitive edge with adherents trying to outdo each other in both clothes and movement. In this latest shoot he worked again with Manthe Ribane, along with her sister Tebogo, deploying Swenka and Pantsula poses on the streets of Johannesburg.  As he describes it ‘We re-interpreted classic masculine poses from the different sub-cultures and posed the shots in the harsh  South African summer light, not shying away from its encompassing effect. I wanted to keep it as real as possible, maintaining a sense of believability which is often lost in fashion photography, but maintaining the fantasy of the over the top garments. The results are a less than typical aesthetic, poses which reference by-gone showmanship in masculinity shot in reality’.

    Through blending the past and the cutting edge, the work shows the hidden structures of fashion: ‘The images take clothing which is designed in New York, manufactured ethically on the African continent, transported back to the USA and now imagined back in Africa and specifically in Johannesburg’.

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