Why A Swaziland Fashion Week Is Long Overdue
As the great Coco Chanel once said:
"Fashion is not something that
exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do
with ideas, the way we live and what is happening." No truer words have been spoken ever
since! You see, very often we exclude
ourselves from fashion; we think it belongs to other people and it that it does
not affect us in any way. Well, the most
apparent truth of life is that we are all part of a fashion lifecycle.
This multi-billion (and that’s not Zimbabwean but
US dollars) global industry that is fashion is even bigger than the motor
industry. Big surprise there, huh! With
all the financial recessions that this world has gone through in recent years
& months even, luxury fashion labels have not only thrived but managed to
grow their businesses. Luxury brands
such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Hermes, Versace, Bulgari, Alexander
McQueen, Chanel, etc. all recorded profit margins as healthy as 40% just in the
last financial year and that is major, in any business terms, I don’t care what
currency you use.
So all you non-fashion-loving-there-is-more-to-my-life-than-fashion-people listen up. It matters not what
you think or in some cases, don’t think of how you dress, you are a part of the
fashion lifecycle. This is how it works: every year, there are two very
important fashion weeks that happen in all fashion capitals around the world.
Those world fashion capitals being Milan, Paris, London and New York, I will
add Dubai, Singapore and Johannesburg for good measure. There are two important
fashion weeks, namely: Autum/Winter and Spring/Summer fashion weeks.
These fashion weeks happen a few
months in advance of the season in order to allow fashion buyers to arrange
purchasing the designs for retailers and to organise merchandising in time for
that season. A clear example is that we are fast approaching winter right now
and we just had the Joburg Spring/Summer Fashion Week three weeks ago. During fashion week, designers who have worked
with trend analysts showcase their designs for what will be ‘in fashion’ the
following season. What is showcased at fashion weeks is what we refer to as high-end-fashion
in fashion terms and it means the most detailed and expensive fashion items money
can buy. After some time, high-end
fashion filters down to chain stores that sort of replicate high-end-fashion and
mass produce it for their department stores. Department stores are your typical
mall clothing shops, for example: Mr Price Stores, Legit, Jet etc.
It's all sophisticated and classy
when we wear these expensive fashion labels that showcase at these fashion
capitals and Instagram our outfit of the day but think of all the jobs that
fashion has created in this world. Then proceed to reflect on all the jobs that
it has created in this country alone. Consider our cousins, sisters, aunts and
mothers in Matsapha textile firms that are able to put food on their families’ tables.
Those ladies and gentlemen at the textile firms are mass producing for some
chain stores whose merchandisers once attended a fashion week somewhere in the
world. Give consideration to all our favourite tailors at the Commercial
Centre here in Mbabane that we so love,
in one way or the other, fashion enables them to make a decent living. Mull
over Khulekani Msweli: the brain behind
the Jerem Paul brand, an extremely
talented young man who exudes more than enough potential to be our very own
Alexander McQueen. Would it not be
amazing to one day to rock your Proudly Swazi
Jerem Paul design? What is stopping us from embracing our own? Have we failed
ourselves or are we lazy?
Now, I would like to bring your attention the opportunities that we as creative Swazi people
have not tapped into because we view fashion as intfo yebantfu labanesikhatsi nemali
futsi njengentfo lengatsi ingumdlalo nje. Our neighbours with similar economies to ours
have thriving fashion weeks. I am talking about Zimbabwe Fashion Week and
Botswana
Fashion Week then why not have a Swaziland Fashion Week? Maybe , just maybe, those countries
understand the role that fashion plays in their economies or maybe they have
tried so many times until they got it right and that is why they have
successful fashion weeks. What is stopping us? I know there have been attempts
in the past to have a successful fashion week in our country and those have not
been that successful. Why are we failing
to nurture what is ours? I can think of a
handful of designers that can showcase their great designs in our very own Fashion
Week.
We have so much creativity,
potential and colourful beauty in this country; in fact we have enough of that
to have a fashion week that not only attracts tourists into our beautiful
country but a fashion week that will be a huge positive contributor to our
economy. Personally I am crazy enough (read
smart enough) to dream of a Swaziland Fashion Week in the very near future
and I may have even started mentally organizing it. I am hoping that after reading this, your
view on fashion will be changed. You see, it’s not just fashion!
This reminded me of my all time
favourite SiSwati saying: "Nawe
Ngwane awumncane". Let us also tap into our greatness and see where it
takes us. A Swaziland Fashion Week is indeed long overdue, the question is, are
we ready to nurture and embrace our own fashion designer?
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Written By: Koko Shabangu
I love this article. Everything you said is so true. I would love to organise a fashion week in swaziland some day
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