With Khayelitsha Fashion Week recently concluding, we caught up with founder and organiser Bongani Matenjwa, who is only 24 years old, as well as Thuli Sandile who was one of the designers that had their work showcased.
The purpose of fashion week is to provide a platform for local fashion designers and models around Cape Town, to showcase their work and talent, while also reaffirming to the rest of country that there is more to Khayelitsha than it’s normal stigma, that it’s actually a creative hub, full of undiscovered gems.
This was the second annual Khayelitsha Fashion Week and it proved to be the best one, with around 99 models of various body types, wearing collections from 10 different designers. The first one took place last year at Lookout Hill, showcasing 7 local designers.The designers this year, were showing off their latest Spring/Summer collections, as they got a chance to try and make a name for themselves amongst the Cape Town fashionistas, and gain much needed exposure. It was held at Isivivana Centre on the 9 and 10th of September, with about 500 people in attendance.