DESION THEORY:CASE STUDY:FASHION DESIGNER

BONGIWE WALAZA

Bongiwe was born in a small community in Mqanduli, in Eastern Cape Province here in South Africa. Walaza grew up enjoying knitting and sewing. Her interest in arts & crafts and passion for making her own clothes was evident from an early age. She learnt to make clothes from her mother’s fabric who was a dressmaker. Bongiwe studied for a National Diploma in electrical engineering at Peninsula Tech from 1987 to 1990. As she was working for Telkom, she began designing and making dresses for herself and soon built a loyal client base. Unhappy with the skill of her dressmaking, in 1997 she decided to study fashion at Natal Technikon. She qualified with a National Diploma in Fashion.

She has also been a product developer for Wild Silk Africa while providing training for several of its employees. As a result of her innovative use of fabrics, Walaza also consults closely with renowned local textile company, Da Gama, which is developing a product for their Mandela range. Her company has also designed for Edgar’s stores. Walaza is presently involved in the B’avumile program, a skills development program for women especially in the rural areas.

Inspiration behind designs

 
 

 She is using her African heritage as her main designing muse, inspired by different cultures. Growing up in the rural area of Eastern Cape has played the moist important role as one of her inspiration. Tradition runs strongly through her collections, they are truly modern African look that blurs the boundaries between formal and casual. She is known for her Xhosa influences and the fact that she makes real wearable clothes for real women.

Her designs are made to enhance the beauty of a woman’s body shape and movement. Her signature style is self generated handcrafted detailing, seamless color coordination and a figure friendly layering.

She describes her style as African traditional crossed with Victorian using isishweshwe, (an African fabric with African patterns comes with different coloures) She produced collections worn by both celebrities and private clients

Shweshwe as it is still worn in parts of Africa, it also have the mix of colonial style and the more traditional

African influences such as, Xhosa's and Sotho's.

Aside from isishweshwe, Bongiwe uses a lot of satin, taffeta and some velvet. One of my favourate's sturning desings was at Joburg Fashion Week,  themed “Freedom of Expression” which were combination of stretch satin, tulle and sequin which is matte and shiny.

Victorian/Elizabethan Inspiration

 Bongiwe used some of Victorian era into her collection, a lot of obi belts in sight, full skirts, tiered skirts/dresses,Velvet and Taffeta, as there were shown in her colletion at Joburg Fashion week 2011 where she steered away from too much Shweshwe fabric and embraced pattern wholeheartedly but still managed to keep her heritage influences.

Marketing Strategies

Bongiwe is promoting and marketing  her designs to the local market and to tourists, Her designs appear frequently in local fashion magazines such as True Love and have been featured internationally. 

 She is also involving in  trade shows all over the world.One of her designs was featured in the Collezione Magazine – one of the leading fashionista style magazines in Italy. Black Coffee has a website which is the main marketing tool at the moment and her new ranges are showcased on the website.

 Bongiwe's Achievments

Bongiwe has number of achievements to her credit including showcasing and exhibiting her designs in New York, India, Las Vegas, London, Switzerland, Japan, Milan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thessalonica in Greece, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Egypt and Singapore.

In 1997, The Du Pont Lycra Award which included a trip to Paris.

In 1998 Smirnoff International Fashion Awards – Finalist.

In 1999 The Rothman’s July Young Designer Award.

In 2000 M-net Anglo Gold Africa Designs Award which saw her range showcased at New York Fashion Week. 

In 2002 Turffontein Summer Cup Fashion Awards – Emerging Designer Category.

In 2002 Showcased range in India.

In 2004 Showcased range in Switzerland, Japan, Vietnam and Milan.

In 2004 SA Fashion Week 2004 Johannesburg and Cape Town Fashion Festival.

 In 2005 Design Indaba Expo 2005 Nederburg Collections.

While i was doing this research i found  out that designers are facing the same challengies,like designing something unique and it can be very easy to stuck on your original idea instead of getting it more intresting, as she started her carrier using isishweshwe fabric but later she mixed that with other types of fabrics to come up with intresting designs. I love her simplistic way of designing, tailoring with a mixture of local fabrics and foreign ones, which are different colours.I like the fact that she is so passionate about her heritage and you can see that on her designs which is a story i also wanaa tell in my jewellery designs as a  proudly african woman.

I find this statement so true "The challenge as a designer into take something that people don't ussually take seriously and turn it into something that people will stand up and take notice,"said Walaza.

Brief Biography

www.ifashion.co.za/index.php?option=com_conte...

afropolitans.typepad.com/.../bongiwe-walaza.html

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COOL TOWER

The four towers, ranging from 54 to 97 floors.I like the twisting, waving and  the tapering  happening all at the same time to give them this unusual  bold shape.I found out that they represent the movement of candlelight, really cool !

UGLY BOOTS

 I don't like these boots as worm as they are,i find these very unattractive pieces of footwear available to women. they don't even have a shape.I think  they are meant to be worn around the house on a cold day,  like slippers. I find some people wearing them in public, i don't know if its a fashion statement,or they just forgot to take them off!

WOVEN KNOT NECKLACE

I love how intricate this woven knot necklace looks.It's pefect for  those evening gown parties and it can also work in casual look!

WEAPON OR A RING?

In my opinion jewellery should work as enhancement to your outfit, not double up as a weapon,this accessory may be a little too scary with these sharp stones on top.I don't like it!

DESIGN: Red And White Wedding Gown To Go For !!

I'm so not a red and white colour person  but  i like red, that is why i like this dress it is more red  than white so it does n't look like an ordinary  red and white dress.
I like  the design, how the white lace flows at the back and  the  way red is been cut at the back and front  to show the white part so they flow together.

There is an old say  says" if red married in red (dress)you will wish yourself dead" with dress i dont care i wii definitely were it on my wedding day

SHOES OR NOT?

It took me sometime to figure out  that these are shoes, really don't get the motive behind  i thought shoes suppose to protect the feet unlike these the feet  touches the ground  on top of that  have to be on your toes. I  don't like them, they look so uncomfortable can't even emagine wearing them for ten minuets

LOBSTER CLAW IN A DIFFERENT WAY

I love this steampumk jewellery ,it is something different for everyone.In this piece i like the different material they used.They used real bone and different  metals in such a way that they complement each other.So unique!

UGLY RECYCLED NECKLACE

 Recycled jewellery it is really something beautiful but the thing about it  its all about creativity, the colour mixing,using different  material in way that they give you something beautiful and what ever you used  must n't be so obvious after the piece is done. In this necklace i don't  see any creativity it's like they just mixed what ever  was in front of them and  it's big it's in every one's  face, i don't like it!

DESIGN THEORY: Infecting City

I was i very impresed by the way they use what we call "rubbish"  as part ot art. They transformed "Tresusure" collected from Cape  Town  into artwork that informs us about our wasteful lifestyle and  keeping our city clean.

I think if  everyone can see the waste as something that can be appreciated as art and as something that  we can make money out of, like recycled  jewellery,art decoration, recycled paper wrap and  many other things!

The City project really  opens my eyes as a designer,now i have been making  recycled jewellery  and people love it ,the say its something different:

paper beads necklaces

plastic brooch

root growing out of wood

I dont know how they managed to make the wood twist like that! these benches look like they were put in a strong wind and the wind tangled them up,or the roots growing out of wood which is impossible. I like the way  they use the tangle part to connect two benches.In first picture the work looks unfinished, the wood on the floor doesn't really look like it's part of  design

chunky necklace

This  necklace looks big and chunky,i dont like the big charms in't ,i  think if the charms were few or smaller it was gonna be better ,now for me it looks like something you can wear on top of clothes and i dont like the way plastic beads mixed  with gold even if its not real gold

this neckace is made out of  stones .the first time i looked in it i  was inspired by the colours, i like the combination of colours they go well together.The use of different sizes and shapes of stones and shells gives beutifull different flowers which i like.It is so summer  necklace!!

man ties in a different way

i like the fact that they use something that  is already designed to be something and changing it completely to be something else.In this picture they used man ties to make a coat and a dress in a way that you cant even tell that  there were man ties before,i like that!