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Ntombiyolwandle Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
BULAWAYO’S talented and outstanding fashion designers, Saneliso Mpofu of the award-winning brand Sanah Designs is on the rise after she became the only Zimbabwean to be invited for the prestigious Tshwane Fashion Festival 2016 in South Africa.
The event took place from Friday and ended yesterday. Tshwane Fashion Festival which has been running for two years featured 22 Designers from six countries in this year’s edition.
The Fashion platform aims to unite young African designers and also give them a platform to expose their works and link them to other similar platforms, allowing them to grow their brands.
Previous partnerships have seen designers from the event showcase at platforms in Ghana and Nigeria and this year the festival will branch out to creating linkages with the USA.
Due to her exploits, the designer caught the eye of the Tshwane fashion designers who did not hesitate to include her in this years’ fashion designers festival programme.
In an interview, Mpofu said fashion designing is a challenging industry that needs creative and sharp minds.
“I am humbled and honoured for the privilege of showcasing at the Tshwane Fashion Festival and I thank God and my family because I wouldn’t have done it without them,” Mpofu told Sunday Life.
Mpofu also said she always had a passion for fashion from a tender age.
“I always had the ambition of being a fashion designer one day. When I finished my O-level at Matopo High School, I went to Bulawayo Polytechnic where I studied for four years in Fashion and Designing,” she said.
From school, Mpofu worked for Escapades as a pattern maker before opening her own workshop.
“At first it wasn’t easy in the industry as I also had to market myself in and outside Bulawayo to places like Harare.
God opened doors for me and I met designers from Harare the likes of Tapfumanei Munenge who helped me by introducing me to the fashion industry in Harare. I started marketing my works and people loved my designs and right now my clientele has grown big,” she added.
Mpofu is working with other local fashion enthusiasts including Gilmore Tee, Tapfumanei Menege, House of Lau, Zaguesia, African Citizen and Shaith.
Mpofu, who is inspired by internationally acclaimed fashion guru Vivienne Westwood, urged up-and-coming designers to work very hard as it is not easy to satisfy everybody.
Mpofu has previously participated at such platforms as the South Africa’s Durban Fashion Fair, Intwasa Fashion Show and Matabeleland Fashion Week, among many others. Mpofu’s collections which showcased in Tshwane were inspired by the plight of a girl child.
“My collections will run under the theme Broken Raven that is inspired by the young African girls who were captured and set free at the end. It reveals the pain felt when they were captive and colours are used represent the black and white people of Africa. I hope that one day our African girls will be set free from a lot of stereotypes and preconceived ideas planted in them,” she said.
Online Reporter