Become a Fashion Designer in 2010

Linea Academy’s 2009 graduates employed.

The academic year is yet to be completed we’re in the mist a recession and already our graduate students who are not going into their Honours year have jobs within the apparel industry. There’s no need to say more...

Create dreams and change the world through fashion

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Linea Academy’s Fashionable 2009 Finale

One of South Africa’s most innovative fashion educational colleges once again demonstrated its continual exploration of expanding the seams of what is capable within the fashion sector.

The Young Designer’s Expo a project between uShaka Marine World and Linea Academy was an exemplar of collaborative originality.

Consisting of more than 100 models and 140 garments showcased over three hours The Young Designer’s Expo was the largest single fashion extravaganza experienced in Durban and possibly in South Africa.

Conceptualised and planned by Linea’s students, the project was an exercise of working intelligently with available resources as a collective while establishing partnerships with credible and reliable suppliers.

Linea’s Director Ms. Day extended her gratitude to the Linea staff who gave their guidance and support to the project. She said seeing the finished garments on beautiful models and in the most unusual setting was a delight. Ms. Day said she was grateful to uShaka’s management who saw and understood the vision and to the models and management of both Dazzle Models and Mobile Models Management for their support.

SA Fashion Week in Durban

Linea Academy student Suheena Singh reflects on the 2009 Durban showing of SA Fashion Week.

SA Fashion Week Local Shows Delight Durban Audiences

Durban fashionistas were abuzz with the showing of South Africa’s top designers at the Sanlam SA Fashion Week local shows. Victoria Embankment’s Durban Manor provided a lavish venue for the fashion event, having been transformed into a series of viewing rooms and ramps, decked out with red carpets, drapes, and state of the art sound and lighting.

The atmosphere was one of anticipation – it is not often that Durban is treated to such a spectacle of high quality garments, shown in a lush surrounding on some of the countries top models. With Jameson and Nando’s sponsoring complimentary drinks and snack platters, the Fashion Week patrons could relax with a few nibbles before the shows began.

Focus on Menswear

Thursday night debuted with a focus on Menswear, showing House of Ole, Ephymol, and newcomer Narainsamy in a block show.

House of Ole’s Afrocentric appeal combined earthy tones with both male and female silhouettes to create high street, glamourous menswear. The collection constantly strove to establish a new design identity that was distinctly African, while fusing cutting-edge Futurism into the fashion mix. The Sophiatown three-piece suit and the male three-quarter sleeve were key items, while shiny black sequins, romantic ruffles, ethnic printwork and zipper trim on lapelles provided the finishing touches.

As per usual, Ephymol failed to disappoint his eager audience. Being a regular on the local fashion circuit for a number of years, he has established himself as a fashion-forward menswear designer for the savvy South African male. His debut look showed an impeccably tailored cream and black three-piece suit that was greeted with vociferous applause from the audience. Ephymol’s nipped silhouettes were juxtaposed with relaxed metallic sports jackets. A silver and black foil-print men’s body suit added a risqué, avant garde touch. Maroon and lilac complimented the predominantly black and neutral palette, while wet-look fabrications, lace inserts on classic shirts, embroidery and fine pleating added the finer details.

Durban-based newcomer Narainsamy used a plethora of tailoring options to create a succinctly sweet collection. A 1950’s influence of gentility was used to create an overall mood of ‘Ivy League comes to Africa’, which incorporated soft oranges, ice cream blues and neutral hues within the colour palette. Key items included the schoolboy blazer, three-quarter pants, white cotton shirts, and the men’s highwaister. Fine print checks and prints added detail to lapelles and collars, while straw hats and suspenders accessorized the collection.

Watching these collections, one cannot help but remark that South Africa is literally bursting at the same with young, innovative, and fresh design talent. There is no doubt that as a country, our fashion-forward and creatively talented designers are forging their way towards a distinctly South African fashion identity.

By Suheena Singh

Linea students chosen for condom fashion competition

Two students: Aobakwe and Kgomotso have been chosen to participate in the finals of the SAFDI/SACTWU Condom Fashion Design Project. The competition was open to all students currently studying fashion design. Only ten were chosen to participate in the finals that takes place in Cape Town in late October.

Fashion with a purpose
CONDOMS are fashionable. That's the theme in a competition design students across the country are involved in. Students are encouraged to make fashionable garments from condoms for the competition.

The message organisers are hoping to get across in the process is that using condoms, to prevent the spread of HIV/Aid is a positive trend.The slogan was coined by the health and design unit at the South African Clothing, Textiles and Worker Union.Vimrashni Govender, events and information officer at the union's worker health programme, explains that many South African young people have been affected by HIV/Aids.

"We had to find a way in which to disseminate pertinent messages about sexual health, particularly prevention, so that they would be heard."The fashion competition ... will surely grab the attention of South African youth and get them thinking about condoms in a positive way," she said.Govender said many storyboard entries complete with business plans had already been received and, once the top 10 had been selected, the students would be handed their share of the 50 000 coloured and flavoured condoms donated by Masculan to begin creating the garments.

The winner, who will be announced on November 7, will receive R30 000 to action his or her business plan.This is an essential outcome of the competition, said Renato Palmi, the KwaZulu-Natal representative for the South African Fashion Designers Institute (Sadfi), a design unit of the union.

"At Safdi we want the youth to start thinking about design as a business, and to start thinking about themselves as designers within the larger industry," says Palmi.As a registered member of Safdi the winner will be linked with registered manufacturers.Palmi says: "As a transparent, national support network for designers Safdi is a membership based institute, open to applications from all designers and registered fashion students," adding that, it is vital to understand that this does not mean they will be joining the union."

Over the years many fashion designers have asked SACTWU to take up their concerns, the union has now decided to provide a platform within its fold for designers to meet and be able to use the organisational capacity of the union to take forward their ideas. Safdi, through its association with the union, will be able to harness the wider power of organised labour," he said."This is a means of nurturing, not just the designers, but the industry as a whole," he said.

By OMESHNIE NAIDOO

Published on the web by Mercury on October 4, 2009.
Published in the Tonight-Gauteng
© Mercury 2009. All rights reserved.

Tapestry of Hope

Hidden away in the Central Midlands is beauty of surreal proportions, the landscape itself is as vast and clear as the glorious day that has been bestowed upon it. However, when one finds oneself surrounded by this beauty it is easy to forget the bustling realities of city life and all that it requires from its dwellers, dwellers such as myself. It is easy to forget the problems encountered in everyday life. It is even easier to forget all the evils and inequalities of this post modern and capitalist “city life”. The evils and inequalities that we take so for granted on a daily basis. It is so easy to forget the fact that, for most of us, the lives we lead are truly “another day in paradise”.

A project such as Tapestry of Dreams provided me with a surprisingly amazing opportunity to explore the idea of life from a different point of view, to walk briefly in a different pair of shoes, or even more thought provoking, the possibility of literally( however brief it may be) living without the basic necessity of a different pair of shoes to walk in .The Tapestry of Dreams project availed me a rare opportunity by providing a small window into the lives of ten very different but strong willed women.

Tapestry of Dreams is a really beautiful project headed by Heather Costaras along with a team of other remarkable and very inspired people. The team mainly composes of nine dedicated women (including Heather) and three men, varying in profession and purpose, who only add to the richness and quality of attention to The Tapestry of Dreams project which was recently introduced as a ‘sister’ project of Beautiful life project.com. The project not only grants the opportunity for the selected women to tell their stories but also entails a real opportunity of change. The women will not only gain exposure through this experience by being filmed for a documentary and participating in a big fashion show. The garments worn by the ladies will be auctioned off and the proceeds will be brought back into the community by being donated to charity. There will also be a real prospect of business opportunity as the women will be aided by Chem city, a division of Sasol that initiates the start of small businesses to start and maintain their own businesses.

The ten women all hail from various areas in and around Winterton and Loskop in the Kwazulu Natal Province. They also vary in age, with the youngest Nondumiso being only 20 years old and the oldest Thuli, 36 years old. These amazing women were selected through the Isibani organisation to take part in this project because they are all active in their community’s and are affected in some way or the other by the HIV/ AIDS pandemic. They have all faced hardships due to the high prevalence of HIV/ AIDS in this province and all have a compelling story to tell about their lives and experiences. The Tapestry of Dreams project is uniquely enthralling as its main focus is on women and therefore encompasses not only the stories of these women but more importantly the story told from women’s point of view which is vital as statistically women have the highest infection rate and, due to beliefs and cultures, in these communities women rarely have the opportunity to speak out about the challenges they face not only as members of the community but also as individuals. They seldom get the opportunity to express their problems and concerns, nor their hopes and dreams.

The fact that The Tapestry of Dreams project held its first “mini” fashion show, which showcased exquisite beadwork from the Amangwe Zulu Craft beaders, during the National Woman’s Day weekend was truly heartening and only places greater significance on the cause. Our ten models were provided with the opportunity to experience a lot of exciting “firsts”. For many of these women it was the first time they experienced having hair and makeup done professionally for them. It was the first time these women worked closely with the designers who will be making their garments for the final show in November. It was the first time they wore such gorgeously elaborate jewelry. It was the first time they got the opportunity to bask in the spotlight by participating in the fashion show and most enjoyably the opportunity to dine at a buffet that presented the most tantalizing assortment of foods. To think that this was just a taste of what is yet to come was not only exciting for the women but also for everybody involved in the inevitable transformation ahead.

As a young designer, participating in a project of this magnitude, I say magnitude not only because it is exciting to be associated with Tapestry of Dreams but a real privilege due to the simple fact that it is an opportunity to be personally involved with an array of such strong willed and authentic people. The experience of working with these women and the team is truly inspiring and is really encouraging, concerning the notion and hope of the possibility of very different people working together with the same ethos and purpose to attain change in this world. The Tapestry of Dreams for me not only represents the possibility of attaining your dreams whatever the circumstances may be but a real indicator that even in the grimmest of times there will always be a glimmer of hope.

On behalf of the four designers who participated in the “Women’s Day Weekend” I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to Heather and everybody who took part in enabling The Tapestry of Dreams Project.
Visit the website. Click here.

Written by Botho Chalebgwa. Linea Student

Linea features in Ilange Newspaper

Linea's partcipation at the Durban SMME Fashion show was featured in the Zulu newspaper Ilanga on 1 october 2009.

Basic interpretation:

It is exciting that government is taking note of fashion due to there being no fashion week in Durban. The fashion show that was combined with the SMME fair at the Exhibition Centre last weekend showed Durban fashion talent that interpreted traditional as it was 'Traditional' month. There were about 40 designers participating. Linea Academy was one of the participants, and the students had to interpret the brief and theme for the show. Renato Palmi said that it was a " great platform for the students to learn and market themselves."